Camino Day 27 August 18 Carrion de Los Condes to Ledigos 14.5 miles Total to date 272.8

Well there is not much to report today. It was a 14.5 mile walk across a flat hot expanse of land with no shade and no water, except what you carried with you. I'm going to do 11 tomorrow and 8 the next day, kind of rest days, because the next day will be 15.2 miles of that. The most interesting thing about that day and today is that for a large part of the walks we are walking on roads built by the Romans 2000 years ago. It was part of an East-West gold trade route and was used by Caesar Augustus in his campaigns against the Cantabrians. Later it was used by the Christians and the Muslims in their battles for control of the Iberian Peninsula. After the reconquest (that's when the Catolicos drove the Muslims out of the Iberian Peninsula or what we know as Spain) the road became known as the Pilgrim's Road Calzada de los Pergrinos and countless millions of Pilgrims have walked this same path which is now part of the Camino de Santiago.

Today, as I trudged along, I thought about those Roman armies of Caesar marching or trudging across this same road 2000 years ago. Of corse Caesar would have been on a horse with servants carrying his water, food, clothing, toiletries, etc. But I thought about those foot soldiers and servants who did not have backpacks designed to ride on your hips and distribute the weight and designed to allow air to flow between your back and the pack. And they didn't have specially designed hiking boots. How much harder for them this journey was.

On other days I've thought about the Pilgrims who walked this path so many years ago when they had to worry about thieves and murderers along the way, and there were not water fountains along the way, or guidebooks to tell you where the fountains and albergues were. And I am grateful for all the things and people who make it so much easier and safer to make this journey.

Oh, by the way, my headlamp worked great this morning. I was able to leave a little after six when I was packed and ready to go.

Oh and I saw some cave houses built into the side of a hill.