Day 19 - Storms and Stomach Flu : Hornillos del Camino to Castrojeriz

After an evening of reading weather reports about large impending storms heading towards the region, we were up and packed early to try to arrive at our destination, Castrojeriz, before the rain began. 

 

 
We enjoyed our breakfast in the albergue's common room this morning, accompanied by several very sick pilgrims. It now appears that both a stomach flu and cold are going through the community of hikers. One young lady was so ill that she was asked to sleep in the common room due to her non-stop coughing. Hopeful that we were immune to whatever was going around, we headed out in the early morning sunrise onto the Meseta. Despite the negative things we've heard about the Meseta, we are still amazed the simple beauty of the region, and the visual movement of the path across the landscape. With little else to do but take in the simplicity of hiking and reflect on things, the Meseta plateau is perhaps one of the most peaceful stretches of the trail so far.

 

Today's hike took us past rows of field stones, and later a stone cairn with an iron cross standing amid acres of fading sun flowers. 

  
Regardless of the overcast sky and distant lightening storm, we were never rained on, and instead enjoyed the benefits of the being protected from the full strength of the sun. After 11 km of hiking we partook of our second breakfast in Hontanas, at a trailside cafe with a covered patio, where we had a cafe con leche and some cookies. Hontanas itself is a small village of which the centre is dominated by the Church of the Imaculada Concepion, a beautiful structure worth a few moments inside. 

For the remainder of the morning and into the early afternoon we hiked past ruins and along roadsides until reaching the imposing structure of San Anton, the remains of a 14th century convent that spans the roadway. The structure at San Anton is inspiring, combining the sense of how imposing the building once was, with the wistfulness of wishing you could have seen the convent and church at the height of its glory. 

 

 

Pilgrims are able to purchase snacks here and are even allowed to stay for an evening. The kindness of the volunteers here, and the wonder of the site, made this perhaps the first location that we were tempted to cut our hike short and remain at. Unfortunately, staying at San Anton would lead us to have to hike over 30 km tomorrow, so we decided to push on. Sadly, we continued on to the nearby town of Castrojeriz, a village whose name derives from the castle whose ruins sit on the nearby hilltop. 

 

 

At the edge of town we had a snack beside the church, sitting with several of our friends. We then took time to explore the Iglesia de Nuestra, an abandoned church converted to a museum, where we met a wonderful man who proudly showed us wooden models of the church and San Anton that he had built. Definitely worth visiting.

 

Soon afterwards we walked into the centre of the village of Castrojeriz and found a beautiful new residence called Albergue de peregrinos Ultreia. Although the establishment was clean and beautiful, our experiences there can best be likened to an episode of Faulty Towers. The albergue owner did not seem to speak Spanish, Basque, French, German or English, and so communication with us and several other pilgrims arriving with us, proved nearly impossible. We all eventually managed to pay for our beds and meals, but before we were allowed to head to our respective quarters to clean up, the proprietor insisted that everyone remove their wet clothes and boots there in the hallway, and began physically assisting people to do so. It turned out this was because he didn't allow any wet or muddy clothing to enter the dorm rooms, but being stripped down in the hallway was a bit awkward, especially given the language barrier. It is standard practice in albergues for pilgrims to remove their smelly boots and leave them in a rack somewhere outside the dorms, but in this case the rack was in an open courtyard, in the rain. When an Australian pilgrim objected, saying she didn't want her dry shoes to get soaked, she was told there was newspaper she could use to dry them in the morning, and everything would be okay. Although the whole thing seemed rather sketchy, we nonetheless proceeded to our room.

 
















An hour later, after cleaning up and relaxing for a bit, we set off to explore the town site, send some postcards home, and mail off our next package of scrap-booking souvenirs. To our amazement, we discovered that the Post Office in Castrojeriz is open for 20 minutes a day ... unless of course it is a holiday. 

 

 
So, no mailing for us. Despite a darkening sky, we decided to hike up to the citadel ruins which overlooked the town. After trekking up the steep slope, we came to a beautiful old castle and fortification, which provided a wonderful view of the surrounding countryside. While hanging out in the upper turrets, we also saw what appeared to be the combination of an extremely active electrical storm and a dust cloud headed our way. We briefly considered riding out the storm(s) in the shelter of the ruins , but decided that it was still far enough off to enable us to return to town. As it turned out we were very much mistaken. 

 

The storm which appeared to be on the horizon just minutes before, swept in with a fury and caught us in mid stride on our way back to the albergue. Within a few minutes we and our clean night clothes were entirely soaked. Despite this, we knew that dinner time was approaching at the albergue, so we hurried back to change and eat. When we arrived at the albergue we discovered over a dozen other pilgrims standing outside because the owner had locked the doors just prior to dinner time, meaning that anyone outside of the albergue - despite paying for their repast in advance - would both miss their meal and have to wait. As a result, still wet, we ended up returning to a small bar on the edge of town, and purchased a delightful sandwich and a pint of beer for our evening meal. By 8:30 pm, the albergue was unlocked and all of those stuck outside were allowed back in. While several other pilgrims tried to complain and extract their previously purchased dinners from the owner, we simply returned to our rooms, sit wet and now tired, but at least well fed.

Later in the evening our luck seems to have entirely run out. Sean is shaking in bed, having now taken 3 hot showers and sweated through his bed sheets, he clearly has a stomach flu or food poisoning. Despite these difficulties we are safe and warm and grateful to have gotten a private room. With little other choice we are off to try to get some sleep.

"Always remember that today's challenges often become tomorrow's funny anecdotes..."

 

 

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Practical information:

Distance: 20.1 km
Max Temperature: 20°C
Accommodations: Albergue de peregrinos Ultreia