This stage is moderately notorious among pilgrims for having the longest stretch of road (17km) without any services such as cafes or restaurants.

It is also effectively a path straight through a flat, featureless landscape of wheat fields.

Hence the walking experience on this stage is something like … this …

And this may be too much information, but even finding a place to go the restroom becomes an issue. For some reason, the one or two coffees that I drink in the morning seem to multiply into vast reserves of liquid inside me. Over more particulars I draw a veil.

As it turns out, there happens to be a sort of pop-up cafe, right at the midpoint of the 17km. Naturally, virtually everyone stops there. I greet a man from Singapore who I had chatted with earlier in the day. He had explained how, according to him, virtually everyone in Singapore can afford their own home. I also meet the group of Germans from earlier stages, including E. and T. It is a bit surprising how heartening it is to see someone you recognize on the way. As if you had known these people for years. Even though objectively speaking, you may have only talked to them for less than an hour total.

When I did at last get to the town at the end of the 17km stretch, the first cafe which I came across was so tiny that I passed it by, thinking that there surely must be something better coming up soon, which turned out not to be correct. Anyway in the last hours the heat grew and the sun seemed to be glaring down with unusual ferocity. So I was happy to arrive at my destination albergue where I could find this …

The albergue is situated outside the small town of Terradillos de los Templarios, effectively on some farmland. Thus it is unusually spacious in that it has a lot of land around it – I would estimate a couple of acres. Well organized, but overall I felt it was somewhat lacking in terms of Camino vibe.

The adjacent town was a stronghold of the Knights Templar centuries ago, although nothing now remains of that apart from the name of the town. The Knights Templar were essentially an order of heavily armed monks, who got their start during the Crusades, and became a strong presence in Europe. This led to a violent power struggle with the French monarchy, which the Templars lost in the 1300s. The Templars seem to have some modern-day fans. I have seen the Templar cross at a few places along the way, once when some enthusiastic pilgrims pointed it out.

L. is also stopping here, as well as E. from France and T. from Germany. I had first met T. back at Castojeriz.

For dinner at this albergue, the setup is a bit more formal than usual. People are to be seated at small tables for two to four people. I was chatting with L. on the terrace and we invite Ti. to join us. During the meal, L. (from Milan) starts discussing a bad pizza that he had encountered, and mentioned with horror that it had ketchup instead of pizza sauce. Somehow he also mentions mustard, and at that point T. exclaims “that is very interesting to me!” . It turns out that on the way he is playing a game with cards – he has a card with the word “mustard” written on it, and if he meets someone who, for whatever reason, mentions that word, that person must take that card (and record where they are, with an app.) They need to keep that card until they meet someone else who mentions that word. Thus L. accepts the card.

My dorm room is pretty small and full with older guys, mostly Italian it seems. But considerate and trying to be quiet. Later, as I head there in order to sleep , I hear L. talking to E., trying to get her to say the word “mustard”.