It was shortly after sunrise that we left Ciruena with Vilamayor del Rio as our planned destination for the day, a 15 mile journey. As we were walking we noticed the contrails from several planes flying overhead. It made me think that we are much like the snail as compared to the flight of these giant mechanical birds in the sky.
 |
| Airplanes at Sunrise |
We continue to pass by wheat, canola, peas and what we believe to be lentil fields as we walk toward Santo Domingo de la Calzada. It is here that a church houses a chicken coop related to a famous legend of the camino. It seems a pilgrim couple and their son stopped at an inn there on there way to Santiago. The inkeeper's daughter took a liking to the young man but he thwarted her advances which infuriated her so she hid a silver goblet in his backpack and then reported that he stole it. He was caught and sentenced to hang. The legend says that his parents were not aware of his fate until their return from Santiago when they found him hanging there, still alive thanks to the intervention of Santo Domingo. When they reported this to the sheriff, he said that their son could no more be alive than was the chicken he was about to eat. At this point the chicken stood up on the dish and crowed loudly. The sheriff rushed back to the gallows and cut the young lad down and gave him a full pardon.
With a legend like that, we had to check it out so paid our euros to go inside this museum/church. This was probably the greatest disappointment thus far. We found the church to be creepy and cold and could not get out of there fast enough, although I did manage a picture of the (a) chicken still housed there. We left behind the German ladies who had also decided to check out this legend.
 |
| The Legendary Chicken |
Hungry, we stopped at a bar in Granon (small restaurants are called bars here) where we had some wonderful homemade gazpacho served in a tall glass, a great ham sandwich and jugo de naranja naturale. The orange juice here is absolutely fabulous as they make it fresh, using a machine that turns whole oranges into the fresh juice.
Today was actually the most tedious of our journey thus far as much of the path ran along the freeway where trucks and cars whizzed by at an astonishing rate, very similar to the U.S. As a result, I did not take many pictures today.
We did go from the Riojas region of Spain to Castilla y Leon which houses the Meseta, a long flat path that goes on for miles, theorectically providing a time for much reflection. I am actually really looking forward to this section. I have thought often about the conversion of Saul to Paul on the road to Damascus and have wondered if I will experience a conversion of my own along the Meseta.
As we continued on to our destination, we heard the sounds of a cuckoo bird. Made us wonder if they were placed there to tell us that we are indeed "cuckoo" to attempt walking all this way. Arriving at Vilamayor del Rio, we did not feel the right vibes to keep us there so we continued on the additonal three miles to Belorado (a total of 18 miles for the day) knowing there would be a reason for our decision. Walking up to our albergue of choice, Cuatro Cantones, it became apparent what that was - Ayala and Jean Robert were there to greet us!
We had the best peregrino meal of our journey thus far at this little albergue and better still, we enjoyed such delightful conversation with Jean Robert and Ayala.
Lesson of the Day: Trust your instincts - there is a reason for them!
Posted with Blogsy
No comments:
Post a Comment