Missing Missy

Another day, another slog. In a section I should be sailing through I’m just taking it one slow step at a time. Normally I’d expect to see Missy waiting for me at the next stop, but I have no welcoming committee.

The landscape is really lovely, so green and lush with poppies sprinkled throughout. Sometimes it’s just grasses for as far as you can see; in other sections there are elevation variations, windmills, or stone walls to add some visual contrast. I even saw a deer bounding through a field today.

I stopped at a hostel outside of Hontanas for some coffee. I’d had breakfast before I left this morning and had thrown the extra pastries in my bag, so I wasn’t hungry, but they were serving some good looking pancakes. Kathy and Mim were there. I chose to sit outside and enjoy the view, but I quickly understood why they’d chosen to stay inside — it was downright chilly! Clouds had rolled in, though it never rained, and there was a breeze.

I ran into them again at the ruins of a monastery a few miles before Castrojeriz. The Camino goes right under the arch, and there’s even a small hostel there.

Once in town I felt like I walked forever to get to my albergue. However, later when I went to the grocery store and pharmacy I found out how much more town there is! When I got back I was hanging out on the patio with the cat when Tom came out and showed me the stone pool in the yard. I thought the only thing up there was the clothesline, so hadn’t bothered to climb the steps.

After dinner the host gave a presentation on wine making and took us in a tour of the cellar under this house. Since most of the presentation was in Spanish I got only the gist, but he’s very theatrical, which helped.

I don’t have a hostel booked for tomorrow, so this is really winging it. I’m having my bag sent to the one I hope to stay at, but we’ll see what happens when I get there. I certainly won’t be the first to get to town, so hopefully it has a bed available. It’s a 15 mile day with some climbs, so I do plan to leave fairly early in the morning. At least that’s because I’m slow and not a necessity to beat the heat.Read more