Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Fromista

A longish day today. Slept well despite crowded albergue and headed out of Castrojeriz past the church with its two life size skull and cross bone carvings set in the wall at eye level in the narrow street. One is inscribed "death" mori, the other "eternity" eternitas.

With that cheerful message absorbed, headed off into chilly early morning country side, up the steep climb out of the valley. The grade was 12 percent going up one side and 18 percent coming down the other. A heart starter going up and a knee test going down.

The wind kicked up and it seemed a long cold way to the next village. The albergue had a nice young lady with three nice dogs stationed on the outskirts handing out leaflets advertizing "desayuno completo" basically English breakfast with orange juice and coffee, all for 5 euros, which is what I had sitting in the sun when I got into the village. Hard to see how they make much profit on that.

The weather was mostly sunny but cold and windy, and the country side just glorious. The edges of the fields are a mass of wild flowers - poppies, daisies, buttercups, a deep blue flower which might be a corn flower? Coming from Australia I was expecting the Meseta to be dead flat and empty, but in fact there is plenty of variety.

The last section of around six kilometres ran past the Canal de Castille,  constructed for transport rather than irrigation if the impressive lock system near town is any guide. Lovely to walk beside water.

Fromista has a couple of impressive churches. San Martin, a romanesque church  constructed 1066, has some of the strangest carvings I've seen.

Staying in a lovely private albergue with a big friendly black dog who will happily accept pats for as long as you are ready to give them.

A relatively short flat day tomorrow to Carrion los Condes, so I will sleep in till 7 unless the rustling from the early departing perigrinos becomes unbearable.

Monday, May 4, 2015

Castrojeriz

Didn't sleep so well last night, cold coming on and maybe too much  vino tinto. It was raining in annoying bursts out on the road, enough to get you damp before you got your coat on, then stop so you get steamy so take coat off, and then the rain would start again. Repeat. The first half of today's walk was through purgatorial Meseta mud. Perigrinos were floundering along with a kilo or so of clayey mud stuck to the bottom of each boot. Cleaning the mud off was fruitless as a new crust would form in a few steps. Luckily the muddy part finished before Hontanas, and the path from there was beautiful, winding along the side of a rocky valley covered in wild flowers and filled with bird song. It was like a reward for enduring the earlier section. The path then joins a minor sealed road and curves right through the ruins of the convent of San Anton, established in 12th century. The road goes through a vast arch still standing, and there is a delicately carved tympanium just sitting out there in the middle of nowhere.

Castrojeriz is a funny place. It is very old -originally Roman, and it straggles along the side of the mountain with quite a few adobe buildings, some eroding and some collapsed, and little streets winding away confusingly. Finding the pharmacia took the best part of an hour and required a few requests for assistance from the locals.

Staying in an idiosyncratic private albergue. Quite a few people packed in but i happened to get here just as the door opened and got the best bed, near the window.

Sunday, May 3, 2015

Hornillos del Camino

Some pretty wild partying going on in or near the Burgos municipal Albergue last night till the early hours so didn't sleep all that well, but a shortish and flattish 20 ks to Hornillios del Camino. A bit of a one bar one horse town - though I think the horse has upped and left. Lucky the bar is open as that looks like the only dinner option. But it should be quieter than last night i hope. Lots of people pushing onto Hontas 10 ks down the road. Funny to think I may not see them again - they now inhabit a different bit of the moving foot powered conveyor belt of the camino space time continuum. Sad to see them go but also an opportunity to meet some new people.

Tomorrow to Castrojerez, another easy 20k day.

Saturday, May 2, 2015

Burgos

Stayed in a lovely albergue in Ages last night. A bit chaotic but like staying in someone's home - very friendly, a great dinner cooked by the senora of the house . Up and on the road early. A cold morning and a climb up to 1200 metres past Atapuerca, a site where Neanderthal sites have been found. Cold, windy and wet up there, but very beautiful. I tried channeling my inner neanderthal getting over the mountain. The trail had lots of potato sized bits of smooth rock all nice and slippery in the drizzle, an ankle twisting opportunity at every step, and sure enough I twisted my ankle. Limped into Burgos, and up to the municipal albergue with its magnificent doorway. After washing self and clothes i headed out to find a pharmacia for remedial ankle treatments. I am applying RACE - rest, alcohol, compression and elevation, plus some tapas  _ should be RICE but no ice and 6you need to be adaptable. Hope it will do the trick. Burgos is a lovely city. I feel a bit guilty missing the cathedral, but I think I need to take it easy if I want to move tomorrow and sitting in the sun out the front of a nice tapas bar, watching the world wander by, with lovely wine at 1.50 euros is hard to beat.

I've been walking with a bunch of people for a few days now - one of the fluid mini tribes that form and evaporate on the Camino. But tomorrow some people staying in Burgos so tomorrow a new start. Tomorrow the Meseta, the much feared high flat plane that drives perigrinos crazy because it involves days of walking across a flat, featureless landscape. Tomorrow, maybe Hornillos del Camino, around 20k,  or maybe Hontanos, around 30 k.

Friday, May 1, 2015

Ages

Nearly 29 ks today, windy, rain and a couple of steep rocky climbs up to around 1200 metres - quite a hard day, but beautiful.

Staying in Ages, a small village with wood framed buildings similar to the tudor buildings in Kent, and a beautiful 16th century church with a couple of storks in residence. Staying in a friendly and cosy albergue here. Dinner options look fairly limited but I dont think we will starve.

Burgos tomorrow - the big smoke after a long stretch in smallish villages.

Thursday, April 30, 2015

Belardo

Another shortish day, about 21 ks. On the road by 7 and into Belardo around 1, after stopping for breakfast cokes and coffees at each of the conveniently located villages along the way. Cold this morning so I got to use my beanie, which was the only thing I brought that I hadnt used so far. Last stretch into town into a howling headwind and a bit dull, running parallel to the motorway.

Belardo is a very old town with the ruins of a Castillo founded in the 9th Century looming over it from the nearby cliffs and a couple of churches that look like they have been made over multiple times pver the centuries.

About 54 ks to Burgos. Either a very long day tomorrow to Ages and shorter to Burgos next day, or two longish days and stay in one horse town on the way. Rain forecast for next two days. Will see how we go. Feeling pretty good at the moment.

Quite a few people who started in St Jean pdp have quit, some have raced ahead and many fallen behind. Stuff happens , like the poor dutch lady who fell out of a top bunk in Roncesvalles, or people are succumbing to old or new injuries or blisters. I am moving along in a bubble of survivors who are all moving at more or less the same rate.  But I think things will change after Burgos and there will be a largely new cast.

Santodomingo de Calzada

Up and on the road early and headed out in the first light expecting to find a bar for breakfast but everything along the path out of town closed. The coffee, orange juice and tortella at the next village 5 kilometers down the road tasted so good!

A relatively short walk to Santo Domingo de Calzada ( say that 5 times quickly) - only 20 kilometers - so got into the albergue, with 220 of my new closest friends, around midday. After a great lunch in a restaurant on the square, explored the town, found at last an open electrical shop - siesta can be annoying as all the shops shut for long and seemingly random amounts of time - bought a recharger to replace the one I left plugged into the wall in Longrono. Spent a fair bit of time getting my Spanish sim to work, then visited the cathedral. A live chicken and a rooster are housed in a special brightly lit and very ornate hen house built into a wall in the Cathedral, commemorating one of the more celebrated miracles of the eponymous saint, who amongst other things is patron saint of engineers and seniors. An odd combination but whatever. Also a really odd exhibition representing the Easter parade in the town constructed with Lego models.

Sampled some of the excellent wines for which the region is famous, a nice dinner prepared And served up by two hard working senoras then off to the packed dorm where despite creaking bunks snoring shouting laughing doors opening and closing and general mayhem I slept like a top till 6.