Sahagun to Hermanillos de Los Templarios

We enjoyed our little room and breakfast at Los Balcones del Camino this morning.  Having a private bath and shower two days in a row spoiled me big time!  We left for our walk to Hermanillos at 9:00. It was about 3 miles to the little town of Calzada del Coto where the old Roman Road started.  From that point on we didn't see another pilgrim until we arrived at our destination.  We were out in the boonies....no farms or towns or fountains.  We did walk through a large stand of oak and beech trees but the sun was right behind us and we were going due west, so there was no shade.  It was flat and we made good time.  It was flat until just before Hermillos...there we found a long steady uphill for over a mile into town.  My shin is pretty well healed but it took four adjustments on my shoes and orthotics to make my two littles toes on my right foot happy.

We made a couple of short stops for a break and some water and arrived by noon, just as it was really getting warm.  As you enter the little town there are three beautiful homes, all built in very nice compounds.  One had its own chapel, a wonderful garden, and what looked like a guest house.  Another one wasn't as big but had a wonderful colorful garden in immaculate order.  The third was was a large home and appeared to have a huge finished walkout basement.  All three very impressive.  There are two hotels and then the Municipal Alburgue.  We have our bunks in the Muni.

We went to buy supplies for tomorrow as there are no towns, no villages, no farmyards, no houses, no water fonts, and little shade tomorrow...15.2 miles. We plan to leave as early as possible so we can get there before the sun gets too hot.  Fortunately it is a level walk on the Via Romana. This is considered "the most perfect extant stretch of Roman road left in Spain."  We follow in the footsteps of Emporer Augustus himself!  I think it will seem longer with no markers to look forward to along the way.  We will meet up with the alternate route in Mansilla de las Mulas tomorrow afternoon.

We walked thru town and had lunch.  There are many really nice houses and many mud and straw
houses...some nicely done and some not so nice.  There is one small, but historic, church in town. It is dedicated to Saint Bartholomew.  I saw my very first dandelions here in this little town.  I also saw a John Deere tractor in town...reminded me to report that Spain has many many John Deere tractors and a great variety of other types of John Deere equipment.   There must be a plant here somewhere!

I forgot to report yesterday that we saw ONE vineyard in the midst of the hay and straw.  It had four large scarecrow type figures in it....only they were all dressed and positioned to look like they were men harvesting grapes.  That's the first time we saw that!  Not sure if it is effective or not, but it looked kind of cute!

Spent some time praying along the way...for my toes, lots of special needs for friends, the families of the men killed on the Camino yesterday, some pilgrims we have met with deep needs, and also for Cedarly.  We haven't heard anything about what is happening on that front since we left home.  Andy and I talked a little bit about how we feel now that we have finished a little over half of the Camino.  Mostly we feel grateful...not just for the accomplishment, but for how God has blessed us, provided for us, encouraged us, and been with us.  His promises are true!  We have seen them at work in our lives and in the lives of others.

We also talked about the challenges ahead.  There are three more days that are 19 to 20 miles.  We have already decided that we will split the two that are back to back into three days.  The other one we will probably just have to plod through.  Mel Lawrenze once described plodding as "putting one foot in front of the other".

Only two choices for dinner tonight...the two hotels in town.  Will go early as we need to get to bed early.  There are lots of new faces in town...we have met up with the Camino Route from Madrid now.  Will be interesting to hear their stories.  Someone asked me if news travels along the Camino.  The only examples I can think of are the robbery that happened in an Albergue we stayed in and the men killed along the way near Santiago.  Most of us aren't spending much time reading the news on the Internet.

I better go check on Andy.  It's four o'clock and if  he sleeps too much longer he may not sleep tonight.  Should also go check on my laundry drying in the sun our back of the Albergue.  The little old guy who runs runs this place keeps track of what everyone is doing....and is in charge of everyone keeping all the rules. He only speaks Spanish and I have seen/heard him call out orders to quite a few different people!  He doesn't seem to notice they don't understand him, but they do know he is not happy with them!

The outside of the Municipal Albergue where we stayed.