Hornillos Del Camino to Castrojeriz

Last night we had a fabulous dinner at the casa rural we stayed in cooked by the wife of the old man who owned the farm which was an old water mill. It included fresh veggies his homegrown green peppers and tomatoes as well as vegetable soup. We also were served tortilla de patata, cheese, blood sausage, a whole fish like a bass, good branded red wine, dessert of fresh pears or ice cream, and his choices of local homemade liqueurs. We were at a single table of 11 with two swedes, 3 Spaniards, 2 French, and 2 Japanese. Good company, and we had a good fire evening and early morning to take off the chill. Farm animal noises all night, and breakfast at 8. It poured rain from 3am but stopped at 9 for us to start walking.

The owner drove us back the 6 KM to the Camino where his son had picked us up , and we were walking by 9:15. We met a German young man from Frankfurt who had arrived in Burgos the previous day and had started walking very late in the day and was walking in the dark till he got to an Albergue. Mark is 6' 5" and is carrying a huge pack, maybe 30 lbs, and he is now contemplating how to unload a few things. David helped him handle his first blister. We walked the day with him up until San Anton Convent ( now an Albergue) founded in the 11th century where he stopped for the night. His Albergue was basically 6 bunk beds in the most preserved part of the ruins with 1 toilet, sink, and cold water only shower. His feet were hurting along with collar bone so he chose to get a bed there rather than walk further. The ancient monastery and hospice was founded by the Antonine order which was founded by the French in the 11th century. The Order's symbol is the Tau (19th letter of Greek alphabet and symbolizing divine protection against evil and sickness). This T shaped cross has become the Cruz del Peregrino. I bought the wood cross made by the nuns at the Convento de Santa Clara which is 1/2 KM from here, but we didn't have the energy to go there, so we just admired it from our hilltop location. There is also the monastery of San Francisco within sight. Castrojeriz is a fortified old town with Roman and Visigothic remains (may have been founded by Julius Caesar) and was the area around which much fighting occurred between the Moors and Christians. The town though now is pretty empty.

We also were joined at various coffee breaks by the Swedes John and Patricia, who had gone to the casa rural with us the night before. John spent 20 years in the USA around Davis, CA where he got various degrees in agriculture. He met and later married Patricia, who was Guatemalan of English ancestry. Her ability with Spanish proved very useful to our group. She helped Mark confirm that there would be dinner served among the ruins.

Today we covered 21 Km with an elevation rise 250 M. We no longer have much faith in our guidebook's reported elevation changes as it only gives a very rough picture of the climbing we do. We had really our first easy day where feet felt good, pack felt lighter than usual..

By dumb luck there was 1 room left at La Cachava which is a darling old place and our room, 1 of 10, has a lovely view of the old castle up on the hill! Also the en suite bathroom has a lovely bathtub for soaking. We decided to do the full package so dinner and breakfast was included.
It has been very cold all day and we were happy to be wearing our rain jackets and 2 other layers of clothing.