Quote for the day: “There is no other place to learn that time is our school, where we learn that our reality is the only distance we cover. To the next village or the next patch of shade.” From a poster in the Church of the “Virgen Peregrina”, Sahagún, Spain.
The church mentioned above is in the process of being restored. It was a convent dating back to the 12th century. It celebrates the women who walk the Camino. It’s history is based on a legend where a weary Pilgrim who wanted to abandon his Camino was greeted and escorted to the town of Sahagún for refuge by a woman, who is then revealed to be the statue on the altar you see in the picture below...
Yesterday, we arrived in Sahagún, Spain, which is celebrated as the mid point on the Camino. If you visit the church above, they will give you a certificate of half completion of the Camino. We had to present our Pilgrim passport and our real passports. For that, (and a few euros) we received a very nice certificate. At each stop along the Camino, the proprietors have stamp for your Pilgrim Passport. This is so you can receive credentials at the end.
We had dinner at a little pub near our hotel last night with friends we met in Logrono who are from New Zealand, Kari and Johnno. Here they are leaving dinner and walking into the sunset.
So a few observations:
- Pig farming has the same odor in the states as in Spain.
- We hear a rooster when we leave almost every small town. And dogs, who are very friendly.
- There are lots of bird sounds as we leave towns, and then crows as we enter crop land.
- We left Sahagún (population 2800) and are spending the night in El Burgo Ranero (population 250). Not much to do here.
- Saw a big wooly caterpillar today.
- 600 milligrams of ibuprofen solves a lot of problems.
- Very sad looking sunflower fields. The heads are droopy, brown and spindly.
- Steve and I are getting much better at ordering vodka in Spanish.
The walk today was along the highway, so I didn’t get good pictures of the walk, but a few good pictures when we arrived in this town. Short walk today....only 11.5 miles. Total 277.
The name of our Hotel is Piedras Blancas. Sort of reminds us of Pedros South of the Border of NC and SC.
You have to love a bathroom with a bidet, a purple plastic shower curtain, orange flowers on the tub floor and lace on the towel border.
Jean from Quebec City and Joy from New Zealand.
Steve ordered some beer for lunch. We got little beers. We were in a little town. The lady though it was very funny and so did we!!!
Tomorrow we are off to Mansilla, one days walk from Leon.
Comments