The countryside

Calzadilla de los Hermanillos is at the western edge of the meseta.  The meseta is a vast mostly treeless plain in north central Spain.  It's about 2500 feet in elevation and about 10000 square miles and is planted almost entirely in winter wheat.  And it's flat.
The Cantabrian Mountains run across northern Spain almost from the Pyrenees to Galicia.  Part of the Cantabrians are known as the Picos.  This photo is taken from Calzadilla looking north.  The Picos (peaks) are about 50 miles north.  They are very steep and jagged limestone mountains between 7000 and 7500 feet in elevation.
The last photo is actually the first photo from our arrival.  The very small villages on the meseta have some very long names.  

The folklore of the camino divides the journey into three parts.  The first is the crossing of the Pyrenees and the hills of Navarre.  The first third is a physical challenge.  The middle third is across the meseta and is considered a mental and emotional challenge.  Sadly, many pilgrims skip parts of the meseta believing it to be hard, hot and boring.  I understand the feeling but I don't agree with skipping over it. I loved the meseta.  Perhaps because I grew up on the prairie, I am comfortable with the emptiness and being able to see to the horizon.  Imagine walking across North Dakota.  The last third, from Leon to Santiago, as pilgrims near the end becomes a religious, spiritual, even existential challenge.

This photo of the Picos was taken from the upstairs balcony of the alburgue.  Good old John Deere is parked in the foreground.  The tractor belongs to the man that lives in the house to the left.  He drives out to his farm to work.  I have seen several more farmers in the village commuting to work.