20.5 km
October 22, 2011
Looks like home!
I was the last to leave the albergue this morning at 8:00. There was strange propaganda in the albergue in many different languages, forecasting the coming gloom and doom of a comet that is coming to destroy the earth.
I walked alone all day again today, 20 km on the meseta. It reminded me of Alberta and the river valley around where I grew up, except here, the valleys where more expansive. I could see farmers, working their fields high on the hills. I was not finding this so desolate, but, familiar, like home on the prairie. I chased a butterfly today, trying to get a good picture of it. Another muse to pass the time.
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| I guess we go this way! There really was no where else to go. |
At about the 11 km point, I finally found a bar, in the town of Hontanas, to have 2nd breakfast. All the small villages are so quaint and have been there for centuries. Every one has a very old church and bell tower that the Camino always passes. Having never lived around church bells, it took me some time to figure out the ringing of them so that I knew what time it was.
One ringy dingy – Quarter after the hour
Two ringy dingy – Half past the hour
Three ringy dingy – Quarter to the hour
Four ringy dingy – On the hour
Followed by the number of rings for that particular hour, in a slightly different tone. 12:00 had 16 dings!
But if it was a call to mass, the bells rang for an extended period of time about ½ hour before church.
I don’t think you could have an excuse to be late in Spain, with all the constant reminders. In one city, there were two church bells that would go off but they were about 4 minutes out of sync with each other. Twice the number of bell ringing.  |
| Ruins of San Anton |
Today I walked along gravel paths and stretches of pavement, past the ruins of the 15th century monastery and Arc de San Anton
Approaching Castrojeriz was interesting because it was situated below a big hill that had a ruined castle on top of it. I could see it for miles. There were only a couple of shops, a bar and a supermarket open as it was Saturday. I don’t know why the other shops weren’t open. I got my passport stamped and registered into the San Estaban albergue. It was by donation only to stay there. It was one big room with the bunk beds along the outer walls and some mattresses laid out on the nicely polished squeaky wooden floor. There were beautiful photographs on the walls depicting the Camino. They had been taken by two former pilgrims who were killed on a train returning from the Camino. This albergue was honouring their memory.
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| Castrojeriz |
Some South Korean pilgrims came in so I tried my Korean on them.. “a yong a say oo” I said to them. The girls jumped and looked at me with such surprise. It was unusual for a foreign pilgrim to say hello to them in their language. They spoke very little English and were travelling in a group of five : three young women, a young man and a middle aged man.
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| San Estaban Albergue Castrojeriz |
Kim and I shared some of my instant soup, bread and cheese for supper and had another nice evening chatting with Philip. He had decided he would not walk tomorrow and stay another night so he could rest his legs. They were not good. Every step was painful for him.
I made a disappointing discovery tonight. I realized I had lost my rain pants. I must have left them in Burgos when I took everything out of my pack. Darn..hope I didn’t need them before I got to Leon, where I could buy another pair.
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