Day 16 To Terradillos de Templarios

Today I walked 15 1/5 miles. I am told that the first stretch,  16 k or almost 10 miles, is the longest stretch that we will have between villages on the Camino, for which I am grateful.

This is a statue in a traffic circle on the way out of town. It is a pilgrim kneeling before what I suppose is Joseph and Mary and the baby Jesus.

I had good company for the first long stretch, Charlie from Germany whom I had walked with the day before. He caught up with me though we had stayed in different places the night before. Since my ankle was hurting with almost every step, it was an enormous help to have someone to talk with. He stayed at the first stop, while I was committed to going on for two more villages. One of the disadvantages of having your pack shipped is that you have to estimate how far you can go. I estimated my energy correctly and arrived still feeling like I had physical strength to go farther but I had not realized how much my ankle would be hurting. 

I took this picture to try to show the way the walkers look on the Camino, little knots of one two or three hikers strung out 20 to 50 feet apart. When groups pass they greet each other "Buen Camino!"  If people are going at about the same speed and seem to share a common language, they may talk and share the trip for a while before parting. For my second leg I talked at length with a woman from Brazil. It was her second time doing the Camino and she was walking with someone else from Brazil that she had met on her first trip. But her friend was a faster walker. Roseanna had blisters and I had my sore ankle so we made good walking partners this day. 

I was very glad to see this, the journey's end for the day. Albergue Los Templarios is an Albergue in a modern building that was built for the purpose. It is spacious and spotlessly clean. You can get rooms or beds in large or small bunk rooms. There is a restaurant attached that offers sandwiches during the day and a full or half pilgrims menu at night. It is the first thing most pilgrims see on their way into town, which matters. When there is a choice i n a town the lions share of the trade goes to whatever tired pilgrims see first. I had a reservation but was thrilled that this was my place. They were even willing to wash and dry a small basket of clothes for a minimal price. Since I had mistakenly washed a few things the day before that had not dried I was delighted.