Day 16, Sep 26, 2017, Carrion de los Condes to Moratinos, 19 miles!

We were dreading this day a little, only because the length of the walk seemed kinda intimidating. We headed out after breakfast around 8:45 a.m. We knew we had nearly 11 miles before we hit any village. So we had stocked up with water and some snacks. It was flat and straight and boring!! Felt like it was Kansas (Sorry Kansas, truly no offense intended). Miles of plain dusty road, a few trees in the distance, and literally nothing exciting to look at. 

Surprisingly, we later learned that this is an old Roman road where Julius Caesar once walked!  We stopped a couple of times for a few minutes to stretch and grab some water. Trudged on until we came to Calzadilla de la Cueza. There really was no sweeter sight than this. 

We raced into the cafe for our fix and a muffin. This was our lunch break. We were making good time, tho. Then we headed on and a few miles later were at Ledigos. It was quite a hot day and we stopped here for a pequena cerveza con limon. 

Then trotted off to finish the next 3.7 miles. We came across the next village, Terradillos de los Templarios and continued through it without stopping. We had another mile and half to go when I felt like i was having shin splints. Stopped to stretch and loosen shoe laces which helped. Motored on to reach Moratinos. Luckily, the first building we hit was our hotel. It’s actually a combination of a restaurant, albergue (hostel) and a hotel. Our room is a nice sized room with a large terrace. The bathroom is a good size and has a great shower. All in all, quite luxurious in a village that is little more than a hamlet. 

We went down for an early dinner, chatted with Pierre Andre and his wife Cristina, and then some other fellow travelers from previous hotels. After dinner, we walked across to this hill formation that appeared to have houses built into it. Turned out to be Bodegas de Castillo - a wine making and storage cum village celebration type place. This was over 500 years old. Apparently kids were given the task of digging out the mud as a way to keep them warm. Boy, kids today have it really great with central heating and good child labor laws! 

Anyway, we didn’t think much of this 500 year old party place and came back to our room to stretch some more and give ourselves a mini massage. Then on to blogging and now it’s off to bed. We are staying at this hotel tomorrow as well and are being driven back from Bercianos, our next stop. Good night to all of you. 

Also, Lisa reads all the comments out to me. Thank you to you all for your love and support and appreciation of the blog and of our efforts. We are actually enjoying ourselves. After today, and the relatively quick recovery we’ve made, we are officially calling ourselves studly beings!!