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