Day 18 - HdC to Castrojeriz

(via San Anton ruins) ....Crazy day this one! 🤪

No rain or grey skies in sight this morning! And the meseta was so beautiful.... I think it's easing us into it, though, as it won't always look this beautiful ... or maybe it will! 🤔
I got some kitten cuddles this morning, too, which started me off splendidly! 🐾

We had planned to stay at San Anton Monestary tonight... it's a 12th century ancient ruin with a very simple albergue.

So we rocked up at midday and were told that they also had no water to bathe in. That's okay, we thought.... we already knew about no electricity, so it just added to the rusticness of the experience, right!?

The 2 Brazilian hospitaleros, (people who volunteer their time to run albergues for 1 to 2 weeks) asked me if I could watch the place while they ducked into town to have a shower, as they hadn't had one for 3 days! No problemo, I said!

They said they'd be back by 4pm. This was at 1.30 pm, so we had a lot of time to kill. We thought that once they were back, we could walk into town to the store and be back in time before the storm hit... did I fail to mention that part?!🤣

While they were gone, this American man came in looking for his credencial (camino passport) that he'd left behind earlier in the day.... he was most upset (actually, he was quite blunt and noticably flustered! 🫤) that they weren't around as he'd taken a taxi to get there.

We couldn't give it to him as the brazilians had locked up the kitchen where it was sitting (I could see it through the window)... so, I got his details and said I'd keep him posted.

Anyway they didn't come back until 5pm!!! ... by which time Karen had itchy feet again and just wanted to move, so we decided to pack up - very spontaneously - and walk very quickly into Castrojeriz about 3kms away with the storm on our tails! 🤣

I took the guys passport with me as I knew he was in Castrojeriz but didn't know where exactly! We made 2 phone calls on the way to find accommodation and got a room at the 2nd one!

As luck would have it, we had coincidentally booked the same hostel that he was staying in (out of the 15 in town!). When I gave it to him, he got quite emotional!

It was nice to help a stranger out on camino and feel their gratitude in return ...he later emailed me to say I had restored his faith.. ✨️🙏💜もっと詳しく