Somewhere Slowly

We like to think we live and learn. And so it was that the morning after we left Hornillos early and at speed, to beat the heat. I hate the thought of hurrying or trying to beat anything on the camino, but it just got too hot for us in the afternoons and we seemed unable to get up properly early. Possibly because I hate getting up early too … Beautiful start to the day, and before we knew it we had put 6 kms behind us and stopped for breakfast.

Then on to the meseta proper!

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The highlight of the day was undoubtedly the ruins of San Anton shortly before Castrojeriz. It is now a small and basic donativo albergue, and though we weren’t looking to stay there, I wanted to see it properly. When I last walked past, it was closed off. This time we had a good long chat to the lovely hospitalera, who told us that the night before they had been sitting outside under the stars and watched the full moon glide past the empty windows. It sounded lovely. If I walk past again on my own I might …

There seemed to be a bar or restaurant right across the road from the ruins now, but we soldiered on to try to get in before it got too hot (it never works that way). The castle on the hill looks interesting but sadly I never feel like walking up to it after a long day’s walk.

When we finally found our accommodation for the night, it turned out it had a large open and partially shaded space at the front, with a bar … so I didn’t actually do any sightseeing, besides I had seen most of Castrojeriz walking around trying to find the place. Really lovely building, and in the bar we found these Tintin posters – someone must love their comics!

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Turned out the owner had walked the camino many times and had framed some very long compostelas on the wall. The ink had faded on so many of the sellos that you could only see a few here and there. Food for thought for when we frame ours: get protective glass or hang them away from direct sunlight. The owner wasn’t there to tell us stories, but there were photos on the wall and the little bar felt very camino-y because of that. I didn’t leave the hotel that evening, though the Scouse Spouse took a stroll uphill to see the castle closer up, and mentioned the one large hump in the landscape apart from the one we were on … and which we’d have to walk up and over the next morning. On that cheerful note we called it a night.