Carrion de Los Condes to Calzadila de la Cueza - The Roman Road

Total distance today = 10.4 miles

Total ascent = 164 feet

Cumulative distance = 245.1 miles

A couple more pictures of the San Zoilo Real Monastery (now a luxury hotel) from the inside. It's an 11th to 16th century building that is beautifully restored. 

David's feet have healed and the new boots fit well, so we set off at a brisk pace today.  Probably a good thing because, one word sums up today - boring. There wasn't much to see today. Not even any cafés. We forgot to check the route early enough to purchase a picnic, so we had to pilfer an extra roll and orange from the breakfast buffet at the monastery. Although it was a sunny day, much like the previous days, there was very little breeze. So, the gnats were out in full force.  A couple went up my nose! Yuk!

This part of the Camino, while plain, is of historical significance. It is the longest remaining section of the old Roman roads.  Also, this part of Spain was the breadbasket of Rome during its zenith. 

The path was straight, level and pretty much unchanging for the whole 10 miles. We were on pavement with scruffy shrubs and trees on both sides for the first half hour and after that on a wide gravel path with very little shade. It didn't make me think of the Romans.

Way off in the distance we saw some mountains. 

The highlight of the day was a quick snack at a roadside rest area with other peregrinos from around the world.  

Some we all ready met; the couple from Iceland who lived in Alexandria, VA for a couple years, and a young lady from Kingston, Canada we met yesterday afternoon, with the white hat above. We also met a man from Southern California, a young lady from Ireland and another woman who we can best say is a child of the world. She's traveled for the last eight years, but has 4 teenagers traveling elsewhere and her husband is traveling in Canada, and she's here with her "boyfriend." She pumped David for information on her plans to travel Russia and Africa on an antique Ural motorcycle with sidecar. 

A look at the map indicated that we were only a few miles from our destination for the night. We'd be there for lunch. We donned our backpacks, said goodbye - see you later to our Camino friends and headed for Calzadilla de la Cueza. We kept expecting it to pop into view at any minute since we could see well down the road.  But we were practically in the town before we sighted it.  It sat down in a little hole

It's not much of a town and we are staying in a busy, loud, bare bones hostel for the night. But, our room has a private bathroom, and beds. Dinner is downstairs and the cerveza is cold. Buenos noches mi amigos!