El Camino de Santiago - 2017

Day 13: Carrión de los Condes to Terradillos de los Templarios

Michelle wrote:
19 Sept. Tuesday
Today we walked the 26 km!  We left Carrion de los Condes at 7:30 am and arrived at our albergue, Los Templarios, at 2:30 pm. It was a LONG straight road most of the day and there were a LOT of pilgrims strung all along the camino.  We only passed through 2 towns during those 26 km.  The first one was Calzadilla de la Cueza and it was 17.3 km from Carrion.  We made several stops in the bushes before we got to Calzadilla!  We took snacks with us to eat along the way and to keep our energy up.  The other town was Ledigos which was only 3 km from Terradillos de los Templarios, so we were motivated to keep going.  We met a nice young man from Denmark on the road and enjoyed talking with him.  His English was very good and he had interesting ideas he liked to talk about. He had been active in Boy Scouts for 15 years and told us about the programs they have in Denmark.  Talking with him made the time and distance pass much more quickly.  Curtis and I took the more remote optional path from Calzadilla.  We were the only ones on that road.  It wasn’t as beautiful as some of the other routes we’ve taken, but it wasn’t right along the highway and it was nice and quiet.  

The weather has been perfect. It is not so cold in the morning now, and the sun warms us up quickly.  It is sunny and in the 70’s in the afternoon.  Great for drying clothes on the line!  We are really surprised at the scarcity of sheep, cattle, horses. etc.  We saw so many more animals in Navarra.  We have only seen one flock of sheep and a few cows at a dairy.  No more grapes or olives, either.  Just huge fields of hay and some alfalfa.   This albergue had a great big clothesline in the back yard.  I enjoyed sitting in the sun while waiting for the clothes to dry.  Curtis had to sit in a certain spot inside the albergue to have access to the wifi.  We had a private room at the end of the hall.  It was nice and peaceful, even though the flies have been annoying this year.   Note:  the guidebook says we are approximately half way to Santiago from St. Jean!

Day 13, El Camino 2017
We hiked 27.3 km today. That is the longest we've ever done in one day. Our next long day is Monday, when we leave Leon: 21km to the next town.  The map below (from Gronze.com) shows a total of 26.3km but it does not include the "opcion" section where we walked along a road through the briars and brambles, and away from the highway, between Calzadilla de la Cueza and Ledigos.  Previously when we had taken the optional path, we could see pilgrims walking along the default path at the edge of the highway.  This time, though, we could not see the highway and we did not see anyone else the whole time we were on the optional path.  Consiquently we went through a little bit of anxiety.  We were so accostumed to being around other hikers (mostly passing us) that the lack of company was disconcerting.  It was also disconcerting that we only saw one Camino sign on this optional path.




Thinking back about Carrion de los Condes, it's not as bad as the name makes it sound. We found a couple of shops where we really had to cinch down the credit card because it was very eager to jump out and get used. We only bought one shirt and a travel towel to replace the one that is hanging on the clothes line above the choir loft of the cathedral in Grañon (it's in the attic). Wait, that's not quite right. We also stopped at a pharmacy and bought some foot care products and some Alka Seltzer.

At first, the route exiting Carrion de los Condes is along a paved road.  Eventually it becomes a dirt road.  Nearer to town, the fields are smaller and bordered by trees and bushes.  Further from town, the fields are huge.

Looking back towards the sun rising behind Carrion de los Condes - and the pilgrims following us.

The fields are bordered by trees nearer to town.

The next two pictures are from the same spot.

Looking forward towards Calzadilla de la Cueza

Looking backward toward Carrion de los Condes

In the next photo Michelle is still smiling despite the sore feet. She is definitly strong willed. This is at a bench adjacent the water fountain on the right side of the road, at the entrance to Calzadilla de la Cueza.

As mentioned above, leaving Calzadilla de la Cueza, we had the option to follow a path that did not run adjacent to the highway.  Being that the previous time we had this opportunity it turned out to be a very good decision, we chose the optional path.

Part of the optional path cut through the bushes

It's interesting how you can get accostumed to regular affirmations that you're doing the right thing.  When those affirmations are missing, it can be quite distressing.  On this optional path there was only one (1) yellow arrow confirming that we were on the camino.  Granted, that single yellow arrow was at the only place where we could have gone the wrong direction.  I was worried that we had taken the wrong road when we left the main camino.  We saw no other hikers on this section.  We saw one vehicle driving through the fields at a distance.  We, in fact, were lonely.  Quite strange, huh.

The single yellow arrow indicating the Camino on the optional path between Calzadilla de la Cueza and Ledigos.

This is where the optional path joins the main Camino

It was a relief when the optional path came in sight of the main Camino.  We could see other hikers, so we knew that all our walking through the wilderness was not in vain. 

The day before this we had investigated staying at the next town, Ledigos, but the inn was full.  

Entrance to Ledigos

It turns out that we got a better deal anyway.  A few kilometers further down the road from Ledigos is Terradillos de los Templarios.  

Approaching Terradillos de los Templarios

The albergue on the outskirts of Terradillos

 The albergue there is new and the hospitaleros (the staff) were very good.  They made us feel welcome and we got a nice room with our own bathroom... aaahhh.  The clothesline over the lawn was huge.  On a sunny, breezy day like this one, the clothes dried quickly.

Real green grass and a clothes line that matches the number of guests in the albergue

 After the routine tasks of showering, doing the laundry and updating the family via Whatsup, Facebook and email, we took a walk through the town.

Adobe-like walls and paved streets with curbs. CLEAN
One more interesting note: no graffiti like in the cities.

The walls of many buildings are essentially mud with straw.  One would think that would erode quickly in a rainstorm.

This kind of wall was common in this town and the next ones we passed through for two days.

A layer of stucco and white wash with flowers in the windows raises the standard on this building.