Day 22 – Teradillos de los Templarios to Calzadilla de los Hermanillos
26k – 428k to date
A road less traveled. Today, I diverged from the route most pilgrims are following and took a route that was the original Roman path. The reason this path is less favored today is that there was a long stretch without service (food or water) and tomorrow, there is an even longer part without services. I assume that either the pilgrims themselves or the merchants along the way changed the route to pass through towns that had the ability to service the pilgrims. I believe this is the only part that has an alternate route to take. My choice to take the old route was just a decision to stay on the original trail and see where it takes me. I did not mind passing through a long area without towns, matter of fact, I went through a long area and saw no other people for several hours today. It was a long road, definitely less traveled.
Sometimes, it is good for us to take the less traveled route. Following the masses will usually just lead us to an average existence or experience. Taking the side road or going somewhere others don’t leads us to areas not everyone gets to see or participate in, so taking the road less traveled is good sometimes. Today, it was good because I got a lot of alone time to just think and as one of my dinner partners said, it was a good mediation day. Also, we are at a great hostel to tonight, so the payoff for us a pilgrims staying get here was a great place to lay our heads tonight after a fantastic meal. Now you know how simple my life is these few weeks as I walk down this road of a simple life.
Today was also a fun day of sightseeing this morning. I ran across a town that had several bodegas built into the side of a hill. If you didn’t know better, you would swear they were hobbit houses, I might have even thought I saw a 3 foot tall man with big feet run into the last one before I could get my camera out. Really, they are food and wine cellars that were used to store there goods at ground temperature. I have still yet to figure out why they made the doors so short, maybe the Hobbits are pushing the food storage story????
They area is still an agricultural area, however I saw a couple of corn fields (not great corn) and almost all the wheat ground is prepared for planting. I also saw two dairies, except both were sheep rather than cows.
It is fun to see the various interaction of the different pilgrims, some that speak different languages are always a little stand offish, but when you sit down with them, they beam and you find a way to communicate pretty quickly. The twenty somethings are always nice, but never really get out of their circle. Americans and Canadians always tend to gravitate towards each other, I think they are fearful of language difficulties. I have made efforts to spread my visitations and have truly been blessed in getting to visit with a variety of people and this adventure is definitely filled with a variety of people!
One more day of a different style of life….
Galatians 3:28