Walking Day 6 Terradillos de Templarios to Bercianos – 22.3 km – 14 miles

Today was a perfect day on the Camino.

We started early with the plan to take the alternate route through the fields rather than the route parallel to the road.  My companions and I followed the map out of the village, and at the place where I was sure we were to turn, the others disagreed, and we parted. 

I walked on, alone, and shortly on, over a hill, in a little valley with trees, there was a rest stop with benches for pilgrims.  In the small clearing, I could see a small 3-circuit labyrinth made of stones. 

Thrilled with my discovery and my solitude, I entered the sweet familiar path.  In the center, my eyes welled up, and I said a prayer of gratitude for the person who created this little oasis. The labyrinth has historically been a symbol for pilgrimage, and here, the metaphor met the real thing.

It is a Camino ritual to bring a stone from home and to add your stone to stacks that have been created by all the pilgrims symbolically leaving their burdens behind along the way.  I found my stone in the bottom of my day pack and left it in the center of the path.

After my walk, I tended the labyrinth, picking up a bit of litter, straightening a few stones, and praying a blessing for all who would follow me.

Walking on, I found myself on a stone trail through endless wheat fields up and over rolling hills.  At one point, I stopped, and the vista to the south was nothing but green rolling hills of spring wheat.  No trees, no villages, no wires, just waves of green meeting blue sky.  I am certain that if I had tapped my heels together, I would have slipped right into heaven, never to be seen or heard from again…..

The day grew hot, and I took a break at noontime for about an hour, and then walked on to the day’s ending point.  The path out of Sahagun to Bercianos is lined with young sycamore trees planted every 5 meters (20 feet).  In the mid-day sun, the intermittent shade was a gift. 

Arriving at the room, I opened the window, and with the sound of a cooing dove and Spanish chatter from the bar below, I stretched out on my bed and slowly, quietly, gently, passed out.