Today we walked 14.7 miles (23.6 km) in 7 hours with breaks.

Rocks rocks rocks. That was the theme of the day today. We started at about 7am with another killer long stretch of 11 miles (17.6 km) of old Roman road with nothing along the way but one little shelter for pilgrims. It was five tough hours of walking on rocks, and we were happy to be done with it when we arrived at about noon in Reliegos (pop. 237), the first town of the day.

Dirt or grass paths are probably our favorite because they’re easy on the feet — unless it’s wet, and then they turn to a muddy swamp. Paved roads are fast and easy to walk on, even in rain, but are hard on the feet. Gravel is a bit like sand or snow, and gets old after a while but is mostly ok. But five hours of big fist-sized rocks is no fun at all!

Reliegos’s claim to fame is that it was once the Roman town of Palantia, at the convergence of three military roads. That, and the fact that it was hit by a 38 pound (17.3 kilo) meteor in 1947.

We finished the day with another hour and a half on a dirt path (thankfully) and made it to Mansilla around 2pm. We had a shorter lunch today and kept our breaks to 5-10 minutes, and arrived at a much more reasonable time and with fewer hours in the heat.

Here are the photos for today.

One of the many irrigation canals:

Pilgrim shelter:

Arriving into Reliegos for lunch:

Bodegas: homes built into the hillside: