Moratinos

On Sunday the landscape from Calzadilla de la Cueza to Moratinos was mainly rolling wheat fields. The path often followed the senda, or main driving road.

Rock arrow art

Almost to Moratinos -- the hills on the horizon (to the left) are where "bodegas" can be found. Bodegas are cellars built into the earth and used to store wine, food, etc. -- some people even use theirs to escape the summer heat. 

The sign in the field outside town advertises the bodega restaurant, El Castillo de Moratinos. From this spot a few doorways and chimneys of Moratinos' bodegas can be seen.

Bodegas on the hill -- each 'hobbit' home' is unique.

American Rebekah Scott and husband Paddy O'Gara moved to Moratinos in 2006. Their adobe home is called "Peaceble Kingdom" after the painting by 19th c. painter Edward Hicks. They offer a place for pilgrims to stay, especially when local albergues are closed for the winter season.      

Their entrance doorway includes a shell and leads to an enclosed patio area.

Scottish pilgrim Johnnie Walker was visiting when we arrived. Johnnie has worked in the Pilgrim Office at Santiago and also coordinates English prayer services in the Cathedral. His blog in the past gave monthly walker stats, but these can now be found on the Office website.

Dinner was at the bodega restaurant with Rebekah, Paddy, and hospitalero Oliver from Germany who's helping out at Peaceable Kingdom for a while. Paddy continues to contribute articles to the Toledo Blade newspaper, which he used to manage before moving to Spain. Rebekah is working on book projects, both her own and as an editor for other writers. Her blog is Big Fun in a Tiny Pueblo.

After lunch we stopped by their bodega where they store wine. 

A few years ago a group of U. of Michigan architectural students helped repair a wall in the bodega and then left their mark, a Michigan "M." They were walking the Camino to study architecture along the Road.

The Hobbit saying above Rebekah & Paddy's bodega doorway -- "The Road goes ever on & on out from the door where it began."

Their adobe casa is undergoing a renovation, including new quarters on the right where visiting priests will stay.

Later that day we attended an English Mass that Rebekah helped organize in Terradillos de Los Templarios. Dad was asked to do a reading. Visiting priest Gerard from England performed the service -- his message was that when one walks the Road trekked on for centuries, you engage in the Camino's sacred traditions, which can provide growth, change, & healing.