Miles Hiked Overall: 219.3 (353.0 km) Miles to Santiago: 265.6 (427.5 km)
Steps Taken Today: 45,595 Blister Count: Don't ask.
Spanish Word of the Day: Niños (children)
What We Learned Today: Always pet a pony that comes running over!
Today was just a long slog through the meseta. We hiked for about 8 hours.
While the path is fairly flat, it is so open that you can see the route a long ways away. From the top of a small rise you can see the next village that you want to go to, and it seems so close, but on foot it can take a very long time to get there!
Perhaps the only highlight of the day was when we passed by a group of maybe like 5th graders out on a hike. They (all 40 of them) all wished us "Buen Camino!" one by one as we passed them. I even heard a couple of them say (in Spanish), "Hey! Those are real peregrinas!" Some even took our photos! That was fun! And then there was also Pam's new pony friend.
Here is Pam doing laundry...doing our daily duty.
Here is a photo of my credencial so far...in fact I've almost filled up both sides at this point. Each peregrino needs, at this stage, to get only one stamp per day. You can get a stamp almost anywhere - the albergue, stores, restaurants, etc. This proves that you are truly walking the Camino and deserve the status of peregrino...which in turn, allows you to get the Compostela (or certificate of completion of the Camino) in Santiago. Without this credencial, you are not allowed in albergues. We also got quite a discount on entering the cathedral in Burgos upon showing our credencial. Closer to the end of the Camino (100K to go), you must get at least 2 stamps per day. It's a personal mission of mine to get as many stamps as possible. ..but I end up forgetting most of the time. Not only do we have to do it, I think it's fun.
“Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time.”―Steven Wright
