Day 19: I’ve heard about you

Day 19 – Terradillos de Los Templarios to Bercianas del Real Camino . 24km. 6 hours. Today we met Jane and she brightened our day! We passed her sitting at a cafe at a town we strolled through (which had wine caves! Wine caves!) just after sunrise. We introduced ourselves and she is this beautiful, retired english lady, living in southern france. Jane started the camino in March but powered through from St Jean to Burgos in 7 days and ended up fracturing her foot and had to return home. So here she is starting again and gave us the advice to just take our time and not rush.

Off again…

Had to go off road for a bit of road works.

Wine caves in the hill

Wine cave

Janes advice was great, as as we were charging to get to the next town, had a man not ask us to take his photo at these pillars, we would have completely missed the half way point of the Camino. (In our defence it was all written in spanish). That soon changed our mind about getting a photo with the pillars.

Jumping for joy on the centre of the Camino!

It was at the half way point we met Gerard from Melbourne. Mid 50s, tax agent (which unfortunately reminded me that i need to lodge my tax return. #caminoprovides) ‘Buen Camino!’ we shout. ‘How ya garn’ his reply. ‘How you girls holding up? Im fagged!’ And so then we walked and chatted with Gerard about the people we had met and how people from different countries are/stereotypes on the camino. Some super serious, stern, loud, contemplative, complaining. Then gerard goes, ‘whats with us aussies, we just dont take ourselves too seriously. Ive been wanting to tell a few people to just lighten up’. I hear ya Gerard.

We hit the track again and did 13km before stopping in Sahagan for breakfast. Oh my goodness, i had the best custard pastry and fruit flan i have had in my life! The pastry just crumbled, the custard to die for and the icing sugar was completey over my face, pants and jumper.

My new french man Michel turned up and sat with us. Maybe through osmosis im learning french but i had an entire conversation with him and answered all his questions correctly in english. He’s another character known by the pilgrims and last night while chatting to a bunch of young american guys, they introduced the theory that perhaps Michel can understand english, hes just pretending not to and its some social experiment hes doing…? I wouldnt be surprised.

Breakfast. 👌

Green pants French man Michel

After looking at a few churches, a monastry ruin and not before stocking up on chorizo, cheese and bread for our afternoon snack we started walking out of town and there was Jane. Just sitting on her own in the sun. So we stopped again and sat with her for a bit before she asked if she could walk with us for a while.’Of course!!’ And so Jane became our new Sandra (another australian mother we met a week ago whose quote to us in an aus accent similar to kath from Kath & Kim, gets us going every time- ‘ohh, you girrrls…’)

We stopped by a really old bridge of some significance for a quick photo. Im not good with history… and off we went chatting and having a good laugh with Jane. jane offerring book recommendations and telling stories of her time as a school teacher and her son being in her class. I said i can relate and told Jane the time dad used me as a volunteer in year 8 wrestling and nearly broke my back in front of the entire class.

After telling her our background, she then stopped and said ‘but you 2 knew each other from home right?!’ Jess and i just said ‘nah we only met about 10 days ago’. Jane was stunned! Then even more surprised went ‘WAIT! Ive heard about you 2!. You’re the 2 unprepared girls who just turned up and started walking and laugh all the way along!!??…’ Yep thats us. *Unprepared being we dont use a map/book to plan our stages, didnt do any training and just kind of decided to this a few months out.

Jane and her husband live in the south of france in a ruin that they have been renovating/doing up the last few years. Its up on a hill with 6 other people living in the same area. Views out to the ocean. Sounded amazing!

Its interesting meeting people for the first time but chances are they have met or know of the people you’ve met along the way. My Blue Man for example. Jane was saying theres some people you just have to kill them with kindness to ‘crack them’ so that they have no choice but to talk to you. I asked if she’d met the small grumpy frenchman who only dresses in blue. She knew the man, and said even a few french guys tried talking to him and he just grumbled and wanted nothing to do with him. I told him how we had a bonjour – cerveza thing going on and how he bought me a beer and she couldnt believe it!

We made sure Jane got to the town she wanted to go to, said our goodbyes and then jess and i carried on another 6kms to Bercianas.

Creepy statues

My new favourite church

Monastery ruins

The really old bridge

Jane, Jess and I

Our arvos scenery

Jess all set with her bread and cheetos

We are in a Albergue made of mud and stone on the outskirts of town, payment for dinner and bed is donation only. The town we are in is dying, most of the buildings are ruins or vacant. It has a country western sort of feel to it. The suns hot, the buildings are all browns and yellows and its just surrounded by wheat fields. Oh an so many flies!

I was walking through town before and 2 men were putting the pressed grapes into a trailor behind a tractor. I stopped to watch and the man comes over to the trailer and gives us each a bunch of grapes. Delicious!

Bercianas locals

Bercianas town buildings

Pressed grapes

We had a big communal dinner with all 50 people staying here. Salad and bread entree, main was rice and meatballs with a capsicum/tomato saucs. I havent had rice in so long it was a nice change from a bocadillo and pasta! We had to wash up the dishes outside and the spanish men, yet again had to much wine, were shouting and carrying on.

Our Albergue

Afternoons in the sun at the Albergue

Shannon and Jess. Just inspecting shannons growing foot rash. We’re a walking disaster

Dinner time

Jess having ample fun washing the dishes

I’m now in bed, smelling of the beautiful aroma of deep heat and have just finished popping a few more blisters. Pre dinner we spoke about our blister inceptions which i am and others are also getting: Blisters forming on blisters. Great! Seriously though, im patenting a compeed foot glove! Why put patches on when you could just put a glove like sock made of compeed over your entire foot?!!

Other than that, i walked pain free for 19kms today (first time in about 10 days), i had a very hot shower, laid in the sun for half the afternoon eating cheese and chorizo, watched a bunch of really old spanish locals playing dominos at the local pub, and have absolutely no idea what the day or date is, so all in all its been a pretty good day!

R. x