Day: September 4, 2024

Day 19- Hontonas to Castrojeriz

Depart Time: 8:00 Temp: 54F RH: 90%

Walked: 6.6 mi. Camino 2024: 121 mi.

Because the mornings are much cooler, we started a little later today.

Walking out of Hontanas at 8:00… pilgrims already gone, tourists still in bed or having breakfast.
We had a choice: Camino dirt path partway up the hill and potential stones for Linda to deal with… (open toed sandals.)… or flat, pavement, no pebbles on the road.. what would you do?
No trees or shade on the Meseta? This is the Meseta that some pilgrims skip.
the path on the right is the “Camino”… our path on the pavement runs parallel … the road was probably the original path for the Camino… and the Romans..
We’re walking in a valley with the Meseta around us. With water more readily accessible more varieties can grow here.
The official Camino path, merging with ours and probably the original Pilgrim path.
approaching San Anton ruins
a look at part of the “primitive” albergue
Leaving San Anton heading toward Castrojeriz.
Less than a mile to go to Castrojeriz
Iglesia de Santa María de Manzano on the right with Castillo de San Esteban on the mountain top
“side” door to the Iglesia
Entrance to Iglesia de Santa María de Manzano
Main altar from viewed from the Nave
Closer look at the altar
One of several Flemish paintings in the Iglesia
Another Flemish painting (XV century)

On our first Camino, Jim’s first set of trekking poles broke on the walk to Hontanas. As we walked into Castrojerez the next day, he searched for replacements, but with no success until walking by a small, jammed shop that seemed to have all kinds of stuff. Hanging on the back side of the front door was a single set of Altus poles for 39€. Jim took them to the store owner and immediately purchased them. Jim and the owner were both delighted by the purchase.

Jim still has the poles which continue to perform well after 5 plus Caminos.

The store is in the first dark alcove in the opening between the trees in the top photo.. The bottom left photo was taken on our 2014 visit, the bottom right was taken today, 10 years later.

Jim has walked by the store each of the past 4 Camino’s, hoping to make contact with the owner, but the store has always been closed. Today we walked an extra mile from our albergue to look for the owner again and were pleased to find him behind the counter. Jim thanked him and recounted our experience 10 years ago and asked the owner to help him select a rain poncho.

Neither of us were very conversant in each other’s language. We did determine that the owner is 92 and the non-verbals were priceless. The encounter made for a very happy reunion before once again going our separate ways. (We learned later from our albergue owner that the store owner’s wife had recently passed away, only one month ago.)

Exploring. an alleyway in old Castrojerez on our way back from the store.
Heading to the albergue after clearing the alleyway
Jim’s view of the Orion Albergue courtyard and the Castillo in the distance
A closer look at the Castillo with some help from an iPhone zoom.

As soon as we checked in, we got a light lunch to hold us until our 7:00 dinner time.

Today’s lunch to last us until our 7:00 p.m. dinner. The owner comped the wine when he realized today was our second visit to his albergue.😉

After lunch, we gathered up dirty clothes and while Linda was getting her shower and then chilling, Camino style, Jim gathered the dirty clothes and headed to the washer/dryer located in the nice jardin between the albergue and restaurant and began working on the blog for today.

Jim’s view from his perch near the appliances.
The appliances, snacks and wine for blog writing creativity.

We ate dinner in the albergue dining which featured Korean cuisine. We enjoyed it in 2023 and it was tasty tonight as well.

Jolean, from the Netherlands, sat with us and we enjoyed hearing about her Camino experiences and also sharing some of our knowledge about what lays ahead.

Jim and Jolean chatting after dinner

We returned to our room at 8:30 to prepare for tomorrow’s walk and reflected on what a nice day is was in so many different ways,