By the time you put your rucksack down in Bercianos del Real Camino, you’ve done a proper meseta day. Wide, open and almost flat. The stage still counts as moderate because of the distance and the hours spent on the same straight paths.
After Terradillos you head out into the fields. The landscape hardly changes, and that is exactly the point. Sahagún is roughly halfway, a good place for a coffee and a sandwich. After that it goes quiet again: wheat, sky and very little shade. You’re on the road for over six hours. Your mind empties and your feet do the work.
Bercianos appears low among the fields. You walk into the village, take off your boots and look for a bench in the shade.