She's Gone Walkabout

It was an interesting and varied walk today and mostly flat. At times I thought we could be back in Australia with the vast open fields of wheat stubble. But the wheat stubble was interrupted by paddocks of sunflowers in various stages of growth so I knew that I hadn’t been morphed back home.

A long section of the walk was on a path that paralleled the road. We stopped at Villalcazar de Sirga and sat outside at a bar in front of the church of Santa Maria la Blanca and ordered cafe con leches. It was then I saw and heard the Bibliobus drive past. I couldn’t resist and I followed it around the corner. It stopped just out of sight on the road near the church and I ventured inside telling them in English that in Australia I too had been a mobile library driver. They nodded and smiled at me and made me feel welcome but I don’t think they understood what I was saying.

The church of Santa Maria la Blanca began at the end of the 12th century when the medieval name of the town was Villasirga. The temple-fortress was built by the Knights Templar who helped protect the pilgrims bound for the holy land.

After visiting the biblibus and the Santa Maria church I needed a drink with a fellow pilgrim.

Interpreter Dave gave his stock reply to the tall pretty dark haired young girl that was waiting for me to acknowledge that she had spoken to me. Oh she won’t hear you she’s deaf. How do I say Buen Camino to her she asked. Interpreter Dave being a level one interpreter finger spelled it for her. She was lost after the first couple of letters. Is there a sign for Buen Camino she asked. He asked me and we thought about it for a few moments. Well Buen is Good and Camino can be represented by the letter C so, a good sign -fist closed thumb up- that flowed into the letter C. She liked that and signed me a Buen Camino and walked on. I was extremely touched.

Tonight we are staying at the Monostarie Santa Clara in Carrión de los Condes. There is a museum on the same site that contains many pieces of religious artwork.

The town is interesting with a large portion of the city wall still in use. There are several old churches one dating back to 1126.

While catching up with friends in one of the many bars there was a local game of cards in progress. The players were happy to have an audience and explain the game. What was hard was getting used to the elaborately designed cards and the suits of swords, clubs, coins and cups.

There were a few things today that I was looking forward to seeing. The first one that I couldn’t find was the ruins of the 12th century Franciscan Abbey. Next was the best preserved stretch of an original Roman Road. I could see that the road was well elevated above the surrounding countryside but that was about it. It is amazing that it is still in use after 2000 years but now it has been gravelled over so the surface of the original road is no longer visible.

No. 3 was the Fuente del Hospitalejo and it wasn’t till I was walking on that I saw the now unusable fountain. The rest area and the signage was good but the small building behind the table was not obvious at first. Here at the Fuente is a small area of remaining wetland.

For most of the 9 kilometres along this stretch the walk it is flat with little shade and nothing inbetween save for the small Bar Oasis.

And oasis it is. We treated ourselves to cafe con leches and sat at a bench. Unknowingly Clumsy Dave put his coffee down on a broken board and the coffee spilt towards the young man sitting opposite. I asked him if he was OK hoping that the coffee hadn’t burnt him. He seemed to be unscathed and as Clumsy Dave tried to clean up the mess the young man grabbed the nearly empty coffee cup, explained the dilemma to the hostess and returned with a refilled coffee for Clumsy Dave. The simplest acts sometimes have the greatest value.

At Calzadilla de la Cueza a bit of fun.

Arriving at Ledigos we checked into our accommodation and checked out the town. We had a great view from the church high on the hill. The 13th century church showed obvious signs of several modifications over the centuries since it was first built. In one of the old annexes farm machinery along with a drum of John Deere tractor oil was being stored.

We woke to thunder and lightning this morning. I was thinking that maybe a rest day would be nice. I checked the hourly weather forecast. Rain expected until 7:30. Perfect timing. The morning had been all noise and show and the rain hadn’t hung around so the morning was dry as we ventured out. An hour later and we were at Terradillos de los Templarios, the half way mark from St Jean Pied de Port to Santiago. Half Way Dave tried to show a little enthusiasm but that was ok as I was excited enough for the both of us

We walked on through Terradillos de los Templarios and past the albergue Jacques de Molay which was named after the last of the Grand Masters of the Knights Templar. Jacques de Molay had lead the order from 1298 until it was dissolved by Pope Clement V in 1312.

A Templar flag flies in the courtyard of the albergue.

Looking back from where we came this morning and the sky was dramatic and beautiful.

Coming into Moratinos and I exclaimed oh look Hobbit Houses.

We decided to check out the Hobbit House. On a board in English was information about them. The first line read

No the Hobbits don’t live here!

But in short these are Bodegas. They say some may be 500 years old. Vineyards once covered this area and families made and stored their own wine in their Bodegas. Nowadays the Bodegas that are still in use are used as party rooms and storage areas.

Coming into Sahagun and many pilgrims took the direct route down the highway into town. We opted to follow the arrows and we were so glad we did. We came to a beautiful old bridge that crossed a dry creek that lead to a small church. There was a very helpful lady there who gave us a map of the route through town and a walking tour to visit the old monasteries and churches.

But the bonus was that several meters in front off the church there were two statues that marked the half way point between Santiago and St Jean Pied de Port. Half Way Dave got to share my enthusiasm for the second time in one day.

We made it a short day and stayed in Sahagun, once again beating the rain. But mad dogs and well a couple of hungry Aussies decided to go out in the rain and try to track down the only food market that was open during siesta time. After a soaking and a failure to find the market we decided to return home. The rain had cleared, our map was unreadable and wrong directions from a local left us a long way from home. As the thunder rumbled it’s warnings we desperately tried to find a familiar landmark. On the positive side our clothes had dried but looked to be in peril of another soaking. Finally a local that knew where we were going and we made it home dry and the thunder was all noise and no show. Feeling like we now knew Sahagún and with a new map in hand we ventured out on the walking tour of the churches and monasteries.

Sahagún dates back to the 8th century. The original monastery Saint Benedict was begun at the same time but was later destroyed by the Arabians. The monastery was rebuilt in the 10th century and dedicated to the Saints Jacundo and Primativo. It was once one of the most important abbeys in the Iberian Peninsular. It’s decline began in the 15th century and it was nearly totally destroyed by fire in the 19th. Sahagún is now an agricultural village but it has become the cultural and historical region of the Land of Fields -Terra de Campos.