Today’s stretch of the Camino from Bercianos is a long and flat day. Once we reach Mansilla de las Mulas you see sections of its medieval walls. The town was once an important commercial and livestock trading center that boasted seven churches and three hospitals to attend to the flow of pilgrim traffic along the Camino de Santiago. Today, only two churches remain. Most of us had a delicious vegetable soup for dinner while Lynn and Bill feasted on a mound of dried meat.

The scallop shell remains our constant companion, both actually and emblematically. The legend is that when St. James' body was recovered from the boat and sea it was covered in shells and thus became associated with the Camino. In current times Pilgrims walk with scallop shells attached to their packs and walking sticks following various forms of the shell as route markers. During the Middle Ages you received your scallop shell when you arrived in Santiago. You returned home with it and your compestello certificate as proof you had completed the journey.