Castrojeriz, Day 19

The morning started off beautifully. We woke before sunrise and put on our packs and socks and shoes, and marched toward Castrojeriz. In the beginning, the path was not hard, and not soft. The air outside was cool, but not cold. It was easy to walk, and that’s all we had planned for the day, so that’s what we did.

Sunrise was gorgeous, as usual. We passed and were passed by a few folks during the early morning hours, before everyone had settled into their pace for the day.

The first town we passed through was a 10 km walk from where we woke up. Unfortunately no cafe was open to allow us coffee and breakfast, so we found a spot to sit near the road, and ate some fruit we bought in Burgos.

The pathway had become rocky. Imagine a sidewalk with boulders sticking out of the pavement. This is what we were walking on for the next 12 km. By the time we limped into the restaurant for lunch, my feet had swollen to the size of watermelons. I say this completely honestly.

Paisley ordered an apple-tart to accompany her tortilla, and I ordered a serrano sandwich. The serrano ham here is incredible, so the least I can do is order it at every opportunity and hope to get tired of it so that I don’t long for it back in the States.

Out came the apple tart and my salami sandwich. I was livid. Why the hell would I want a salami sandwich? Well, your guess is as good as mine. It was too late, though, so I gobbled it down and chased the clumps of bread and salami with steaming espresso and a couple of tablets of ibuprofen. To my dismay, the sandwich was delicious.

After three espressos and 800 mg of ibuprofen, we were on our way. The trail hadn’t gotten any less rough, but we were both feeling a bit better after having eaten. The rest of the trail was flat and eventually ended on a highway for the last few kilometers. We saw a big old building that likely has religious significance.

We strolled through Castrojeriz and found our albergue. We paid and went inside to set our things down, shower, and then head to the courtyard to read in the sun.

Later that evening, after a wonderful dinner with the others in our alburgue, we were treated to a tour of an old underground wine cellar right underneath where we were sleeping! The gentleman that gave us the tour (the co-owner of the albergue) was very gregarious and had us all singing songs together by the end. It was incredible, mainly because we were staying with very few people who spoke English. French and German were among the most common, yet our host had the talent to bring us all together and make us feel like we knew each other even when we couldn’t talk to one another. In all, this was probably one of our favorite places that we have stayed so far!