Don had stomach problems in the night and still had bad stomach pain until time to get up. Thursday afternoon, Don had also developed sore thighs. Friday morning, the thigh pain was much worse, a burning sensation that felt like a bad sunburn. He was also weak from stomach problems and lack of sleep. Because of this, today’s walk would be a short one (12.9 km in about 4 hours). (Don would also take relatively few photos.)
7:35 AM – Calzadilla de la Cueza: Hostal Camino Real - sunrise from our room.
MT went to breakfast in the Hostal-Bar Camino Real (coffee and toast) and bought a banana and Madelena cake for Don to eat later.
We departed at 8:50 am. We tried to take the scenic route, but early on it was a senda on the N-120 highway.
8:57 AM – 1 km after Calzadilla de la Cueza: stone sign showing options for Camino route: turn left (yellow) for woodland path (300 m longer but recommended) or continue straight ahead on roadside senda (black).
We stopped around 9:30 (13 minutes) for Don to eat his banana and cake.
We stopped again around 10:30 at Ledigos (pop 96) for a water break (10 minutes).
Ledigos owes most of its history to the Camino de Santiago. It had a pilgrim hospital that was demolished in 1752. As recently as 1842, the town was known as Bustillo del Páramo.
10:28 AM – Ledigos: Iglesia de Santiago, off the Camino path, on hill above village.
The 13th-century Iglesia de Santiago has a 17th-century nave, and the current belfry is a modern brick construction (the original belfry collapsed in the last century). It seems to be the only church on the entire Camino that has representations of three Santiagos: Santiago Peregrino (pilgrim), Santiago Apóstol (apostle), and Santiago Matamoros (Moor-slayer). The church stands on a hill, from which you can see Terradillos de los Templarios.
We stopped in Terradillos de los Templarios (pop 80).
According to Brierley, Terradillos de los Templarios is the halfway point between St. Jean Pied de Port and Santiago de Compostela. (Others generally say Sahagún, 13 km west of here, is the geographic center of the Camino.) The first part of the name means “little dirt roofs or terraces,” but could come from the fact that the village lies on a small hill in the Tierra de Campos; the last part is due to the fact that the Templars had a monastery near here on Río Templarios, which we would soon cross, and Terradillos de los Templarios was formerly a stronghold of the Knights Templar, although nothing physical remains. In the 12th century, the Templars founded a pilgrim hospital of San Juan here, which has disappeared. Today, the town has two pilgrim hostels: Albergue Los Templarios and Albergue Jacques de Molay (named for the last Grand Master of the Templar order).
We took a 20 minute break by the Iglesia de San Pedro, talking with a pilgrim speaking German and a Spanish lady who was accompanying her walking husband with a car; when he arrived, we recognized that we had seen him walking with a day pack around Carrión de los Condes. They all told us the church was closed; the German lady said there was no door. But, as we tried to get back on the Camino path, we saw that the door on the other side of the church was open. A young lady inside had no sello but said we could go in.
The simple red brick Iglesia de San Pedro is dedicated to San Pedro (St. Peter) and houses an unusual Gothic crucifix (13th- or 16th-century) and a simple altarpiece from an earlier church. It once had a beautiful Romanesque carving of the Virgin, which is now in the Cathedral Museum in León. The church was built of brick because there was a lack of local stone. [The bottom part of the tower is of stone, possibly from the earlier Romanesque church.]
11:47 AM - Terradillos de los Templarios: Iglesia de San Pedro exterior – side with door.
11:45 AM - Terradillos de los Templarios: Iglesia de San Pedro – view from rear of nave to main altar (with crucifix to left of altar).
11:44 AM - Terradillos de los Templarios: Iglesia de San Pedro – “unusual” Gothic crucifix.
We departed Terradillos de los Templarios around noon.
12:12 PM – After Terradillos de los Templarios: solar panels.
Don struggled the rest of the way to Moratinos.
We arrived at Moratinos (pop 30) at 12:30.
As of 2002, Moratinos may have had 78 registered residents, but most live in
cities and commute to Moratinos for weekends and festivals. Now, only 18 people
live in the town year round; most are farmers.
The municipality of Moratinos and
spcifically the village of San Nicolás del Real Camino is the last point on the
Camino in the province of Palencia. Moratinos was mentioned as early as 955.
We got a double room with bath for 45€ at 2-star Hostal Moratinos (they wanted to charge 50€, but MT talked them down). We got sellos there: “Hostal Moratinos www.hostalmoratinos.es.” Don crashed while MT took a shower, washed shirts and underwear, and hung them of our balcony rail.
1:49 PM – Moratinos: Hostal Moratinos – entrance to Bar-Restaurante-Hostal Moratinos.
4:10 PM – Moratinos: Hostal Moratinos – ceramic tiled staircase to hostal rooms.
2:51 PM – Moratinos: Hostal Moratinos – entrance at left; our room “Frómista” was upstairs center.
Then MT (for a switch) went out to see the underground bodegas and some of the town.
When MT returned, Don showered, and both of us went out to look for the Iglesia de San Tomás, which was closed (although a sign said “Iglesia Abierta & Sello”).
Moratinos: Iglesia de San Tomás (moratinos.es).
Iglesia de San Tomás de Aquino (Church of St. Thomas Aquinas) was built between the 16th and 17th centuries. It is constructed of brick and has a large shaded porch.
Moratinos: bodegas (commons.wikimedia.org).
The town is best known to outsiders for “el castillo de Moratinos” (aka “Hobbiton”), an ages-old hill in the town center studded with family-owned wine-storage caves (bodegas).
We found the Bodega Bar Restaurante El Castillo de Moratinos, in an old bodega, with a 10€ menu (the bar at the hostal had a 12€ menu): 1st course: MT ordered (grilled?) vegetables (baked celery)/Don mixed salad; 2nd course: both ordered merluza (with salad vice fries) but Don couldn’t even finish his salad; dessert: MT melon/Don yogurt (plain, but added sugar); bottle of tempranillo wine from Castilla y León (Don took only a sip); bread; also included in menu: MT coffee/Don manzanilla (camomile) tea, which the waiter said was good for the stomach.
4:07 PM - Moratinos: sign for Bodega Bar El Castillo up the hill.
2:53 PM – Moratinos: another bodega near entrance to Bodega Bar Restaurante El Castillo de Moratinos.
4:05 PM – Moratinos: Bodega Bar Restaurante El Castillo de Moratinos - entrance.
2:59 PM – Moratinos: Bodega Bar Restaurante El Castillo de Moratinos – other customers at end of cave.
2:57 PM – Moratinos: Bodega Bar Restaurante El Castillo de Moratinos – Don at our table.
3:02 PM – Moratinos: Bodega Bar Restaurante El Castillo de Moratinos – our bottle of wine “kepe Vino de la Tierra de Castilla y León – Tempranillo 2010.”
3:24 PM – Moratinos: Bodega Bar Restaurante El Castillo de Moratinos – MT and Don with merluza, wine, and bread (note that MT’s merluza is gone, but Don hasn’t started on merluza and still has rest of his salad).
Then we went back to the hostal.
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