So there wasn’t much else around in Hontanas when we arrived it was also with a thunder storm and heavy rain. Bryce found that they were doing foot massages for a donation down at the local church and another building opposite. Apparently lots of middle age American woman were very excited about this prospect. None of us decided to take up the offer. I took it easy until dinner. Chloe from France was in the bed next to me. She was in the same hostel as me on the first night in SJPDP we had a bit of a catch up she is 28 and lives in Holland, she works for an environmental agency not for profit that works for environmentally friendly causes. She is a marathon runner so is actually pretty quick on the walks. She is hoping to be in Santiago the day before we plan to be there on the 26th. If you remember I said that she was walking with her mother for the first week and a bit and is now on her own. We see her just about everyday, she is a vegetarian so has found it a little more difficult to find food as just about everything here has meat in it.
We went for the pilgrims dinner at the hostel which was at 7:00pm and was Paella which I was really looking forward to. We were hungry and counting down until it was time to eat. Just as we were getting ready to head to dinner I saw Lia the New Zealand woman from Nelson who I have had a bit of contact with we gave each other a big hug and she was with Fabiola from Transylvania in Romania, they were exhausted and had only just arrived so chose not to have dinner but rather shower and then bed. The Paella was amazing, sadly it wasn’t a seafood one but rather just chicken, but it had a little bit of spice and it tasted great. There was plenty to go around as well so we all ad seconds, Ray was even convinced to have thirds. Chloe got her very own vegetarian option which she was very pleased about. Dessert was a caramel custard which was nice but nothing special. After dinner it was time to get ready for bed. After I had sorted my stuff I slipped straight into a beautiful sleep and I didn’t wake until 4:30am when I had to get up and go to the loo. It is a slightly strange experience sleeping in a hostel with a 100 beds all in the same room, when I walked to the bathroom I was trying to be as quiet as I could, there are plenty of others that don’t show that same courtesy. I headed back to bead and wasn’t really able to get back to sleep so I just dosed for for a while and then decided to get up when some others did and go and start the process of getting ready for the rest of the day. I got my stuff organised and the breakfast bar that I had purchased the day before and headed to the kitchen to away that and take my Panadol and Ibuprofen which would make a massive difference to how my day would go. Chole was there with another Brazilian woman and this is what she said would you like a really bad instant decafe coffee? As you would expect I refused and said that I would get something on the way. Bryce came out shortly afterwards and was ready to go, then Ray followed along a bit behind. Ray went to purchased some water from the shop and a chocolate pastry so that he to could take some Ibuprofen.
Then we headed off, it was fine which was good and the sun was coming up so I didn’t need my headlamp. We headed out of town and the track required quite a lot of concentration as it was very muddy and there were puddles continuously so you had to navigate your path carefully to avoid getting wet feet. We covered the approximately 8kms for breakfast pretty quickly and turned up in this little town called Castillo de Castrojeriz and there was a really cool little cafe advertising bacon eggs and a coffee for 6 euros I was not about to turn that down. We had our breakfast and then got on the road again.
As we walked through the town it was larger than I thought and it took us a while to navigate our way through the streets until we were on our way out. Just as we reached the end of the own we came accross a farmer who was hearding sheep and using aa donkey to guide them at the front. He waited for us to pass and then followed us on down the lane which led out of town. We could see that the path was about to take a bi of a big climb up and over a hill. So we took the opportunity too shed a couple of layers in preparation. It was about 250meters of vertical climb and we made our way up. Ray likes to climb and so set the pace none of us stopped our fitness is improving. Apart from me stopping quickly to take a couple of pictures on the way up. When we got to the top we asked a group of women there if they would take a picture of the 3 of us as Bryce’s partner had asked for one so here it is. We walked a short distance and then the path dropped away on the other side it was clear that we had just climbed a range to then go down the other side. It was an even stepper decent on the other side. It was concrete thankfully on the steepest parts but it soon changed back into the muddy puddle filled track that we had been encountering for the the last couple of days.
I don’t know what all the fuss is about the Meseta it is beautiful and there was flowers trees and some varied terrain, as you can see from, the pictures. Rain was threatening as so we decided to push for our lunch location before it started. We stopped for lunch in Itero de la Vega we came accross a Albergue and Bar where there was lots of pilgrims so we decided to stop. The music was pumping and the staff were having a really good time dancing away as they served the customers, hopefully the video has uploaded ok. We had a quick but yummy lunch and it had indeed started to rain so we geared up with Ponchos and jackets to head out and make our way to our destination for the day another 8km away. The rain really started to come down as we headed off and it continued for the next couple of hours. There was also a very cold wind just to make it even more pleasant. We pushed on and managed to maintain a really decent pace, constantly trying to avoid the puddles and rivers which had developed on the path. Sometimes this was very difficult, at points it was so windy that some of the smaller ladies where struggling to not get blown way. But as we got close to the town that we are staying in Boadilla Del Camino the rain stopped and we made our way to the accomodation which it called Enel Camino Albergue and Hotel it is really nice and only cost 15 euros for the night.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DYKd35rsWK3RQM0YfSCsobwataXx6FoCOpw0Kk0/?igsh=azh4M2x1MWlrbDBx
We went looking for some food around the town but there was nothing much on offer so we came back and settled for what was on offer at our accomodation and it was good for 10 euros. We had showers before that and send our washing off and look forward to it coming back dry in a couple of ours. My blister saga continues, while they are so much better than before it appears that some new small ones have formed under the other skin. I have put a specialist blister plaster on it and hopefully that will manage it going forward. Anyway that is it for me for today!
Nga mihi
Mike
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