Castrojenez (19.9km / 323.3km)

Today was an absolutely perfect walking day. It was cool and cloudy and flat! Just the odd little hill here and there. We walked between the hills for a change. There were fields and fields of poppies and other wild flowers and the usual green crops. We really are lucky with the cool weather as there was no shade from trees at all! We walked with a young American, John we met at church the previous day who had just quit his lawyer job and was walking the Camino before opening an independent book store and an older American lady that we met at dinner the night before. A very chatty morning!

We have accepted it but the pressure on accommodation means we need to book ahead and therefore we can’t be spontaneous to stop at a place that grabs us. Our coffee stop this morning, Hontanas, certainly would have been such a place. The people were sooo friendly and welcoming and they had natural healing pools.
We passed through (literally) the old ruins of San Anton - a hospital built to care for the early pilgrims. They have built a road right through the ruins.
We had a brief rain shower just before we arrived. At dinner we caught up with a couple we last saw in Pamplona about 2 weeks ago which was a nice surprise.
Castro (Caste) Jeniz is an imposing town with a castle on the top of the hill and 3 large churches as well as a convent of the Poor ClaresBaca lagi