Day 19

Day 19 of trip

Day 16 of walk.

Today was Hornillos del Camino to Castrojeriz (19.47km)

Weather: cool, grey and minimal sun (nice to walk in)

Terrain: light off-road, couple bits a bit stony, and then road.

Another poor sleep, a common theme of the Camino but managed to sleep till 6:25.

45 minutes later I was out the door and onto the The Way

It was a weird mix of grey and sun, looked like it was going to rain although it never did.

I walked for a while with Jess & her friends but felt a little like a fourth wheel, especially when they spoke Spanish, so I made my excuses and headed off on my own and honestly I needed some space to myself.

That said I was amazed that the gel & massage had really helped Jess’s hip. She wasn’t going as quick but was able to walk unlike the evening before were she was limping horribly.

Once i started off on my own, i moving quickly. It didn’t take long before I passed both Susan and then Bill. (Turns out that one of my roommates this day saw me at some point and said I was flying 🤪)

Average pace was 11:32min/km / 5.2km/h although most of the walk was between 10:20 & 11:30min/km, just slowed at the start by keeping pace with Jess & co, then at the end keeping pace with Gerald (German bloke I met, only really speaks German and a tiny amount of English. I struggle to understand his german accent)

Stopped for breakfast in Hontanas for a change at El Puntido because someone recommended it. (Toast, Marmelade and coffee, sadly no OJ)

Soon enough I was back in the path heading to Castrojeriz.

Somewhere along the way I bumped into Gerald, and we walked and talked till we got to Castrojeriz.

It was a strange place as it’s long as drawn out around the side of a hill. At the top was a ruin of a castle that I wanted to go to but didn’t. The place just seemed to go on for a while.

Debated Municipal vs Rosalia, and in the end let the reviews sway me. Got a room for just 5 people, 12€ a single bed (no bunks \0/ … 10€ a bed in the attic, with 19 beds). Room had Bill who I had bumped into a couple of times (he suggest we could share a room sometime down the road for privacy), Rollo (Argentina bloke I met last village, I had misheard his name as Ramon), Patricia (elderly American woman, really friendly) and another bloke who’s name I forget but boy could he snore.

Rosaliá was pretty decent, I love the single beds and the Pilgrim statue you could stand behind. Shower was pretty decent (At least in the middle Landung bathroom). Didn’t really make use of kitchen or the mostly enclosed terrace (except to dry clothes). Owner seemed pretty nice.

Went to lunch with Jess & co, ended up joining tables with Bill, Thomas (from Denmark) his 2 sons and the Belgium man who was in yesterday’s albergue (has lost 18kg walking from Belgium to France to begin the Camino)

Most went for a late siesta (around 5) but I went for a walk. Visited a supermarket and then bumped into Karen & Susan. We had a chat then I waked with Susan back to the albergue and chatted about old movies (Noises off, Arsenic & Old Lace, Topper) & theatre.

At the Albergue we saw Erica and decided to go for tea/dinner. So ended up with a second Pilgrims Menu. Most food I’ve eaten this trip.

I made poor dinner choices. I absolutely should have had a soup (Castilian or Zucchini … both were delicious - apparently the Zucchini soup was the best an American chef had ever had and wrote a glowing review of it in an article)

Had a lovely time, then they went to bed. I walked back to my albergue on the other side of the village and went back to the bar from the afternoon meal to join the same crowd from earlier for drinks (and then eating)

There from like 8:15pm till 9:45pm. At one point we did a toast, which got amusing with all the different languages. Danish, Dutch, German, English, Spanish, Argentinian and something else.

Then it was off to bed to be ready for walking to Frómista.