Terradillos de Los Templarios

We left this morning right before sunrise.  Below is a picture of the front of the Monasterio de San Zoilo we stay in last night as well as a picture of it a little further down the road with the sun rising over it. We walked over 17 miles today and today was the first day I almost broke down and cried. The first 12 miles was down a long straight road with no little villages to stop in, just a gravel road that seemed to never stop and fields. I strained my back yesterday while bending over and getting things out of my suitcase and I've been nursing a large blister on my right heel (see pic below). Everything just seemed to hurt and I didn't know how I was going to get through the day, we were on our feet walking for 8 hours.  I kept hearing "Don't give up Mommy!"; "You are strong, you got this!"; "You girls are amazing", and I pushed on. One foot in front of another trudging through Northern Spain.

It helps when you have new people to talk to along the way.  Today We walked with some new friends; Ruth from Reno and Jane from Fresno.  They are on a group tour called "Spanish Steps" and by coincidence have been staying in some of the same hotels we've been staying in.  Below is a picture of them with Lee.  I also walked for about a half hour today with a young lady from Taiwan named Wen and we had some interesting conversation as I lived in her country as a young girl.  Also, for the last few days we have been seeing a couple of Spanish gentlemen walking with their dog. This is the only dog we've seen walking thus far so we had to ask them about it. The dog is three years old and every year they do a section of the Camino together. We were concerned, but the dog really seems to enjoy herself.

We always have snacks with us to eat throughout the day; fruit, sandwiches, trail mix, etc. Well, I have a confession to make;  I ate all the M&M's out of the trail mix today.  This afternoon when Lee asked for a handful of trail mix, she got a handful of nuts and raisins. She looked at me and said "what happened to all the M&M's?  I was quilty...and had no one else to blame it on!

We are saying in Terradillos de Los Templarios tonight.  A humble village that once was a stronghold of the Knights Templar.  We are staying in a nice hostel and we were able to do a much needed load of wash this afternoon.  It's time to take it off the clothesline and have dinner.

We have something to celebrate tonight...we are half way now to Santiago.  I am amazed that we have come so far in 2 1/2 weeks!  Tomorrow we head for El Burgo Ranero.