Hornillos del Camino → Castrojeriz
Distance: 12.8 miles / 19.3km
Elevation: +640ft, -744ft
I woke up today a little grumpy, because I woke up at 6am to someone turning all the overhead lights on, and then putting all their things away - which basically meant it was time to get up for the day. I had a relatively short day to walk today, so I wasn’t super thrilled about having to wake up so early.
After getting up, I packed all my things up and got ready for the day and left around 7:15am. I kept a pretty moderate pace today since I wasn’t in any rush and actually left with plenty of time knowing I would get to my place to stay before check in.
I listened to music and walked alone pretty much all day today. Part of me has been feeling a bit sad and questioning myself a bit with not having found a “Camino family” yet, and spending so much time walking on my own. However, I remind myself that it isn’t for lack of opportunities.
I value my own flexibility and my independence on this trip and I appreciate being able to take breaks when I want, being able to stay at a cafe extra long if I feel like it, and being able to weather this journey alone. Although it may get lonely sometimes walking by myself for the most part, I remind myself it’s something that I chose and that it’s for a reason.
The first town along the path today was about 6 or 7 miles in and I stopped and had a tortilla and a coffee for breakfast. I took a longer break and also stretched my feet and let them breathe for a bit to prevent blisters. After spending about 30 minutes there, I kept on walking and ran into Maureen from one of the first nights of my trip! It was very nice to see her and it reminded me that just when you think someone is way in front or way behind you, they tend to sneak up on you and cross paths again.
I kept walking and the path was pretty beautiful today. Although it was pretty flat and brown, it was still a very nice trail today. Between Burgos and Leon is the section of the Camino called the meseta, that is known for being fairly flat, yellow, brown, and kind of resembling Nebraska. It’s very agricultural and not the landscape people usually imagine when they think of Spain.
After walking and seeing some beautiful views, I approached Castrojeriz where I was stopping for the day. I stopped at the grocery store in town and bought a toothbrush (I had lost mine at some point yesterday??) and some orange juice and other drinks since I was getting thirsty. I then went to the hostel and checked in. I had booked a private room for the night because surprise, Tovin was coming to visit this weekend!
I checked in and the host basically only spoke Spanish, so although I speak some basic Spanish, it was an interesting conversation that took place. She brought me some fruit as a snack when I first got there and got me checked in. I got to my room and unpacked a bit, and then went downstairs to greet Tovin! Even though it had only been about 3 weeks since we’d seen each other, it was so nice to see him again and I had missed him so much for the time we were apart.
Once we both got settled in, I showered and did laundry and hung it out to dry. Then, Tovin and I hung out and caught up and had a fairly lazy afternoon. At around 7pm, we went out to get dinner and our first choice of restaurant was closed, so we ended up going to a burger spot.
We each got a burger which was very good. We ordered a side of patatas bravas to split, but what came was not really traditional patatas bravas. It was basically French fries and on the side was a sauce that we concluded was ketchup and mayonnaise mixed together. Although it wasn’t bad, it’s disappointing when you expected patatas bravas.
After dinner, we walked around and explored the town and came across a momma cat and her two kittens. She weren’t super happy to see us so we just passed on by but the kittens were so cute!! It made me miss Phoebe and Pippin quite a lot.
We got back to our place for the night and got ready for bed and packed most of our things up so we wouldn’t have too much to do tomorrow. It was really nice to spend time with Tovin, and it felt like the better half of me was whole again having him around. I’m really looking forward to the next two days of being able to walk with him!
