Today was a straightforward day with little navigation to be done. The route between the two places was the old Roman road. Although covered with new gravel, the road still has drainage ditches on both sides and is raised up.
There were no villages en route with just vast fields of wheat to look at. The road rose up slowly but only with an overall gain of around 30 metres to 870 m.
The flower of the day was Purple Viper’s Bugloss or Echium plantagineum. The vivid purple colour was a pleasure to enjoy.
We were pleased to see a marker stone showing 400 km to go to Santiago de Compastella. The total distance of the Camino Francés is 784 km so we are almost at the halfway point. Our distance today was 17.7 km.
The landscape around us has been very flat. We can see the foothills of the Picos de Europa to the north of us. To the west there are hints of the mountains to come.
As we walk we share Buen Camino! with other pilgrims. Sometimes we have conversations with others but much of the time is spent with one’s own thoughts. Events in the past, current issues to be dealt with and plans for the future. It is refreshing to let the mind wander as it will.
Yesterday I had a good chat with a Canadian woman who has self-published a trilogy of books. It was good to share a love of reading. We had both very much enjoyed Piranesi by Susanna Clarke. Lisa recommended Babel by R F Kuang which I actually have on my Kindle. So that’s one to read next.
It’s been a shorter day today so we’ve enjoyed a quiet afternoon. One more walking day before we have a rest day in Sahagún. Then three days of walking to León where we have another day off.
Julian and Beryl's camino 