El Camino de Santiago - 2017

Day 14: Terradillos de los Templarios to Sahagún

Michelle wrote:
20 Sept. Wednsday

The first of 2 dairies that we would come
across on the Camino.  We could hear
a calf bawling for its mama.  She was
just around the corner in the barn.

We slept late today and didn’t leave Terradillos until 8:30 am!  After a short 3 km walk, we stopped for breakfast in Moratinos, a very interesting village.  It had 2 palomares and very old, but cool bodegos cut into a hill.  They looked like hobbit houses!  They date back to possibly Roman times and were used as cellars.  Families still use them today.  We saw our friend Cathy from Seattle again.  That was a fun surprise and we walked with her and another woman, Mariana from British Columbia, to San Nicolas del Real Camino.  On the way we saw a clever sign advertising the 2nd Bar.   We thought that was funny since we like to stop at the 2nd bars in the villages because the first bars are always crowded.  We found the 2nd Bar in San Nicolas and it is the cutest albergue/cafe we have seen.  It had lots of flowers in pots, fun art work, crocheted cushions, nice music, etc.  A great place to stop and relax.  The owners were very nice. One of them had done the artwork.  

 From San Nicolas we walked through the fields instead of along the highway and it was very pleasant and warm.  

We crossed the N-120 and stopped to rest at the Virgin del Puente ermita.  It is a small church that has been preserved.  They claim that THIS is the halfway point between St. Jean and Santiago.  We then walked into Sahagun and finally found our hostel Escarcha.  It is an older building that looked like it was a nice and happening place a few decades ago.   The bar area seemed a  little sketchy and I wouldn’t have eaten there if they were serving food.  Our room upstairs was comfortable and the bathroom was nice.  We showered, washed the clothes and hung them out in a nice courtyard.  Then we went exploring.  We saw other pilgrims we had met before, found a little store where we bought ham & cheese empanadas, gazpacho, drinks and stuff for breakfast.  We ate in a small plaza and fed crumbs to the birds.  Then Curtis got a shave at a real barber!  His beard was trimmed up well and his skin was so soft after the shave.  Nice job Barber of Sahagun!  We walked around town for a bit and decided to call it a night.  We have to leave early in the morning so we can get to El Burgo Ranero (17.7 km) early enough to get beds.  The places that take reservations are full.  There are 2 albergues that are first come, first served.  Not our favorite kinds of places, but we can’t live in luxury all the time.

Leaving Terradillos shortly after sunrise

Select this link to see the inside of the bar where we ordered breakfast.

Curtis writes:

Classic Breakfast at Hostal Moratinos

We were again among the last to leave the albergue.  Later we would learn that true pilgrims expect to suffer on this journey.  We did not.  Hence, we did not suffer to give up on sleep.

It was a 3.4km hike to breakfast in the next town, Moratinos.  What a surprise it was to find Cathy from Seattle finishing her breakfast at Hostal Moratinos.  We had first met Cathy coming out of Logroño on our first day this year.

We had noticed a few cellars along the trail: mounds of dirt with a chimney and a door.  But at Moratinos, they had taken it to a whole new level.  Apparently hundreds of years ago, this region was covered with grape vines, part of a wine culture that dates back 2000 years to the Romans.  Every family had their own cellar where they would process and store the grapes.  At Moratinos, several families had combined their cellars (bodegas) under one big hill.  No one knows how old these particular bodegas are, but some of the equipment found in them, and the stories told about them, go back 500 years.

The bodegas (cellars) at Moratinos

It was fun to see how the families had customized the entrances to their bodegas (cellars):

Legend says they were dug in wintertime, a pastime for children who could keep warm and occupied scooping out the soft clay.  Once exposed to air, the earth hardened to a stony finish, strong enough to support the waste earth that was raised in buckets through a chimney ventilation shaft and dumped out to form the roof of the present "Castillo".

Another set of more modern structures that caught Michelles attention was a pair of dove cotes (palomares).

Dove cotes framing a lonely tree on the hill behond.

Leaving Moratinos, we had 2.6km to go to San Nicolas del Real Camino.

Michelle walking with Mariana between San Nicolas del Real Camino and Sahagún.
The lonely tree is seen in the previous picture between the dove cotes.

We got a hint of something interesting in San Nicolas when we came across this sign:

Approaching San Nicolas del Real Camino

We had started skipping the first bar in town to avoid the crowds and just to give the other guys a chance.  This time we were well rewarded.  The second bar was indeed cool.

Inside the 2nd bar in San Nicolas

After walking acros the dry and yellow meseta, greenery and flowers are captivating.

Another time we will have to spend the night there.  On this trip we bought orange juice and snacks.  There were still 6.9km to go before reaching Sahagun.

Michelle, Mariana and Cathy in San Nicolas

Saying good bye to the 2nd Bar

On the outskirts of Sahagun (such a strange name - I should research where it comes from because it does not fit with most Spanish)...approaching Sahagun is a small chapel with the claim to being the half-way point between Saint Jean Pied de Port and Santiago.  We crossed several "half-way" points.  When you think about it, all along the Camino, we were "half-way" between there and somewhere else.

We've just crossed the halfway point.

Our albergue in hostal in Sahagun was nothing remarkable - I didn't get a picture of it.  Dinner from the small grocery store was simple.  We enjoyed it on a park bench at Plaza Gral. Mola.

Dinner on the park bench in Sahagun.

Michelle is holding my new favorite chocolate milk from Asturias.  

Link to this spot in Google Maps

Some men shave before dinner.  I was shaved after dinner.

Getting a shave from a barber with personal experience

I can see that some guys would wonder about getting a haircut from a bald barber, but if you're just getting a shave, it totally makes sense.  He did a fine job.  I would go back - if it weren't so far.