A corny few days…
Sunday, September 18th
Carrion to Calzadilla
Weather: warm and sunny
We continued walking along the gravel tracks of the Sendas this morning with huge areas of corn fields on either side of the Way. You can see in the photos that the track it is pretty straight; it seems to go on for many kilometres. In actual fact today was only 17.3 km (10.5 miles) and including stops I was in Calzadilla well before lunchtime.
I’d arranged to meet Mieke on the way for coffee but that did not materialise as she was ahead of me and there was only one coffee stop all the way which was too early. So we eventually met up in Calzadilla and had coffee there. She was walking on to Terradillos, about 7.5km (5 miles) from Calzadilla, so as I had the afternoon to while away I walked with her to her accommodation, and then back again. So all in all my very short day became much longer, with a total of about 32km (20 miles)!
I’ve had dinner tonight with Patrick and Debbie who I’d met before. It turns out that Patrick did a degree in geology so we chatted about that for most of the evening, particularly about the specific geology of the area that we’re walking in.
Tomorrow is another short day of about 22.5k (14miles) but I hope to get to my accommodation before the Queen’s funeral so I can see that.
Footnote — we are now past the halfway mark of our journey, quite amazing!
Monday 19th of September
Calzadilla to Sahagun
Weather: Sunny all day.
Today has been a very short day and I managed to arrive at my accommodation in time to see most of the Queen’s funeral.
It was a slightly boring walk today as a lot was alongside the main road, although I’ve tried to show some of the surrounding countryside in the photos.
Sahagun is the seat of great ecclesiastical power although many of the buildings have now disappeared. Wikipedia has plenty of interesting info about it here. The town has its foundations in the Roman past and we’ve walked along parts of the Roman wall today.
Tomorrow I go on to El Burgo Ranero, a walk of 20.3km (12.5miles)
Tuesday 20th of September
Sahagun to El Burgo Ranero
Weather: Warm and sunny
Sahagun is an interesting town clearly steeped in history. I’ve lost count of the number of churches that are in the town but some of the buildings are in the photographs.
I called in at the information centre prior to leaving and received a certificate indicating that I was officially halfway on my journey to Santiago.
So after more photos I returned to the footpath out of town, and then instead of following the official Camino français, I walked the Camino Romani as a variation. This was across country with vast fields that have been in corn crop. You can see one photograph looking somewhat like the Sahara (although to be fair I’ve never actually been to the Sahara..!)
An interesting walk today with some new people, in particular Maddie from Nebraska in the US, and I also came across Stacia writing a message in stone on the way.
I arrived at my accommodation this afternoon and had an interesting conversation with Chuck, again from the US, about British politics and the Queen’s funeral. As ever, every day is different.
