Day 7 of the meseta.

Easy instructions today. Leave Sahagun under the Arco San Benito gate, cross the Puente Romano bridge, and you are on the path. Straight ahead for 17 kilometres. There is a quiet sealed road on your right, approx 1 vehicle per hour. There is a line of poplars on your left, equally spaced every 10 metres, for 17 kilometres. There are seats and tables among the poplars every kilometre. Enjoy.

On no account are you to start counting the poplars, as if you lose where you are up to, then you have to go back to the beginning and start again.

Up until the 80s this path was said to have quite a mystical effect. There was no road, the poplars hadn’t been planted and the path had not been formed. You just walked across fields. With no points of reference or distinguishing geographic features it was regarded as desolate and for those inclined, mystic. Today the path has been bulldozed and the road and trees give it a very strong perspective. These “improvements”  make it impossible to lose perspective and the mystic effect has been lost.

The Puente Romano is a five arch Roman bridge but it was reconstructed in the 11the and 16th centuries so we couldn’t tell what was original. Just beyond the bridge was a woodland named Charlemagne’s Field of Lances. Charlemagne was pursuing the Moors in an effort to make the road safe for pilgrims. The night before the battle some Christians stuck their lances into the ground, straight up, in front of the camp. At dawn those men who were to die in the coming battle found their lances had grown bark and sprouted leafy branches. Astonished and attributing the miracle to God’s divine power, they cut them off at ground level. From the buried roots of the lances was born the woodland. 40,000 Christians died in losing the battle.

I love all the legends on the Camino. Everyday there is something to think about.

We both enjoyed today. The walking was “straightforward” and we had a spring in our step. Last night we happened to meet Victoria and Craig (from Arizona) and ate with them in the very good hotel restaurant. They are very friendly and generous people and Craig has a sardonic sense of humour and our spirits were raised hugely. We ate the basic peregrino menu but they really love their food and had a great time picking specialities from the a la carte menu.

Today was our nineteenth day of walking and I think for the first time we approached a village without seeing a massive church bell tower. At about 5 villages per day that’s 95 villages. When right in the village we did see a very skinny, skeletal tower. Sort of a Twiggy tower. We were not sure if it was a bell tower or a tower at the fire station for hanging up the hoses. There weren’t any storks nests, so probably the latter.

Ipod theme song of the day: Magical Mystery Tour, The Beatles

Roll up, roll up for the magical mystery tour
.. . . . . . .
The magical mystery tour is waiting to take you away
Waiting to take you away

Day 6 on the meseta and maybe the meseta is messing with us.

A funny sort of day. A plodding day. We weren’t tired just a bit lethargic. Everything seemed heavy. It was certainly more humid than the last few days and quite warm. Maybe it was just a reaction to a very enjoyable day yesterday and having passed the halfway mark we were a bit flat – just like the meseta.

We were just as keen to get on the road and had a scrumptious buffet breakfast, the hotel family excelled themselves. One of the few things we miss from home is our oatmeal breakfast with yoghurt, nuts and berries. Oatmeal seems to be unheard of here. Sometimes the breakfast is coffee, yoghurt, juice, bread and jam.

The other thing we miss of course is our family and friends. Actually we don’t. We have decided we will only miss those who make comments on the blog or send emails. The rest of you don’t exist. No candles being lit for you. Just kidding.

Yesterday and today we are in an area that has no suitable stone for construction. Buildings and walls are brick for the more substantial structures and adobe for the others. The better adobe ones are rendered with plaster but many houses, walls and farm buildings are left unrendered. The straw mixed into the mud is clearly visible. The adobe doesn’t weather well and many buildings are very dilapidated.

Some fields today with large arrays of photovoltaic cells generating solar power. Always wind turbines on the horizon as well. Somebody told us that farmers in France and Spain can make more money from power generation than from traditional farming. Perhaps an urban myth? Or a rural myth.

Again we came across “Bodegas”. Not hobbit houses but little caves dug into banks and hillsides and were used for storing food and wine making since Roman times. When each family made their own wine the caves contained wine presses, barrels, bottling vats and clay vessels. Legend says they were dug in wintertime as a pastime for children who could keep warm and occupied scooping out the soft clay. Once exposed to air the clay hardened to a stoney finish, strong enough to support the waste earth that was raised in buckets through the chimney ventilation shaft and dumped out on the roof.

Mid morning we stopped at a humble little village that once had been a stronghold of the Knights Templar, Terradillos de los Templarios. Nothing physically remains of the noble Order but the cafe was named after Jacques de Molay, the last grand master of the Order. We had cafe americano and muffin – in Spanish same spelling but pronounced moof fin.

There is an Irish Pub just along the road and they have Guinness O’clock. I wonder if they do bangers and mash or guiness pie?

Ipod theme tune for today: The Rolling Stones

No you can’t always get what you want
aaahhwaw
But if you try sometime, you just might find
You get what you need

Day 5 on the Meseta

Not in a physical sense, but many people find this the most difficult day. Flat is one word that springs to mind on this stretch of the path. Treeless is another and monotonous is a third.

A short 17km on a vehicleless country road. Wheat fields stretching out to the horizon on both sides. But there is plenty to discover here. We counted up to 25 different species of wild flowers and heard several different strains of birdsong. The things to look for are just a bit more subtle.

There is an old saying “the landscape of Castilla is in her sky”. And it is a huge sky. Today the sky was a very pale blue as there was a very thin layer of cloud so while everything was bright the colours in the fields were subtle and the shadows were muted.

It started out about 3 degrees and reached about 18, but this could be a very hot place in the summer, up to 40 degrees. There were no villages for the 17km and no water fountains. At about the 12km mark there was a keenly anticipated food truck we had heard about. By coincidence we met Carolyn and John, Trish, Janie, Victoria and Craig there, so it was quite a little party.

Our destination today was Calzadilla de la Cueza. Several local towns are named Calzada or Calzadilla, meaning road, ie the Roman or pilgrim road. We joined a section of the original Roman road, Calzada Romana, the Via Aquitana. Still intact and used after 2000 years but with a new gravel topping. The road is in an area of wetland devoid of any stone for construction so they reckon 100,000 tons of rock came from elsewhere to provide a basecouse and raise the road above the flood level.

The town we are in has a permanent population of 60 but many times that when the pilgrims hit town. There are two large albergues and our hotel. The hotel has about 20 rooms and is run by one family. They front at reception, serve at the bar, service the rooms, do your laundry, prepare all the meals, serve in the restaurant, and all the time very friendly and accommodating. Before dinner we went for a walk round town. That took all of about 5 minutes.

Dinner can become quite rowdy affairs as the wine flows and everyone relaxes after the effort of the day. We were with Janie, Roger and Bryony (from the Hutt) and Karen and Alexis from the tablelands out of Cairns. Karen and Alexis like a beer, and not a small one. Unfortunately Karen has injured her foot so she and Alexis reduce their walking each day and get a cab. Getting a cab is easy. Walk into any bar or cafe and someone will have a cousin, or son in law, or uncle who has a cab. The going rate is one euro per kilometre.

Today was a milestone day. We have completed half our camino, 17 of 34 days walking, and somewhere today passed the halfway point in distance to Santiago . Our credentials are now half full.

Paul can’t believe the time has flashed by so quickly and we have come so far. He feels the time is going far too fast.

Barbara feels it has taken a long time to get this far and that means we have a long time to go.

A summation at the halfway mark:

It is more fun than we thought.
We are enjoying the journey and not thinking of the destination.
The comraderie, the food and coffee are wonderful.
The walking has been very pleasant.
We are healthy and uninjured, most bits are still working.
We are going at our pace in lovely conditions, great villages, great scenery, great weather, great trail.

Spoiler alert. The next photos will contain pictures of feet. Parental guidance is recommended.

Ipod theme song for today: The Wanderer by Dion

I’m the type of guy who likes to roam around
I’m never in one place, I roam from town to town

Day four on the meseta and we meet a different meseta. This could have been a soulless day, if that is possible on a pilgrimage. The traditional route was 20km on a path alongside the road, dead straight, dead flat, dead boring. An alternative was to turn off after 3km and do about 13km on a tree -lined riverside track offering both shade and silence. It had the disadvantage of missing the villages so no food or water but we decided to take it anyway.

The day started grey overcast and with a strong cold wind. There was a little rain so we put on our ponchos but soon the sky had cleared. For a while we walked with a lady from Victoria, Vancouver Island who was also a keen cyclist. She was in her 70s, this was her first trip to Europe and was walking with a younger friend who had agreed to accompany her. She and her husband were keen boaties (they had retired aged 46!) and new the San Juan Islands well so we had much to talk about.

The riverside walk was marvellous. Very pretty, very peaceful , just the croaking of frogs, the cuckoo of the coco birds and the wind rustling the poplar trees. A good day for quiet contemplation and a lot of people were walking on their own today.

It didn’t last forever though and for the last 6km from Villalcazar de Sirga to Carron de Los Condes we were back on the path alongside the road, dead straight, dead boring. The cold wind stayed with us all day quite strong and from the west straight into our faces. Far off to the north we could see snow on the mountains so maybe it was coming from somewhere there. Barbara put her poncho back on which kept her warm but it flapped all over the place. We walked through fields of bright green wheat about knee high. The wind was making the fields look like the waves on a choppy sea. I should have posted some video, it was quite mesmerising. I haven’t heard of people getting sea sick on the Camino, hundreds of kilometres inland, but it could be possible. 

There must be over a thousand churches on the Camino so we ration ourselves as to how many we visit. Yesterday we excelled and visited two. It was Sunday after all. The first was at Villalcazar de Sirga, the church of Santa Maria la Virgen Blanca. The white virgin. This had been a commandery of the Knights Templar and had been an enormous complex with a fortified tower, surrounding walls, gates, church, cloister, chapter houses, residences, pilgrims’ hospice, silos, stables etc. Most of this had been lost to earthquakes over the centuries but what remains is still pretty magnificent. It was also a great place to get in out of the wind and sit down and rest the legs. We didn’t think we should eat our lunch in there though.

The second church is here where we are staying in Carrion de Los Condes. Our hotel is located in the Moasterio de San Zoila. This is a monastery of major historic and artistic importance founded in the 10th century. It has a beautiful church but for me the best part was a magnificent renaissance cloister. The ceiling has hundreds of intricately carved busts of kings, saints, patriarchs, prophets angels and of course Santiago. It was a very serene place, totally cut off from the outside world. Of course there is a miracle associated with the church, a blind pilgrim was brought to the monastery to sleep, but instead he stood vigil before the church’s relics, and in the morning he found his sight restored.

The hotel is grand, luxurious, sumptuous. We pilgrims are not suffering much. In fact we feel a bit out of place. We come in a bit smelly, sweaty, grubby, mud on the boots, not dressed at all like the regular guests. The hotel with all its ultra modern facilities is very well integrated with the thousand year old monastery. The food is excellent every day but here the food has been the best. Of course being the best the portions are also the smallest. And the wine was only one third of a glass. No other pilgrims other than those who are guests of the hotel eat here. It is way too expensive.

We resisted the temptations of the devil and didn’t use the Ipods today but the theme tune was : Blowin’ in the wind by Bob Dylan

How many roads must a man walk down
Before you can call him a man
The answer my friend is blowin’ in the wind
The answer is blowin’ in the wind.

Our third day on the meseta and so far we are not finding it intimidating but quite interesting.

A few disgruntled pilgrims this morning. Breakfast wasn’t until 7.45 and there was a queue at the door waiting. Pilgrims like their breakfast at 7.00am or earlier if possible. When the days are hot they like to get started as early as possible. Breakfast was coffee, juice, yoghurt, toast and jam.

Castrojeriz was a fortified village on the side of an impregnable island hill in the middle of a wide fertile valley. Outside the town was ia path up to the plateau, just over 1km long and 12% grade. Enough to get a bit of a sweat up. On the hill we met our friend Trish from Nebraska. I asked her how many hills Nebraska had like this. Answer: none. Trish is on her own and this is her first time in Europe. At first we thought, wow what an introduction to Europe. But on reflection maybe it is good. Very safe for women on their own and plenty of company if you want it. Also you can get by with very little knowledge of Spanish.

At the top of the climb was a guy with a table of fruit, coffee, bars, Cola etc. We bought bananas and it was donativo. It’s funny how when the price is a donation you always pay way too much. You always get rid of your coins. To lighten the load of course. After going across the plateau for a while there was a steep descent, 18% for 350 metres down into another fertile valley. The path was straight down, wide and concrete. Many people zigzagged across the path which was a bit hair raising when the cyclists came screaming down at top speed.

After two and a half hours we were flagging a bit. That breakfast just didn’t have enough oomph and we were desperate for the next village. It duly arrived and the approach was about 1km along a river and under the shade of some very welcome trees. The first cafe in a  village always gets the most business from desperate pilgrims. The further into the village the less business. Approaching Itero de la Vega a lady was out standing in the sun touting for business for her cafe which was in the middle of town. We thought she deserved a chance so went there, as did many others.

There were now two and half hours of crossing a flat region with no shade. It is an extensive agricultural area with wheat, vegetables and wine. There are many streams and canals the irrigate the rich soil. For the first time on the Camino we got out our ipods and wired ourselves for sound. While getting things set up Bryony and Roger came by, kiwis from Lower Hutt who we first met in the Human Evolution Museum a few days ago. They were intrigued we had ipods and we kidded them the playlist was hymns, psalms and Gregorian chants but we did confess it was really Meat Loaf, Janis Joplin, Pink Floyd etc. The music did the trick and the time passed very quickly. The only problem is that with the music going you tend to speed up. It is really hard to walk slowly to a fast beat. Only when you are all alone are you permitted to sing out loud.

For the last hour we walked along the Canal de Castilla, an 18th century canal used for irrigation but also for transporting cultivated crops and power to turn the corn mills. The canal was tree lined which was welcome relief.

We are in Fromista which has a population of 840 and declining. It is best known for the beautiful Iglesia de San Martin (consecrated in 1066) which is said to be the best example of pure Romanesque in Spain. It has been de-consecrated, painstakingly restored and made a national monument. It is now a must-see site and is visited by endless bus loads of tourists. It does have exquisite proportions but somehow it has been restored too well. It is too clean, too straight, no stork nests, a bit lacking in charm and character.

It could have been an insufferably hot day today but our good fortune continues and we had passing cloud and a wonderful cooling wind that caressed us all day. But then on the Camino nothing is just good fortune, everything has been preordained.

Ipod theme song f of the day: Wired for Sound by Cliff Richard

I’ve liked small speakers -I’ve liked tall speakers
If they’ve music, they’re wired for sound.