Section 16B to 17A Calzadilla de la Cueza to Sahagun and Reaching the Halfway Mark to Santiago

April 29, 2025 Calzadilla de la Cueza to Sahagún. Distance - 13.78 miles, weather - sunny and into the 70s.

Today was a simple breakfast and a walk on my own. I almost caught up with Carol and Colleen, but stopped for lunch. Honestly, was enjoying the quiet. Walking with Carol yesterday did open me up more for possible encounters and for being more outgoing when passing people.

Not much to report, straight and flat. The feet are still an issue and am looking forward to a rest day tomorrow. I did see a stork and a deer in the quiet morning. The mountains are still visible to the right of the walk. The snow gradually diminishing on the peaks.

Sahagun is the halfway point of the journey to Santiago and I immediately went to the tourist information center to pay 3 Euro 50 to get my certificate. Tomorrow is a rest day, so more about the town tomorrow we.

The Hostel is right next to the bull ring - no events scheduled - and has quite an elaborate facade. I don’t care what it’s called as long as I have my own bed and bathroom.

Dinner was with Carol and Colleen, a gay (female) couple from Australia (names escape me) and a lady (name forgotten) who is English, but living in Sarasota. I can not remember a time when I heard of 4 “couples” who had amazingly good and solid marriages. The gay couple has been together for 20 years and she still brings her partner beer in bed and rubs her feet every night. Carol and Colleen are both widows, but both had the best marriages - Colleen for 40 years. And, of course, Chris and I. Most of the dinner was trying to help Sarasota woman figure out what she’s doing wrong with her life. I was ok for about 30 minutes, but had to leave after this as it was getting to be too much.

I guess this hostel must be near some sort of farm because was hearing geese and peacocks until after 10pm. Not sure how anyone is supposed to sleep around here:)

April 30, 2025- rest day and exploring Sahagun. Weather : sunny and cool -60s. Distance 2.2 miles.

I toured the town of Sahagun on foot. With one exception, all of the churches were closed, so I was back at the hotel for noon and got a good rest and catch-up.

The most interesting story of the day was visiting the museum at the Convent of Madras Benedictus. This was supposed to be open from 10-2. I arrived at 11:20 and the outside door was open, but the ticket window and actual museum doors were shut. For 5 minutes I was trying to raise someone, ringing the bell, knocking. Other potential visitors came in/out and i was left alone wondering what I was going to do for the rest of the day when the nun opened the ticket window. She seemed surprised when I said I wanted 1 ticket (there was no one else around). I paid the 3 Euro and she said she’d come around and open the museum door. She shut the ticket window and a few minutes later opened the museum door, let me in, and locked it again. Then she asked if I wanted the audio tour. I said yes, expecting an audio cassette, when the loud speaker came on and in loud English walked me through the 15 stops. This was a bit surreal as no one else was around. I got to the last item, the loud speaker ceased and I was ready to leave, but couldn’t figure out how. Finally, I saw the door in the church marked Salida, opened that and went into a pitch black hallway where the outside door was locked shut. There was no way out. I came back into the church and tried all the other doors in the museum, one quite forcefully, when all of a sudden the nun came through that door I was rattling. She then proceeded to unlock the front museum door and let me out. I still have PTSD from today….