Camino Pilgrim

I slept in a donativo albergue. It works on a donation-based system. You put money in a postbox at the latest before leaving. Breakfast was free, so with Jasmine and Veronika we grabbed a few quick bites and some bread for the road. We went out more than an hour before sunrise once again. A lot of pilgrims seem to follow this routine. Anywho, you need to exit the building before 8am.

The morning hiking went so quickly while chatting that I barely noticed the sunrise. The road went slowly uphill until we reached a plateau (endlessly long flat ground). The whole day has been pretty much walking without seeing any mountains, trees or habitation. It really is a Spanish desert. It’s also very windy here. Since today was cloudy in the morning, the road went extra fast (nice and cool). Luckily, we still found a good moment to turn around and capture the sunrise in The Messeta.

Villages in this flat desert area seem all to be hidden after going downhill, so you won’t see any houses until you are pretty much next to the village itself. It can feel intense and hopeless for the mind when walking in extreme heat.

The first village was Hornillos de Camino. It was a really nice atmosphere there, but its largely because it has grown to its current size with money from passing pilgrims. The girls took a little rest there, but I felt like my usual morning 20km walk needed to be done without breaks and pushed onwards.

It was super fun going along the plains with earphones on. Totally alone in nature, just to sing and dance for two hours until the next village. In Hontanas there were even places on the street for pilgrims to wash clothes. It was nice to have a picnic on a bench overlooking the village and the trail.

Yesterday I heard the song about walking 500 miles and then it just hit me that Camino Frances is just a little more than that. Nice coincidence. The last part to reach Castrojeriz also went really smoothly. The village itself is the longest stretched of all the villages on the Camino. It took me 20 minutes walking full speed just to reach the house I’m staying at. There is a glorious ancient castle on top of the hill next to the city, but since tomorrow is an even longer day, then I’m going to see it closer. I might stay up long today to see the sunset. Haven’t seen any this far (always asleep before that).

My feet have gotten used to walking a little under 30km. I could push more, but then I would lose all of the people in the group and risk injury. Still, I’m way ahead of my original schedule, so I will eventually have to decide what to do with the up to 17 extra days after I finish. There are some ideas already.