Castrojeriz – October 12, 2016

Breakfast was a bit of catch as catch can this morning.  The publican had said it was ‘served from 5:30 in the kitchen’.  When we were the first in the kitchen at 7:30, there was a loaf of bread and a bunch of packaged cakes on the table.  There was a coffee maker and we found a partial package of coffee in the cupboard.  There was orange juice and milk in the fridge.  Okay for us, but I think some of the hungrier later people might have had slim pickings.  There was nothing really wrong with the place, but I didn’t really get a good vibe.  Maybe after taking in pilgrims off your doorstep for a thousand years it begins to wear on your patience.

As we climbed out of the valley and onto the flat again , it started to rain, just as predicted.  It was a very light rain, with a driving headwind.  If you are rugged up and prepared, walking in the rain is not uncomfortable.  If you are not prepared, it IS cold, wet and uncomfortable.  We held out perhaps too long, resisting the rain pants and poncho.

One of the sights was the chap strolling along in the rain, playing his guitar and singing.  It is going to take a while to get all of the water out of that guitar hole and get it dried out again.

The first place of any habitation on the plain was Hontanas, a small pocket village hidden in a valley, at 11.5 km, with a selection of bars to choose from.  After we had a custom made bocadillo (with tomatoes) and a couple cups of coffee and a chocolate hot dog, we felt more like continuing, this time with poncho and rain pants.  Incidentally, the town had a lovely quiet church with a special candle lit display.

Most of the next 10 km was on paths in the valleys, somewhat sheltered from the wind, but not the intermittent rain.  We stopped at the ruins of San Anton for another coffee.  The Camino passes right under the arches of this ruined monastery.  It was also a hospital of the Order of San Anton, who were credited with the cure for St. Anthony’s fire, a condition with symptoms akin to leprosy which had reached plague proportions in the 11^th to 14^th centuries.  It is suggested now that the condition was actually ergot poisoning, from eating barley bread infected with a fungus.  The diet prescribed by the Order – eating less barley and drinking more wine – is credited with reducing the effects of the disease.  The wine couldn’t but help.  The Order would leave bread in cavities in the walls for pilgrims that arrived after the gates were closed and had to spend the night outside.

So the 21 km in the rain brought us to Castrojeriz.  This is another town built along a long arc along the bottom of a large hill.  There is a very old castle at the top of the hill, which we were not required to walk up to.  The town is 3 km long, and a couple streets wide.  It is tied together by 5 churches, none of which were open to us today.

The hotel is worthy of note – Embed it is called.   The young lady attending it was very personable and helpful.  She took us on a tour of the house, ranked as a posada, which apparently is a step up from a hotel.  The medieval basic structure is very nicely modernized.  It is built into the hillside and has seven stories – two up and 5 down.  One down is the old stable, now remodelled, and the ones lower are caves dug into the hillside and vaulted.  They were originally part of the town defence and interconnected with other buildings, but are now walled off from the neighbours.

We went out in the rain looking for food at the ungodly early hour of 6:20.  There were few places open, partly because this is a Spanish national holiday, celebrating Columbus’ arrival in the New World.  The proprietor of our first choice just shook his head and said ‘Open at 7’.  So we sat down on a wet cold stone wall and prepared to wait him out.  In a couple minutes he relented and let us in for an early meal.  But it was an extra euro, since it is a holiday.