Two more solitary days on the meseta

There are two kinds of towns on the meseta --those you see 15 kilometers ahead of you and you think you´ll never get there, and those that are hidden down in some little ravine that you can´t see till you actually get your head up to the top of the hill, and there it is right below you. I´ve had my fair share of both, and with no people anywhere in the horizon, just fields and fields and villages. The meseta may have the reputation of being the flattest place around, but it doesn´t hold a candle to Illinois. I am from flat, and this isn´t flat. It makes the walking much more interesting, up and down to little streams, around the ridge of some big depression in the terrain, step after step. And the fields of grain are all various shades of green and turning gold, and with the wind rustling through, you really do see those amber waves of grain.

The town of Villalon de Campos has a terrific albergue, in the house formerly used by the town priest (the town now has a priest who comes to town once a week or something like that), and a pretty square with a pillory that is not your ordinary plain place for tying people up.

The walk has been flat, from Villalon to Santervas del Campo, birthplace of Ponce de Leon and home to a beautiful romanesque church (closed of course).

But my solitary days are over. I am now officially back on the Camino Francés, where it´s like a moving sidewalk of people. Yesterday I squeezed two days walk into one, since I could not bear the thought of another night alone in a big albergue and a town of four or five people. So, 39 or 40 kilometers and one huge downpour later, I arrived in the town of Sahagún, where the Camino de Madrid officially ends and the Camino Francés begins.

It was a long hard slog, but well worth it. I called my friend Rebekah, who lives on the Camino about 12 kms from where I arrived. She came to pick me up and brought me back to her home right on the Camino. Since I had been sleeping alone for days, having my own bedroom wasn´t such a luxury, but having real fluffy towels and clean sheets was pretty special. Plus a yummy chicken curry dinner and some good red wine from the area just hit the spot. Rebekah keeps a blog and you can see what her life is like at moratinoslife.blogspot.com. It seems enticing and daunting at the same time, they have chickens and a garden, and a bodega and four dogs and a cat and a canary and they live in a town with a year round population of 15.

 

 

 

I am taking today "off" after yesterday´s ordeal and will start on the camino tomorrow, I´ll just get up early and walk back into Sahagún. I feel like a social misfit, not quite sure how to react to these lines of people pouring through their small town. It´s a shock to see them all, but I knew it was coming. 7 days to Ponferrada!