Days 320, 321, 322, 323 - - Castrojeriz ; Hontanas ; Hornillos del Camino ; Tardajos
The walk into Castrojeriz was glorious, and I had the whole stretch to myself until about three quarters of the way to the ridge. Then a great big holá !! from the first pilgrim I came across, who was bursting to share with someone how wonderful it is up there, and so I came along. The Camino provides. And he shared some of his Euros with me, to help keep me lodged and fed, so that goes both ways.
Pilgrim numbers are down again, so that I come across about half a dozen or so on the way, then in the principle Albergues around a dozen, but I am still keeping my head mostly above water Euros-wise. Though it is day-to-day now, and will be for another week.
Dinner was some supermarket lentils, and the first of three bottles of wine over three evenings, the third being the one too many. Then it was, annoyingly, lentils again at Hontanas, and some overpriced potato dish at Hornillos, so the kind of food that made me ill last year - - happily today, though, steak and eggs at Rabé, first time I have found them in weeks !!
The Municipal at Castrojeriz is great as always, though it was a village feast day, and they organised a massive disco party right next to the place from 11:30 to 4 AM. I managed to shut out most of it and sleep by putting some of my own, more soporific music on and into my ear plugs, 'til 3 anyway, but it really was a relief when they finished !!
Superb weather on that walk again BTW, as well as the next two days, only today's forecast of overclouded chill was correct.
Easy walk into Hontanas, though I started a bit late, and I did finish on the tarmac, as in this direction there's a little climb that I decided to simply avoid. As usual, the guy in the car tried to sell me a wooden tau cross.
I spoke of the lentils in Hontanas, but the starter was a salad, the lentils were quite properly prepared, and luckily it was one of my days when I actually need the fresh vegetable nutrients, so that was excellent timing. Pleasant chatting with the pilgrims.
And the hospitalero, one of the good ones.
The food he prepared anyway was great, though one of the Koreans got my yoghurt for his breakfast.
Slightly longer to Hornillos, the notable pilgrims being the two French peregrinas camping out, at the edge of Hontanas, with their two donkeys and two dogs. I had met them very briefly in the evening, as they used the Albergue showers, so it was nice to have more of a chat with them on the way out in the morning.
These are some parts of the Meseta that I had already walked in this direction, partially, during hitch-hiking back home along the Camino, but what is more interesting and positive is the comparison with my walking on the way there last year on these same stretches. My hiking is still difficult, but it is much much easier and better than it was in 2021 even though the daily distances are more or less the same. Same difficulty, but less pain, and it's easier for me to push to a longer distance if needed, from causes of Albergues closed for the season.
From Castrojeriz to Tardajos is one of my favourite stretches of the Meseta, so the walk into Hornillos is great, though I do have mixed feelings about the Albergue there. It's comfortable and warm enough, but the meal that night was terrible, no starter, a very cheap potato dish not even well prepared, despite the Italian women who prepared it, and just a tangerine for dessert. Plus that was the day of the aforementioned tinto too many, which led to my walking today with a bit of a hangover. Oh well.
And the weather today was not good, and the last stretch of that meseta was spent in the clouds, and so the cold and damp, until the descent into Rabé went down below cloud level.
And at Rabé, I was happy for the warmth of the bar, the steak and eggs of course with beers, and the short tarmac stretch to Tardajos was easy. Unsurprisingly, the Municipal here closed two weeks ago, so I'm at the Casa de Beli, which is not indecently priced, cheaper than both of the Municipal Albergues at Hontanas and Hornillos, and I find it to be most comfortable and warm, and so most restful.
Burgos tomorrow - - and it's less than 300K to France now, so getting closer.
I have started thinking about my route after Lourdes, and setting aside matters of potentially speeding my way up a bit from there onwards on local buses and so on, I may very well also shorten my way by going to Montpellier via Carcassonne and Béziers. And avoid Agde. That route would dodge one mountain, get me towards the Mediterranean much faster, avoid some bits of the Arles Way that I don't much like (though also some bits that I do), and cut maybe 150-200 K off the remaining distance. And on flatter terrain roughly following the canal, so better for the knees too.
Seems like the right plan.
