The Meseta and the Beach

Four days after our separation, Robyn and Tom are heading west along the northern coastal route.  They are finding it much less crowded, but technology is scarce so blogging may be intermittent.  I just talked to Robyn and they are in the town of Ballota...at the moment she´s on the beach so all is well.  When we bought phones they gave us free calls between us which is proving to be extremely convenient.

I´m continuing on the Camino Frances and have spent the last four days on the Meseta...beautiful farmland that some pilgrims hate for its lack of variety but I find comfortable.  The first two days reminded me of eastern Montana, great rolling hills of beardless wheat still heading out and occasional fields of bearded wheat that is turning (winter wheat perhaps) adding color and contrast to the vista.  There are some fields of barley, sunflowers, and sugar beets and a few crops I can´t identify.  I´ve walked early in the morning since shade is nearly nonexistent and it´s pleasant to have the roads to myself and the few others willing to get up at 5 am to take advantage of the morning coolness.  Birds and the smell of ripening grain and freshly mown hay make great early morning companions.  Today the landscape changed to flat and reminded me of my home area in northwestern Minnesota.  We had 17 km without water or towns but morning drizzle kept it from becoming uncomfortable.  Tonight I´m in the village of Terradillos de los Templares, one of the last strongholds of the Templars, and officially at the halfway point of the Camino Frances...387.5 km to go.  That number should thrill me but there are fewer days to do the second half of the trip than there were in the first half so I guess longer days are in order if I´m going to keep to the "schedule" created by the camino gurus.  For now, I´m well, walking better than I have been, enjoying the healing silence of the meseta, and trying not to think about the email from Expedia that says there´s a problem with one of my flights home.
Buen Camino everyone...Cindy