Day 7: Los Huertos to Santa Maria la Real de Nieva
25 km including the 2 back to the hostal, which will also be added to tomorrow's distance
"And on the seventh day He rested."
I know today says Day 7, but yesterday was really the seventh day, considering the 20 km I walked on Day 0. So under 11 km yesterday and an early bedtime and over 9 hours of sleep before I headed out this morning at about 7 am.
I stopped (and found a little geocache) at a little Ermita out of town. The Ermita was locked up but you could get a glimpse of the fancy altarpiece through a tiny window in the door.
I thought it would be mostly flat wheat fields today, like yesterday, but there were a few things, beyond some spectacular skyscapes, to break up the day. There were a few kms walked along the Camino Verde, a former railway line where they took away the rails and ties and replaced it with a leisure path for cyclists and bicyclists. Because it used to be a rail line, it was very flat and straight. There was a forest beside it for much of the way where the trees had also been planted in straight, even rows.
A little bit further on, the Camino passes through pine forest being harvested for resin. Then it was back to flat fields for a while before arriving in the day's first village, Añe. There was supposed to be an open bar there, but the bar was closed, possibly for renovations according to the sign. So I sat in the shade in the square, took off my shoes and socks, and finished my chorizo and cheese for breakfast, accompanied by some water.
Then it was back to the road. I crossed a nice river and saw some nice storks. I passed through another pine woods (unharvested). Then there was a lot of walking though wheat fields. At one point I checked my phone to discover I had missed or misunderstood a Camino marker and wandered off on a non-Camino trail. At first I was going to turn around and go back, but it didn't take me too long to figure out it would be faster just to press forward as the track I was on would eventually merge with the Camino. Shortly after that I arrived at the second village of the day, Pinilla Ambroz. There was no bar here, either, but there was a water fountain (three actually) so I stopped for a rest and a drinking and refilling of water and an airing of feet and socks.
Then it was on through the final five or six km of meseta to the day's destination, Santa Maria la Real de Nieva. I stopped at a pharmacy to pick up some better bandages for my toes. The main sight, however, is the wonderful Romanesque cloister with the sculpted capitals. There was much taking of photos, which can be found
here. Information about the cloister can be found
here.
The travel day ended with a menu del dia dinner in Santa Maria, followed by the 2 km walk back to the hostal (hotel) as there is no albergue in this town.
Photos below:
- Camino Verde
- Resin tree
- Stork
- Fields of wheat
- Santa Maria la Real de Nieva