To San Juan de Ortega

Holy cow, today was windy and WET! Started raining five minutes after we left for our walk and didn't stop the whole way. Two hours walking, a pause at a warm, lovely hostal to change socks and get a hot Americano, then two+ more hours slogging through the rain and mud. Our rain gear worked pretty well but our feet were totally soaked.

Good news is we checked in before lunch service ended so were happy to eat a salad and pizza even in all our dampness.

Hung our wet stuff out our window to dry, showered and took a nap after lunch. Then went to a neighboring albergue and met some more wonderful people, including Zoila (from Mexico, now lives in Colorado), who we have seen along the way, and a father/son duo from Argentina who is biking the Camino. The smaller towns are great for meeting people. There is literally nothing here but a hotel, two hostals (one bar/restaurant each) and a church.

The pics show the different terrain today, which was lovely, wooded and mountainous. We realized it's harder to keep going when you can't see your destination. The last two+ hours were rough because it was so wet and muddy and there was no town in sight.

Including an extra pic from last night showing the church next to our hotel lit up with a yellow arrow, the standard (along with a shell) waymarker on the Camino.Read more