The Way-My Way: May 10th-Villarcaz to Terradillos de los Templarios

Today was a day of firsts, I have reached the half way mark, I have my first blister and we saw our first child, Now that seem like a strange comment but i have walked through about 100 small villages, You rarely see anybody and you never see a child, The Spanish people are very small and when i stand in a bar i tower over the locals, with many men barely 5 feet in height, I feel like a giant amongst hobbits, The French are small people but the Spanish take the biscuit, Very nice and gentle people but the villagers are incredibly small,
When i awake today and put my boots on i thought that there was a small stone on them, I took them off and tipped them up and then put them back on-same, So i took my boots off and checked my socks-same, I took my socks off and rubbed my feet and was shocked to find blister on my heel, I do not know when or how it got there but there you go, My first blister in 250 miles, I past a needle through it with some cotton thread attached and then cut the cotton so that there was a small end protruding at each end, I then put some iodine and gritted my teeth as that stuff stings, A small piece of moleskin and job done,
The day was again lovely, A misty morning across the fields and a stillness in the air, a quick stop in Carrion for coffee and croissants where we met with others who had stopped that night, We had made a good call as the room where we had stayed had 20 beds but half were empty, I hoped that the Camino was calming down but it was not to be as that day we had a lot of company,
One thing that strikes you as a nature lover is the sheer number of birds around, Today the air was full of swifts screaming overhead, Swallows and house martins were flying too and fro from their nests, The white storks were at every church rooftop and there is always a lot of birdsong along the way with lots of hedgerows for the finches,sparrows and buntings, It has been a joy as a bird watcher to see many unusual species like hen harrier and cuckoo, The cuckoo's have kept me company everyday for over a week and i have been lucky to see them on more than one occasion,
The walk was varied but a lot was on an old Roman road, very long and straight, Tough going and in the middle a local was making a killing as he had a small shady area where he served sausage sandwiches and drinks, Another 30km passed by before we got to our target Aubergue and we were very lucky as we got the last 2 beds which was a new build and very nice indeed, Everyday now will be a countdown as we get closer and closer to the finish

Misty morning