Depart Time: 8:25. Temp: 51F RH: 90%
Walked: 6.4 mi. Camino 2024: 127 mi.
A taxi picked us up at the albergue door this morning at 8:10.
We skirted a distance of 5 miles along the Camino from Castrojeriz to San Nicolás chapel. We had already walked this section in 2014, ’17 and ’19. We began skipping it in 2022, because the walking distance for the day became marginal for us (20kms, 12 miles), because our mid-way stopping point in Itero de la Vega closed with the owner’s death during the pandemic.
Today’s ten minute ride allowed us to go around rather than climb Alto de Mostelares and then avoid the 18% slope down the mountain followed by a winding path through the fields to the Rio Pisuerga, which forms the border between the provinces of Palencia and Burgos.
The taxi dropped us at the San Nicolás Chapel (13c) and primitive albergue, run by an Italian Confraternity. We immediately crossed over the Rio Pisuerga on a paved bridge (12c) and on the other side were surprised to see two of the three pilgrim friends we met along the walk into Hontanas, two days ago. They had spent last night at San Nicolás and the previous night at the San Anton ruins… two primative albergue in two nights. They said they totally enjoyed the experience at both locations.
They were trying to decide about taking an alternative route to save 4 miles on their planned walk for the day of over 35kms (21 miles). We were not familiar with the route in question, but described the route we were taking and what to expect. On the alternate route there were potential safety issues and a question of services along the paved road which had no apparent adjacent walking path.
They stuck with the same route we were taking and we played hop scotch, finally parting company at our destination in Boadilla del Camino.
The area we began walking through today is called the Tierra de Campos. The 12c Codex Calixtinus (1138-45) described it as “full of royal treasure, of gold and silver, fabrics and the strongest horses, and flush with bread, wine, fish, milk and honey. It is however lacking in firewood and the people are evil and vicious.”
Thankfully, based on our personal experiences in this area of the Camino, the evil and vicious folks must have moved on a long time ago.
First order of business was breakfast. We had cafe con leche as usual, but with tostados not an option, we opted for Santiago cake instead and were not disappointed. (Time for a change? We’ll see.)
As soon as we finished breakfast, we asked the owner, Eduardo, when our room would be ready and without hesitation, he said “now”. He also recognized us by saying you’ve been here twice before, and handed Jim the room key.
Our packs still hadn’t arrived by 2:15, so we had lunch/dinner. At mid-meal, Eduardo stopped by our table and announced our packs had been delivered.
So, the rest of the afternoon and early evening were spent doing our usual and prepping for tomorrow.
We are managing the physical part of the Camino pretty well, but are noticeably not as strong (legs) as on previous Caminos and seem to be more tired at the 5-6 mile mark. That’s better than before we left Greenville for the Camino, but still not as good as Jim remembers last year at this point.
The Meseta is doing its job to begin to tone our minds and improve our mental state. Hopefully, we will still continue to strengthen our bodies in parallel.
The Camino provides.
Jimandi 