Memories of the Meseta - 4

One thing everyone who lives in this part of Spain knows is that there will always be a row of pilgrims walking the Camino, day or night, as some prefer to arise at 5am and walk early, and some no doubt walk on into the evening. We see the largest stream in the early morning, just before and after the sun rises.

It was early Sunday morning, and two young Spaniards were enjoying recreational time in the cold morning air. Each in a hang glider picking up thermals and drifting along the.....what the hey? This is the Meseta and it is flat as a pancake. How on earth did they get up there?

Then we heard the faint whine of an engine, and as they got close, we saw each fellow was in a sitting position with a propeller in a cage behind their backs, by now sounding like some huge, demented fly.

Soon their trajectory changed and they came over the Camino itself, flying over our heads, barely 20 feet above ground. Grinning insanely they called to us all "Buen Camino!"

Then, just like that, poof, they were gone.

Another unexpected vehicle travelling in the opposite direction along the Camino looked like a combine harvester, easily twice as wide as the Camino itself. What do we do? There are high grasses and a deep ditch on either side we probably couldn't jump across. Is our Camino to end wrapped up as a human hay bale?


Thankfully, about 10 feet from us, it turned onto the field along an unseen track and danger was averted.

Sometimes the Camino runs parallel to a road and we see the mileage signs to both our short term and our long term destinations, as rather dramatic mathematical differentials.We are making progress however, as that number getting very close to our half way point!