Friday, August 22, 2008 Carrion to Terradillos

Terradillos Templaria,  Albergue Jacques de Molay,   5:20p

Via Trajana, the road the Romans built to transport gold from Astorga to Bordeaux. Straight and uncomfortable.

We’ve had the best day walking so far.  Jim’s foot was better and he walked faster than before, although I did have to be careful not to outpace him.  Our walk this morning was on the old Roman road, the Via Trajana.  This section is brown, straight and flat, but rocky and not the easiest to tread.  It’s been around for a while. It was the main route for the Romans between Bordeaux and the gold mines near Astorga (which lies ahead of us).

The saving grace of the day was the cloud cover and the breeze. Even more, once we began the second half, the landscape became more rolling and we saw many more trees.  I remarked how invigorating to my eyes it was just to see more than the flatlands of the past three days.

We walk slower than most of the other groups of travelers, but still seem to arrive at the same albergues on the same day. We even got a cheer from a friendly group we met earlier in the day when we walked into the reception room this afternoon. The camaraderie of which many of the guidebooks spoke is true for us.  The younger people may be cheering for us older guys as an honor to our age, I suppose. We are about twice their age. (They are also in the same sleeping room as we are. Six beds and not a one of them bunks. Hurray!) Still, there is a friendliness that gets stronger.

Jacques DeMolay Albergue

The town we are in was founded by the Knights Templar, thus the name.  Our albergue is decorated with big Knights Templar crosses. It’s got a nice, relaxing courtyard with trees, plenty of outdoor furniture and real grass to walk on.  The washing area consists of two tubs, but there is plenty of dryingline space here and there and out between the trees.  The reception room is also the dining room where we had dinner tonight.

Plenty of drying space for freshly washed clothes

One of our tablemates at supper here in DeMolay said the reason he was walking was to discover what his question was.  Having spoken with others and asking why they were on the Camino, several said they were looking for direction about work, career, etc.  For him, it was the question. Maybe asking the right question is more important than finding the answer to the wrong question.  I’ll ponder that for a while. I’ve got the time, for sure.