October 5, 2001
Azofra- Redecilla del Camino (cloudy)
16.1m/25.7km - 127.3m/203.7km

We walk to Santo Domingo de la Calzada this morning. We are going to visit the cathedral there to see the rooster and hen kept in a cage inside the church. A local legend tells how an innkeeper's daughter once fell in love with a young pilgrim passing through with his parents. The boy rejected the girl and she, in anger, placed a silver goblet in his bags and told the authorities that he had stolen it. The young man was hanged and his body left on the gallows. That night his parents heard his voice telling them that Saint Dominic was holding him up and he was not dead. They rushed to the judge's house and told him their story. The judge was eating a dinner of two roasted chickens and not believing their story, said the boy was as dead as the chickens on his plate. After those words the birds jumped up, grew feathers, and flew around the room. The judge took this as a sign that the boy was alive and also innocent. The rooster and hen kept in the church commemorates this miracle. They say if the rooster crows while you are in the church you will have good luck.

When we first get to town we head for the refugio. It is closed and since it is close to lunchtime we go get something to eat. After lunch we make our way to the cathedral and step inside. There are the birds, just as we had been told, behind a glass window set in one wall. Not a sound from the rooster. As we leave and are just about to step out the church door, the rooster crows. Humm, are we lucky or is the rooster "trained" to crow the same way dancing chickens are "trained" to dance in the carnival?

When we get back to the refugio it is open and we have our passports stamped. There is a machine that looks like a freestanding ATM but it turns out to be pay computer with Internet access in the entryway to the refugio. While J is using it to check his e-mail T and I walk over to a small courtyard park straight across from the refugio. We take turns taking photos of each another beside a Camino marker that shows we have walked 118m/190km since leaving Roncesvalles.




When we leave Santo Domingo instead of yellow arrows we follow shell symbols placed in the middle of the road. The cockle shell is the symbol of St. James. Outside town the Camino is a wide gravel road that has concrete posts, one on each side of the road, marking the way. The posts also have the symbol of St. James, here a yellow shell on a blue background, imbedded in them. This gravel road takes us to Granon and it is a very pleasant walking experience. We have heard good things about the refugio in Granon and plan to stop there.