Day 26

Calzadilla de la Cueza to Sahagún - 23 kms
6 May 2019

There's something indescribable about starting out in the early morning.  The air is fresh and the world is quiet apart from the birds trying out their vocal cords. Then the sun rises and casts a golden glow over everything. A cuckoo calls on one side of us then another, in front or behind us, a breeze moves the tops of the green crops and we're part of it all. This morning we saw a deer running across a ploughed field, it ran right in front of us, crossed the road and into the trees on the other side. There are no fences here, just vast areas in crops. It certainly makes it easy for the deer to move about.
Today's walk took us through four villages: Ledigos where we had a hot chocolate, Terradillos de Los Templarios, Moratinos where we had freshly squeezed orange juice and San Nicolás del Real Camino where we bought some bananas.
After the villages we had a long hot walk to Sahagún. As we neared Sahagún a bright green lizard crossed our pathway in front of us - it was about 25 cms long and quite fat.
Today we passed the halfway point of our Camino. John Brierley states in his guide book: Terradillos de los Templarios approximates to the halfway point between St Jean Pied de Port and Santiago de Compostela. Amazing.

Leaving Calzadilla de la Cueza

We often see ruins or part of a structure such as this and wonder what it's history is. What was it's function, who built it and how did the people live back then...

We saw these markers all along our walk today and have no idea what they are.

In Ledigos

This bar at Ledigos was our first stop for the day. This group of locals were chatting non-stop.

In Terradillos de los Templarios

Moratinos 

A hill in Moratinos had doorways set into it right around it's base. They were/are bodegas - caves in the hillside which were originally used for wine storage. Some are still used today to store wine plus foodstuff.

This bodega is Pappy's house. He has a bit of work to restore it but when he's finished he will have a warm snug house.

One of the many air vents of the bodegas.

In Moratinos

A palomar - a dovecote

Walking into San Nicolás del Real Camino

This bus pulled in to San Nicolás del Real Camino just as we were leaving. It tooted madly and a woman walked out of a house with a pile of books - it was a mobile library.

Nearing Sahagún

Sahagún in the far distance

A pilgrim in Sahagún

Jeff and Phil enjoying a beer in Sahagún. We had crisscrossed Phil all day. We would stop at a cafe and Phil would walk past, then he would stop and we passed him...  then we found him here in Sahagún so joined him at this cafe for a while. Northern Irish John was with us here for a while too.

We visited the Sanctuary of the Virgin Pilgrim, now a museum and we were issued with a certificate for having reached the geographical centre of the Camino Francés.

Inside the sanctuary/museum.