It was our last day experiencing the splendid
isolation of the Meseta; we would be walking 24.7km to Mansilla - 19.4km of it
on the Calzada Romana – the section considered
to be the most perfect surviving section of Roman road in Spain; through a
largely empty landscape without villages and even farmsteads and certainly no
opportunity for even a medicinal glass of Rioja for second breakfast! The
isolation and the tranquillity of the Meseta had been a revelation to me and I
was sorry to be finishing it as we drew ever nearer to hustle and bustle of León.
Nonetheless, it seemed a very long day for all four of us and it took us 8
hours and 10 minutes to reach the albergue in Mansilla.
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| Leaving Hermanillos in the rain |
We left Hermanillos on the 4.5km of asphalt road
out of town to a T junction. A light rain began and we were forced to don our ponchos,
but the weather soon brightened up and I later actually got sunburn on my nose.
Despite this, a very cold wind blew the entire time from the left and when we
crossed the T junction onto the Calzada Romana, Heather found the going very
hard as the track surface was extremely stony and very uncomfortable on her
already painful feet.
We stopped in a shelter for a snack and then walked
on; away to our right on the horizon in the north we could see the snow-capped
tops of the Cordillera Cantábrica mountains
which are an extension of the Pyrenees.
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| Extant stretch of original Roman road |
Eventually we came down into the small river valley
of the Arroyo Madriz de la Cava and
took the opportunity of shelter from the worst of the cold wind to stop for
lunch and also take communion together. Out of the wind there was relative
stillness and some cattle grazed in the lush vegetation by the stream and not
far off a Cuckoo called.
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| Walking on the Calzada Romana |
Climbing back out of the valley we came across some
large preserved stretches of the original Roman road which had been fenced off
to protect them from livestock. I was astonished to see that the convex camber
of the Roman road could still be easily discerned under the light vegetation
and wild herbs that had grown over the ancient road surface. In places, the
stony paving of the road could still be seen. I was taken back to my history
lessons at Secondary School when we had studied how the Romans built up their roads
with different layers of gravel and stone, with a convex camber and with drainage
ditches along the sides and here was an actual real surviving example right in
front of me like something straight out of my school textbook!
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| Reliegos |
I climbed over the fence and walked along the
centre of the road and was surprised to find that somehow, I was deeply moved
and felt a deep connection to the past. This was the Roman road that had linked
the gold mines of Galicia with Rome via Astorga, known back then as Asturica Augusta. Along this road had
marched Caesar Augustus, Visigoths, Muslim armies and Charlemagne, but it wasn’t
thinking about any of them that moved me; instead in my imagination I saw
millions of pilgrims who had used this road in the medieval period, tramping
along in worn leather shoes, shabby clothes and with staff in hand, seeking God
in the only way they knew how; searching for salvation and a purpose to life.
Suddenly as I walked where their feet had trod I truly felt on my way to
Santiago and felt sure that I would reach it!
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| Heather in Bar Elvis |
Later in the afternoon, we climbed a hill, where
more bodegas where sunk into the hillside and seeing Reliegos below us and
Mansilla across the plain in the distance, we descended and stopped for a
coffee and snack in Bar Elvis. The bar turned out to one of those unique colourful
drinking holes that can only be found on the Camino; the proprietor called Sinín, wore a black beret and bore a
striking resemblance to Salvador Dali. The walls were covered in colourful
graffiti in every conceivable language contributed by years of passing pilgrims.
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| David with Sinín |
Unfortunately, however, Heather began to feel faint
as we were finishing our drink and so we sat outside the bar, away from the
cigarette smoke and I gave her an energy gel, whilst David and Matthew went off
to buy some food and chocolate from the village shop. When they returned, we
briefly considered staying in Reliegos, but Heather felt much better after another
snack and so we pressed on along the roadside senda until we reached the El Jardin private albergue at Mansilla.
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| Albergue El Jardin |
The albergue turned out to be clean and modern with
a café downstairs, a large dormitory, good bathroom facilities and even a small
garden. After a wash and a rest, we had a drink in the café and then I repaired
Heather’s feet in a lean-to marquee area in the garden.
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| Romanesque walls |
We then had a walk into town. Mansilla is
surrounded by Romanesque town walls – still largely intact, although some of
the original town gates have been demolished. They date from the 12th
Century when king Fernando II of León resettled the
town in 1181. Constructed from large stones taken from the river, they are an
impressive three metres thick and are similar to the city walls we would later
see at León.
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| Plaza del Grano |
We walked into the centre through the Puerta Castilla and along calle Santa
Maria to the Plaza del Pozo. We made our way down to the rio Esla where we could
examine the walls running alongside the river in detail; here they seemed well
preserved and the area made a pleasant riverside walk where a few locals were
walking their dogs.
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| Double bodied lion |
A small sally port gateway then led us by a narrow alleyway
into Plaza del Grano (it’s name which means “Grain Square” recalls the
importance of Mansilla as an agricultural and livestock market over the
centuries) before we made our way to the 12th Century church of San
Martin. The church is now a cultural centre, and David, Matthew and Heather
chatted, while I examined the pillar capitals framing the portal, which had an
interesting rendition of a double bodied lion sharing one head on one and a very worn but,
nonetheless pleasingly dynamic angel on the other (above).
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| David explaining complex issues to a wrapt audience! |
Finally, we exited the
town centre through the Arco de Santa
Maria and following the north-eastern curve of the town walls, made our way
back to the albergue to enjoy a perfectly satisfactory pilgrim menu before
settling down for the night.
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| The happy couple at Arco de Santa Maria |
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