Our hostal’s bar served breakfast beginning at 7am so we slept in, had cafe con leche and tostada (toast) and left around 7:30am. The weather was cool but we wore shirtsleeves. The path was a bit different than the guides due to the high speed rail construction but not difficult. We left the valley and crossed over a ridgeline. Walking was on a gravel track and vegetation was small oaks and white rock roses. After 15km we entered the small village of Bercianos de Valverde. We could not find a bar but asked an old man. He walked with us to the city hall, unlocked the door and led us upstairs to a room (community center?) and made us cafe con leche. That was quite a treat. Leaving the town we crossed another ridge and then descended into through small vineyards and bodegas built into the hillside. The next village was Santa Croya de Tera (with bars, shops and and albergue). We stopped at the shop of a meat market where we bought cheese and a piece of cured lomo (pork loin). The woman sliced it for us and we tasted it - delicious! The cost for the cheese and meat was only ~$7 and probably enough for two lunches. It was only another 1.5km, the other side of a small stream to our destination of Santa Marta de Tera where we got beds in the municipal albergue - only 6 bunks in two rooms and a very nice place. We’ll eat breakfast in the kitchen. Lunch was at a bar across the street. The village is home to a late 11th century Romanesque church, formerly part of a monastery. An 11th century statue of Saint James as a pilgrim is on one facade. It’s considered to be the oldest depiction of the saint as a pilgrim - at least in Europe. At 5pm the hospitalero gave us a tour of the church and its museum.
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