Day 19 - Terradillos to Calzadilla de los Hermanillos - 27km

After eating a couple of bananas for breakfast I left Terradillos before 7 when it was still nice and cool. On the way I passed some strange hobbit-like buildings in the side of a hill. Only the door and chimney of each were visible. I later found out they were called "bodegas" and were wine cellars each belonging to a family, and that some of them had been fitted out and furnished quite comfortably . I paused in the first village, Moratinos, and tried to spot Rebekah Scott´s house which I wanted to photograph. She is an American married to an Englishman and very helpful and supportive to all pilgrims. I am following her blog about her life in Spain and would have liked to stop and say hello but didn´t feel she´d appreciate a visit at about 7:30 in the morning so after a quick look around and failing to find the house for a photo, I carried on.

The route into Sahagun runs parallel to a road and was pretty good. I reached there about 12, had a break and then carried on after getting a bit lost finding my way out of town. Sahagun is considered the halfway mark on the Camino, so I was feeling pretty pleased with myself. After leaving town there is a choice of two routes, one considered long and soulless and following a highway, the other through a very remote and waterless region. I opted for the second and filled up with water at the last village font before braving the wilderness. The village was completely deserted, like a ghost town in a Western and the path leaving there passed amongst cattle sheds and barns. It had a rather seedy aspect and didn´t feel like the best place to be walking off into the bush. For the first and only time on my Camino I wished briefly for the sight of another pilgrim, but it wasn´t to be.

The dirt track was almost wide enough to be a road and meandered for kilometre after kilometre through groves of trees. It was very hot by now and all I could hear were the cicadas singing, no birds this time. It was a lonely walk and I never saw a soul the whole 8km to Calzadilla until I was just arriving, when I was overtaken by two pilgrims who raced ahead to the albergue and got the last bottom bunks! They passed me while I was taking a break at a shady spot where there was the first and only rest area, called Fuente del Peregrino.

At the albergue there was no-one to register with, it was a "donativo" one and the hospitaleira had gone somewhere. This was just as well as the village shop was shut and I didn´t have enough change for my donation, only a 50 euro note. I went on a fruitless hunt for a bottom bunk and a Finnish pilgrim, Lisa, very kindly gave me hers when I didn´t find one. I had enough coins for the washing machine but no soap powder as usually this was provided free, except that this time there wasn´t any. A German pilgrim, Annette, came to my rescue and gave me some powder. She later cooked a meal and invited myself, Lisa and another German, Gunter whom I´d seen at my previous albergue, to join her. I certainly felt well looked after that day, all my needs catered for. In the evening we all went for a drink and since it was hot in the bar we carted the table and chairs out on to the road as there wasn´t any traffic in such a quiet spot.

On the way back we passed a group of local ladies sitting in the shade having a good gossip while they sewed, embroidered and made lace. I had change for my donation now but the hospitaleira never came to register me so I filled in the book myself and Lisa stamped my credencial. The hospitaleira must have thought I was one of those pilgrims who don´t pay their way. Since I didn´t know where she lived I ended up leaving some money in the registration book, hoping she would find it next day and know who had left it, and also hoping that no-one pinched it. This village was the only place I ever saw a local being a bit of a nuisance. He must have been about 30 years of age, and every time a female pilgrim came out of the albergue to sit at the base of the cross or on one of the benches he would come and hover whilst playing with his cell phone. As soon as they went inside he went away only to pop up again like a jack-in-the-box the next time a female pilgrim appeared. I must confess I hoped he wouldn´t be hanging around first thing in the morning when I left. He never spoke to any of us but did tend to sit rather close and stare which was rather uncomfortable.