Walking the Camino de Santiago
Although the photo is grainy and looks like it came from a camera built in the 1970s, it’s a lovely representation of the feel of this portion of the Meseta. When we passed this spot in 2016, the picnic tables were under the waters of the hundred-year floods. In most years, though, it’s a great spot for a packed lunch. […]
» Read moreSometime in the last month or so, my blog software began quietly failing to display comments. Oh, they’re still in the database – I can see them from the backend just fine – but they’re not appearing on the actual posts. I’m working on fixing this. My apologies to those folks who have commented and wondered where their comments have […]
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This might be the flattest part of the flat plateau known as the Meseta. Here’s the truth of it: everyone who walks the Meseta walks alone in their thoughts, which naturally turn to the infinite, to the divine. Eventually, you may find yourself speaking aloud in a land where a hemisphere of blue sky meets a hemisphere of green grass. […]
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After leaving Calzadilla de la Cueza, the Camino spends some time next to the N-120 highway. In the distance, you can see what appear to be Hobbit holes. These are bodegas, underground storage most often used as wine cellars. Although they are ubiquitous on the Meseta, these are the first major ones we sighted. Date: 16 April 2013Place: Between Calzadilla de […]
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Although much of the village of Calzadilla de la Cueza is seemingly abandoned, there are still a few houses that seem to have inhabitants. This one in particular is quite lovely, with its garden and bench. I wonder how many different building materials over how many decades were used to construct the building? Date: 16 April 2013Place: Calzadilla de la […]
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Here we see random pilgrims having their lunch in the village of Calzadilla de la Cueza. The café is on the edge of the village and faces the open Meseta. For no good reason that I can now recall, I took my fleece off my pack and put it over the end of the chair on which I was sitting. In […]
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After 17.5 kilometers this morning on the flat of the Meseta, we finally arrive in the village of Calzadilla de la Cueza (population 52). As you can see, we pilgrims bunched up again as the village approached. Lunch is definitely in order, and probably ice cream as well. Date: 16 April 2013Place: entering Calzadilla de la Cueza (Province of Palencia, Castilla […]
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This part of the Meseta is flat as flat can be. Although I took many photos in this stretch, they have a sort of monotony about them. They all basically look like the photo I posted the other day. It is a beautiful desolation when you’re there, but twenty photos of it would get old pretty quick. So here’s something […]
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We met a lot of pilgrims on the stretch after Carrión de los Condes. Because it’s a choke point on the Camino, what with that empty 17.5km stretch right after, many pilgrims spend the night to take that long flat in the morning. Here we see our old friend Santiago from Columbia taking a quick break to rest his weary […]
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Once past the outlying buildings of Carrión de los Condes, it’s something like 17.5 km to the next habitation. That’s about 11 miles. Or four and a half hours of solid walking without respite. And most of it looks like this. Oh, there are spots of trees, planted either as row-on-row tree farms or for the eventual shade of pilgrims […]
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