Day ten - Santo Domingo de la Calzada to Belorado

A pretty quiet day today. Much of the trail follows a major highway and just kept stretching out before us.

Goodbye to the cathedral at Santo Domingo de la Calzada.

We started the day slightly later than we would have liked. Breakfast was on offer at our strangely-named Room Concept hotel at 7.30am and since the day was only 22km we sat about and chatted, leaving at 8am.

The long landscapes were nice, but there were few villages. 

The service was excellent.

We had plenty of sustenance onboard after overdosing at breakfast, so we skipped the first couple of villages, stopping for coffee at Redecilla del Camino, after 10km. We were clocking up a good speed, with a kilometre every 13 minutes or so.

For a long stretch there was highway construction going on, so a lot of dust. The sky was mostly clear, there wasn't much wind and shade was close to non-existent, but we were wary of overdoing the walking and decided we were going to stop for lunch soon after noon. There was only one possibility, about 5km from our destination, and that was the old village of Villamayor del Rio.

Sadly, there wasn't anywhere open in the old part of the village, but across the road was a flash-looking restaurant. They made customised boccadillo for the eye-watering price of €6, but they were lovely.

A quick pause for the poppies - they're everywhere.

Revitalised, we made a dash for it over the last 5km, anxious to stop and put our feet up. After a series of 12-minute kilometres, we made it into the lovely village of Belorado just before 2pm, finding our hotel (another odd name - Hostal Punto B) without too much trouble.

We had a very warm welcome, being greeted with cold lemon drink. Breakfast is at the welcome time of 6am, so we'll have an early start tomorrow. We also booked in for a very moderately-priced dinner. I got pressured into ordering artichokes - our host assured me it was the best thing on the menu.

And then we had a welcome shower and siesta.

It's now after 5pm, time to wander into the square and have a look at the town.

The Plaza Mayor in Belorado.

We went out and did a circuit of the beautiful plaza, then sat and had a beer. Talked to other pilgrims who agreed it was a long, hot, dusty day, so please excuse the boring blog today. I'll try to do better tomorrow.

Later - we had dinner at our hotel. It was great. Cathie was in heaven to get a huge salad, but this was after a large plate of paella - a meat one rather than a fish one. In fact, I gobbled up the paella so fast that they gave me a second plate - even bigger than the first.

For my second course, I had the recommended artichokes with ham - sometimes life is good. Unexpectedly, with dessert, we were served a little shot glass of aguadenteiro - rocket fuel really. A bit like the Scandanavian aquavit. It sent us toddling up to our room feeling pretty pleased with life.

It's strange how my ear worms have become a regular feature. Here's one with great lyrics: https://youtu.be/WO23WBji_Z0

Here's today's photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/Wm3VVQhbJx1y4Kpu6

Here's the Relive video (excuse the spellcheck changing Belorado to Belorussian): https://www.relive.cc/view/v8qkBPp9GK6