• ShaunLCCamino de Santiago - May 2025Traveler
    1A lot more references coming through about the Knights Templar
    We're still moving forward. We agreed to go easy on the blisters today.2My walking buddy for the morning, Te Aroha from Kawakawa, getting a wax stamp in the passport.More peaceful vistasIn the breadbasket of Spain the agricultural sector is busyRight next to the road into Sahagún, but a nice pleasant borderMedieval bridge crossing to hermitage of the Virgen del Puente1The official half way point, at San BernardoAt San BernardoAt San BernardoThe street murals of SahagúnIs that me?!This mural captured the culture wellThe Arco de San Benito, complete with stork nest and chicks (right of the peak)More storks and chicksSantuario de la Peregrina, where I got my half way certificate1The Codex Calixtinus, the 4th volume of which laid out the pilgrimage route which is still followedThe chapel of the Santuario de la Peregrina

    Day 19 - 🎶 I will walk 500 miles 🎶

    May 17 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 9 °C

    Ledigos to Sahagún
    17.2km
    Accumulated distance 455.2km
    Today was going to be a red letter day, I was hitting half way at Sahagún. After the false hope of yesterday I was pretty excited. As the song says, “I will walk 500 miles”, now that I’ve got to half way I’m starting to feel like it might just happen,
    It was a perfect day, chilly at first with blue skies and no wind. I decided to treat myself, go slow, look for flat walking surfaces, and be kind to my blisters.
    I met Te Aroha a short way into the walk, she was going slow and I was the first kiwi she’d met so we decided to stick together, after she gave me a great big hug. She was recovering from a stent so her pace suited me perfectly.
    We had a coffee stop at a bar where a guy was giving out hot wax stamps for donations, awesome.
    Te Aroha didn’t last too much longer and took early lunch, I pushed on, the path and going was good. I even walked on the roads to ease the pressure on my feet, which I think was a good move.
    Just before Sahagún I bumped into Judy from Wellington, 2 kiwis on the same day, how good, and she even has family in Cambridge.
    We shared the momentous half way point together and swapped photos, then the last few km into town.
    After settling into my accommodation a quick whip around town and then down to the Santuario de la Peregrina to get my half way certificate and a look through the monastery, where I even saw the original Codex Calixtinus which set out the original pilgrimage route to Santiago in the 1100s.
    The moment of the day was hitting half way, and metaphorically everything is downhill from here, as long as the body hold out.    Read more