Day 17: Hontanas to Castrojeriz (8km)

Otherwise known as our "Act of God" day.

As we had been given a surprising Fast Forward, to use Amazing Race terminology, we decided that it meant we only had to do a very short day. Huzzah!

Despite th crummy weather, we had such a pleasant walk through the countryside.

There's Noni in her bright orange poncho, making sure she's visible to all traffic.

Passing this bit of graffiti on a road sign sparked a great bit of conversation between us. The Way is a film that came out a few years ago. It stars Martin Sheen and is directed by Emilio Estevez ("EMILIOOOOOOOO!"). I've seen this movie three times now- once to watch it for myself, once with my mum to explain to her what it was I was planning to do, and once with my grandma, same reason.

It's a sweet film that isn't terribly deep or anything, but it has a lovely message. And, obviously, it's set along the Camino. 

Here's the thing: does it matter at all what motivates you to do this trip? Hell no! I have no idea how I heard about the Camino all those years ago, but all that matters is I've made good (almost!) on my goal of walking the bloody thing. So someone saw a film and decided to do the Camino? So what? You saw a movie and it inspired you to make the commitment to walking 800 kilometres and you did it? You go with your bad self! 

This guy (I'm assuming) is a wanker (I'm not assuming- this I know). And he graffitied a sign. Jerk face.

Anyway, I digress. 

We passed some beautiful ruins of the Convent of San Anton. Pretty sure this thing is from the 14th Century. That's almost as old as me!

Then we had a long, straight road,

And finally got to Castrojeriz. 

Again though, despite getting to the town super early, we struggled to find a bed. We ended up paying a lot of money to stay in a not-that-great hotel. Stupid long weekend and all the day trippers. Sigh.

We basically spent the rest of the day exploring and reading (as we always do), then as we went out to grab dinner, who should we run into but John and Chris! They had caught a bus into town from Burgos and planned to walk a short day the next day. John was still sticking with Chris to make sure he followed the doctor's orders. Poor John really had his hands full with that one- Chris had already climbed the hillside to check out the ruins of and castle up there. Boys, am I right?!

Anyway, we had a lovely dinner with them.

And that was Day 17.

Day 16: Burgos to Hornillos del Camino (20km)

Before bed, Noni had felt so sick that she wasn't sure if she was going to be able to walk today. I told her we'd have a sleep in and she could see how she felt then. Let's not tell lies here: we all know this benefitted me more ;)

When we woke up, Noni decided to carry on, because she's just amazing at life. I told her that at any point she could decide to pack it in and take a bus instead, but she decided to go ahead anyway.

We bounced out of our hotel room and were ready to go when we suddenly got to the entrance and realised it was pouring with rain. Why had we already convinced ourselves we were walking?! 

There were several helpful gentlemen who informed us that it was raining outside. Yes, thank you, Captain Obvious. 

We put our ponchos on and were ready to go!

I was hanging out for a coffee and brekkie, and luckily the next town was only 6km away.

Only, it turns out that it wasn't. Our book LIED (not the first time, definitely not the last). This makes the Camino really difficult for me. I tend to walk from town to town, so I check the map each day and convince myself, "only 6km and you're there" at each town. The map, once again, lied to me and the first town was actually off the camino. Hell no, I'm not walking extra kilometres if I don't have to! 

So my food deprivation in the pouring rain did not help me with my mood.

And so, we plodded along in the rain some more, now with extra mud to make it really fun. The landscape was particularly dreary and ugly, doing nothing for my mood. And the mud just meant that eachstep weighed a tonne.

We finally got to a town and I had lunch and perked up again. Poor Noni- she was actually sick, but I was inflicting my crappy mood on her.

Luckily, the last half of the walk was quite lovely, despite the dreary weather. It's amazing what a bit of food can do to your mood.

We finally arrived at our destination and were so proud of ourselves for not packing it in and giving up.

We headed into town and were about to start the search for accommodation when two Finnish ladies came up to us to let us know that EVERY BED IN TOWN WAS TAKEN. 

Um, WHAT?!

It turns out that it was a long weekend in Spain and that's when the Spanish people do the Camino bit by bit, just doing a few days here and there along the way, until they've done the whole route in a few years and can get a compostela. Good for them, bad for us. All those big groups of day trippers that flew past us with their bum bags and nothing else had gotten to the accomodation first and there was nothing left for us!

Noni and I were stunned. There was no energy left in us (not to mention all the pain we were in!) to walk to the next town. It had taken everything we had just to get here.

The Finnish ladies had called for a cab to take them to the next town, and there was room for us if we would like to join them. Would we?!

Basically, Noni and I saw this as a gift from God, blessing us for walking all that was despite illness, angry tendons, and hanger, he most dangerous affliction of them all. It wasn't cheating: it was the hand of God giving us a 10km head start for the next day. 

Heck, with a God like that, I could totally fake being religious for one night!

Day 15: San Juan de Ortega to Burgos (23km)

Day 15: San Juan de Ortega to Burgos (23km)

Had a terrible sleep, of course. Something we realised during the night- those really terrible snorers, the ones that keep you up all night? They have an amazing sleep. Everyone else has to have the worst night's sleep ever because of them. Argh!

We hit the road and headed to the next town for brekkie because there was nowhere open in this one. When we got there we saw how awesome it was, and how many food and accomodation options where were. Over a delicious breakfast, Noni and I decided that we never stayed at that awful place. Instead, we stayed here, had an amazing sleep, and were only now just setting out.

Well, would you believe that craziness worked?! We left the village with a new sense of purpose and vigour and started to actually enjoy the walk!

We went through another town called Atapuerca. This town was another lovely one, and was famous for having a Neolithic body discovered there. The town had so many random animals hanging about, including these chooks.

Why did the chickens cross the road? Because their mates were on the other side.

Of course after this town there was a giant hill. It was so rocky and gross to walk up- my ankle was killing me!

We got to the top of this hill/mountain and were rewarded with some really fun things- a cross, a maze, many arrows pointing our way, and stunning views. Some people had had lots of time on their hands up there. We couldn't linger too long because the wind was pretty bad.

We stopped at the half way point to Burgos and had a snack. We were trying to research accomodation options when Noni came across some very interesting information: due to the ugly industrial area in the 8km leading into Burgos, many pilgrims takes bus from the town before it. Well! "Many pilgrims"?! And several different sites told us to do it. That's practically a gift from God! 

We decided to see how we felt when we got to the town where we would catch a bus from, but considering the 7km before it had stunning views like this one below,our minds were easily made up.

Best. Euro. Ever. Spent.

Here is us on the amazing bus looking and feeling ecstatic:

We were super happy due to getting to miss out on stunning views and highway walking, like this:

It definitely helped because between Noni's cold and bung knee, and my suddenly disagreeable ankle, it just felt awesome.

We were greeted by these guys. It seemed like something from Spirited Away.

After finding accomodation and going on a wild goosechase to find somewhere todo laundry, we were eventually directed to the municipal albergue. And who should be sitting outside? The whole gang! John! Tosantos albergue buddies! And Chris!

Chris had caught the bus from the town he had been taken to hospital from, and was going to spend a couple of days on Burgos. John was going to stay with him to make sure that occurred, because we all knew how stubborn Chris is.

We couldn't do much sight seeing in Burgos due to my ankle finally giving up. I bought a pressure bandage in the hopes it would help for tomorrow.

We did manage to take in the cathedral, which was stunning.

And then we collapsed in bed in a haze of whinging. 

Day 14: Tosantos to San Juan de Ortega (19km)

Today was another glorious day of walking!

Just joking. Today was THE WORST!!! Especially after such a wonderful night. We left feeling buoyant and rejuvenated by our wonderful evening, and the scenery started out quite lovely.

Then we got to the first town and tried to get lunch. Apparently blood pudding is all th rage in this part of Spain, so we decided to get something from the grocery store instead.

This is where we ran into our enemy, walking-pole-dragger, and where her boyfriend became our new enemy for taking the last of the cheese.

We hate him.

We consoled ourselves with a big bag of Ruffles chips and our apples that we always have in our bags. I'm pretty sure I also bought a giant chocolate because I am me.

There were a lot of steep hills, and Noni's knee and my ankle weren't too fond of all this up and down business.

We passed this memorial thing. It's either pro-Franco, or anti-Franco. My two words of Spanish really didn't help me there.

Our guidebooks said that it was supposed to be 10km to the next town. It was definitely more than that. And the walk was quite ugly too, through logging roads and things. Our feet were killing us!

Such inspiring vistas:

We arrived at the town in so much pain and decided we had earned another night in a private room. We walked into the bar to enquire about accomodation, only to discover that they were fully booked- we needed to have booked ahead. Who has time for that?!

So we went to the albergue next door and booked in there. It was just awful. Huge rooms that connected to other rooms, so when people were leaving the other room they had to come through ours. The worst snorers, Internet that only worked in the freezing cold entryway, it goes on. 

We also discovered that the town had no supermarket. And the only place for dinner was the bar next door, and they didn't serve dinner until 7:30. I don't understand this at all- we're pilgrims! We've woken up early, been walking all day, and then have to eat dinner just a couple of hours before we go to bed? It's just really frustrating. I get the the Spanish had their lunch at 2, and have siesta'd all afternoon, but in a place that petty much only exists for pilgrims, such as this nothing town, then cater for pilgrims! There wasn't even a supermarket in town for us to buy snacks. 

I can only suggest that if you do the Camino, despite what your guidebook tells you, DO NOT STAY HERE OVERNIGHT. We also discovered that the bar wouldn't be open for breakfast. So too bad if you need food to get you going in the morning. 

You know things are bad when you're so bored you go to church...

Day 13: Grañon to Tosantos (21km)

Today's walk was actually quite pleasant, which makes a nice break! Although, for some reason my ankle started the really hurt. I figured I'd just stretch it out and it would sort itself out.

The reason I have included this photo of a van is because it's a particular aspect of Spanish culture we have come across. About a week into our Camino our ears were ASSAULTED by a van driving around constantly beeping his horn. What was his problem? There was no one in his way, was he looking for someone? We were pretty sure they had heard him already, if that was the case.

It turns out, he was looking for people. Customers. He was a baker driving around to let the villagers know that he was there to make his deliveries. Kind of like Mr Whippy, but without the cute tinkling music. Maybe these people should consider this.

Anyway, this was another of those vans, but for dairy products instead.

At Belorado we stopped for lunch, and found a place that did patatas bravas. As Noni was vigorously adding salt to the dish (which she would like me to emphasise was ESSENTIAL), we suddenly realised that the large table of bicigrinos (pilgrims on bicycles) were yelling at us. It turns out they were a group of doctors from Portugal and Noni was single handedly offending them all. 

We obviously became big hits with them and they all needed to pose for photos with us, especially this guy, as he said he was the oldest of the group so needed to have an individual photo with us.

We arrived at our Albergue in Tosantos with a little trepidation. It was a paroquial albergue like the one John and Chris stayed at the previous night. We hoped it would be a lovely experience like they had had.

John was already there when we arrived, and we were greeted by Elsie, the hospitelera. She was the most amazing woman we had ever met- half witch, half 60s hippy, she was stunning. 

Noni and I were sleeping up in the roof of this old cottage on gym mats.

As part of our stay, one of the villagers took us up the hill to the chapel carved into the mountain. We weren't allowed to take photos inside, but just take my word for it- it was magical. The chapel was built to house the Virgen de la Peña, a statue of the Virgin Mary who is only brought down to the church in town on special feast days, like the assumption. 

We were very lucky to have a young French guy translate for us English speaking idiots and explain everything- so he was translating from one second language (Spanish) into another (English), and then apologise for the mistakes he made. Mate, do not apologise, you are amazing. 

This guy was awesome. As I keep saying to Noni, if I was ten years younger...

When we got back from the chapel, we all set about getting to work preparing dinner. These paroquial albergues are donativo, meaning that you donate how much you would like to, and the previous night's guests' donations provide the next day's dinner.

We then shared the meal around a large table together, getting to know each other and sharing our stories. We also sang the pilgrim song "Ultreia" together. Well, others sang, Noni and I listened and soaked up the beautiful atmosphere.

"Ultreia" is a word that Noni and I kept coming across but never knew what it meant. We learnt on this night that it used to be the greeting that pilgrims would say to people going towards Santiago. "Ultreia" means "onwards" or "keep going!", and to the pilgrims on their way back to their homes after visiting Santiago, the response would be "E sus eia" meaning "And upwards", or "towards God". It's such a beautiful sentiment, and used to be said as regularly was "Buen Camino" is said now.

After dinner, for those who were interested, there was a prayer circle. It was in a beautiful space up in the roof, and we meditated and sang. Then we read prayers left behind by other pilgrims 21 days previously. If all went accordingly, those pilgrims would be at Santiago that day, so we prayed for them. The prayers were quite intimate and private, and I was surprised by some of the things that were written, knowing that a stranger would read them, but maybe that was some of the reasoning behind it- a stranger knowing your business means nothing, but the sentiment behind a stranger praying for you is lovely. 

Despite being an atheist, I took part in the prayers because it was such a wonderful experience. I can still think lovely thoughts for people.

Here's John the next morning with Elsie. He was quite taken by her style. Watch out, Mrs John!!

Update on Chris: it turns out that it wasn't thrombosis but an infection. He needs to stay resting for 4 days and not walk anywhere. We'll see how that goes...

Day 12: Azofra to Grañon (21km)

I don't have any photos from the actual walk today because my phone was dead. The one downside to the muni albergue was no electrical outlets in the rooms.

Instead, it was another awful day of walking- the morning was miserable and freezing cold with no stops for the first 15km. 

There was a town, Cirueña, at the 10km mark, but it was an awful ghost town: there's a big golf course as you enter, then block after block of apartments where each one would have a "Se Vende" sign up, staying it was for sale. Every now and then there would be one occupied apartment. I can't imagine how creepy it would be living in those solitary apartments surrounded by no one.

We essentially spent the day trying to defeat the cold wind which just sliced through our clothes. That and the terrible mud that weighed us down.

The final 6km to Grañon poured, which was lots of fun. We were very glad when we finally arrived, only to have the one albergue we saw be closed! We eventually found a Casa Rural which was open. It was expensive, but we were beyond caring at that point. 

We eventually ran into John and Chris who were staying at a paroquial albergue at the top of the church. They were sleeping on gym mats, but the whole set up made us very jealous of their lodgings, with a communal dinner and breakfast that everyone had to help make. It just sounded so lovely, and the church alcove they were staying in just seemed so lovely and homely.

Of course, no visit to any Spanish town would be complete without a visit to the church itself. Luckily I charged the phone up for this!

This guy on the altar is obviously his friend's wingman.

And a modern day pilgrim in the stain glass window. 

Chris ended up being taken to a hospital overnight because of how bad his leg was- they thought it might be thrombosis. This was not good news, obviously, but especially because Chris was so gung-ho about his Camino.

Day 11: Navarrete to Azofra (20km)

Today was another uneventful day of walking. In fact, it was really difficult to discern between this day and the next in composing this blog entry, as all I remember was that the weather was gross and Noni and I just weren't in the mood for walking. This picture pretty much sums us up:

Noni began the day dressed as a speed skater. This is generally our uniform on cold days.

The walk was through Rioja wine country. After awhile, you've seen one vineyard, you've seen them all!

The worst part though was a very big hill upon leaving Navarrete. The incline on its own was bad enough, but it was mostly made of loose dirt and stones. It made the trek really rough and difficult to navigate.

The view at the top was stunning, but unfortunately, it was a lot more of the same old tricky loose dirt to navigate on the way down.

We ran into John while we were stopped for lunch at Najera. He had sent his bag forward with a bag transportation company and had planned to stay in Najera. We farewelled him and decided to keep going to the next town.

Of course, it started pouring the moment we hit the dirt (now muddy) road. 

We passed two German pilgrim's who had a donkey with them. I guess the donkey was to carry their belongings, but to be honest, it didn't seem to make their trip any more productive- they were quite slow, and the donkey just seemed quite cumbersome, but it made for some interesting conversation.

On our awful 6km in the pouring rain to arrive at Azofra, we properly met Chris, the 73 year old Aussie man who was a walking machine. He had a particular pace and just stuck with it, despite the obvious pain in his leg. 

Noni and I spent most of the walk joking about how John must be looking out his hostel window at the pouring rain, all snug and warm and showered, laughing at us silly girls for continuing onto the next town. Bastard.

We arrived at Azofra and booked ourselves into the Municipal Albergue. We were worried about doing so as munis are very hit at miss as they're the council-operated albergue, and normally quite spartan, with oversized dorms. This one was lovely, with double rooms for everyone! It was such a relief!

When we arrived, who should show up 10 minutes later but John! Apparently, Chris and Noni, with their various injuries, inspired him to keep going. That's right, Noni, you're an inspiration to everyone ;)

We had a great dinner with the two men and managed to have a decent night's sleep in an albergue. Possibly the only one.

Luckily we haven't heard of any eaten pilgrims. Yet.