San Esteban de Gormaz

Today’s walk was a little longer than the last few days. My GPS showed almost 34 km, but that’s also because I took a few detours to visit a church and to go to a grocery store.

If I didn’t have a day like this one, it would not be a Camino for me. This was a day when I sort of went on auto pilot in my own little bubble. The rhythm of my steps as replicated by my hiking poles and the pat pat of my feet was all that I could hear . So there I was, just me and my thoughts — no spectacular landscape, no outstanding historical or cultural monuments, just putting one foot in front of the other. No earth-shattering thoughts either, just thinking about whatever came my way. My mom’s birthday is in a few days, so I thought about her a lot.

There were a few distractions — an 8 inch green lizard, an apple orchard with dark netting all across the top, a few small towns, and a few tractors out in the fields. This was the first time, really, that I had seen farm vehicles. Though the drought is still very much in effect here, I think they have a bit more optimistic forecast for at least some of their crops.

Today I crossed the Douro/Duero on arrival into San Esteban de Gormaz. I went quickly to see if I could find an open supermarket (it’s Sunday). We are very low on food supplies, and tomorrow we will be sleeping in a town with absolutely no services. We’ve been carrying canned tuna and instant soup in our packs for a few days, but I was hoping to find some fruit and yogurt.

I found an open store, went inside, and asked about fruit. No fruit in the store, the owner told me. But there is another store about 600 m away, which is also open till 2pm, and which sells fruit. The wife of the owner volunteered to take me in her car to their competitor to buy my supplies. She invited me to their house for lunch (I declined) and also took me on a tour of the town. Finally, she took me up to the place where we were staying and insisted that she had to take off her house slippers when I took her picture. A really special woman.

Clare and I had a decent menú del día in a crowded restaurant, where a family was celebrating the 94th birthday of their patriarch. He started to cry when they sang happy birthday. It made me think of my own parents and brought a few tears to my eyes too.

After lunch, I headed up to the castle, or should I say, what used to be the castle. Lining the ascent, there are hundreds of bodegas (small wine, cellars built into the hills), which is not surprising since we are in Ribera del Duero territory. Two beautiful Romanesque churches here, both locked up but both with typical Romanesque capitals.

I am expecting that tomorrow will be similar to today. Maybe a little longer and with a little more ascent, but basically a very similar terrain. Czytaj więcej