Tardajos to Hornillos del Camino

Today’s total: 22.8km in just under 6 hours.

So I’ve survived my first day of walking. Just arrived at Hornillos, where a bed was waiting for me with a friendly welcome in the Municipal Albergue.

Second half harder than the first. Quite a bit of up and down, as the path took us properly into the Meseta. The Meseta is the plains or plateau across a lot of central Spain. Endless wheat fields and sunflower fields, and some where they could be growing rocks. The wheat has been harvested already, with high stacks of straw bales dotted about.

Leaving Tardajos mid-morning, the bells of the local church were ringing out strongly, and the sound carried far across the fields.

I found a tiny hermitage chapel just on the way out of the next village, Rabé de las Calzadas, where a tiny nun leapt up from her phone to greet me with gusto. She asked if I was a peregrino (I said yes) and she presented me with a small necklace of Mary, the mother of Jesus, in whose name the chapel is dedicated. She then laid her hands on my head (I had to bend down so she could reach) and she prayed a prayer of blessing, mostly in Spanish and a few words of English. A special moment.

About halfway through the second half of the journey, I reached the Fuente de Praotorre, a shady oasis in a small copse, with a water pump, the sort you have to prime with water left from the last people to use the pump and then pump like crazy until the gurgling turns into flowing water. You have to first refill the priming bottle and then you can take what you need.

After the Fuente, I spent most of the remaining 6 km into Hornillos chatting with a lady from Ohio, and a Danish couple, each of whom started at St Jean at the foot of the Pyrenees.

Have met a range of nationalities today. Several Australians, quite a few Canadians and Americans. A few Spanish and some French too. And others with whom we only exchanged greetings: Buen Camino!

After checking into the albergue, I found some food and have enjoyed a couple of cold beers in the shade! And I’ve just been chatting some more with the Danish couple I met earlier.Baca lagi