The part of the Way of St James between villages Rabé de las Calzadas and Hornillos del Camino has stayed in my memory as exceptionally beautiful, although I have to add right away that it is difficult to say if there is any part that could be considered as the most beautiful one.
On the way from Rabé de las Calzadas to Hornillos del Camino
From this area I also have a photo taken by Francesco which shows that I was not always lagging behind my co-pilgrims. Here I am leading our small group...
On the way to Hornillos del Camino (Photograph courtesy of FT)
Perhaps the beauty of these landscapes was accentuated because of the grain fields that were dotted with green trees and common poppies.
On the way from Rabé de las Calzadas to Hornillos del Camino
On the way from Rabé de las Calzadas to Hornillos del Camino
And then, as if this were not enough, from the elevation along which we were walking we came to a point from where the terrain descended down a slope and I could see the village of Hornillos del Camino in the distance, while the dirt road that led to it and on which we were walking seemed as if somebody had painted it there just to make everything even more stunning.
Landscape around Hornillos del Camino
The way that leads pilgrims to Hornillos del Camino
Before entering the village, I was passing by grain fields and as the wind was blowing slowly, the tops of the ears rippled, as if it were some large body of water, while the central stems and the stalks rested motionlessly under the surface.
The rippling grain field
Little by little, since the tendon on my left ankle started to hurt again, I got with my co-travellers to the albergue in which we had decided to stay that day. Still, we had to wait for half an hour until the place was ready to receive new guests. As I’ve mentioned, the albergues get empty earlier in the morning, then the hosts come and clean it all up in order to get them ready and only then the albergues open their doors again.
Also, in Hornillos del Camino I had an additional lesson about the sending of the big backpack. Namely, here I did not know in advance where we would be staying, so I wrote on the envelope I fixed to my backpack only “municipal albergue.” That certainly was not precise enough, especially if you are not staying at the municipal albergue as I was not that day. However, my backpack duly waited for me at the municipal pilgrims’ albergue, but on this occasion I learned that I had to figure out in advance where I would be staying the following day in order to avoid tracking down my backpack and carrying it around when I was already quite tired from the day’s walking.
This entire system of transporting backpacks, i.e., the luggage and it is also possible to transport bicycles in this way (!), is fantastic and it really helps and facilitates moving from one place to another. The rather standard price for a backpack is 5 euros for a daily stage up until the last hundred kilometres or so before Santiago when the price is 3 euros per stage. Still, it has a bad side as well and that is that you have to decide in advance the exact distance you are going to cover that day, as well as the exact place where you will be staying. Therefore, there is no improvisation or taking decisions on the spot, either in terms of being too tired to move on or in case you see some nice place where you would gladly stay or perhaps that day you feel light and mobile and you could cover a few more kilometres to the next place...
Anyway, together with my backpack I settled nicely at the albergue we chose for the day and this one was particularly nice since it had a lovely, small garden behind the house along with sun loungers. Ideal for having a good rest!
Garden for a good rest
During the afternoon break, I also sent a message to my friends via Facebook...
Day 16: “The Long and Winding Road”
I don’t know why the Beatles came over me. Some ten days earlier I dreamed of George Harrison at his prime and his song “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.” I guess that actually referred to my body that sobbed not so gently. This morning I woke up with the voice of Paul McCartney, for I had a dream in which the main role was played by his song “The Long and Winding Road.” Of course, the road is a straightforward association, but on the other hand I also don’t mind these dreams or waking up to these songs, for I really love the Beatles.
At 6 am, with Francesco and Gabriel, I left Burgos, all the time very concentrated on the status of my left leg. I felt it, but it was not too bad. After two hours and 9 km covered, we sat at a bar in village Tardajos in order to have breakfast. Following the piece of advice I got from a man I had met in Belorado, I asked the bartender if she could give me one or two ice-cubes and she said she could, so I wanted to go back to my backpack and take a plastic bag, but she said it was not necessary. They simply keep in their freezer the hard plastic ice packs used in cool boxes so that they could lend them to pilgrims in order for the latter to cool down their limbs. And so I applied that ice pack in a plastic bag to my tendon while I was having breakfast and it felt fine.
Later, the positive effect wore off and the pain again started to take over the main role in my life at the time. Luckily, today’s stage was not long, 21 km, so we reached Hornillos del Camino soon enough and settled at an absolutely lovely hostel/pilgrim’s albergue. Among other things they also have a small garden behind the house and there I kept my feet on the nice fresh grass and I want to thank Goran Sušić for his idea/recommendation linked to the concept of grounding. I hope it will work. The hostess of this hostel also had the cooling bags in her freezer and she gave me one which calmed down the leg. Still, I hope that my resting most of the day will do its magic.
After all, I have already taken shower, the washed laundry is drying in the sun, I had an excellent ham and cheese sandwich and had a clara for lunch, and in the evening I will also have dinner that includes paella which the hostess is preparing right now and the fantastic smell is permeating the whole place. The life seems beautiful today!
In front of me: 484 km
Behind me: 383 km
In the evening I established that the paella was just as tasty as it smelled beautifully during the preparation. Also, during the communal dinner, Francesco, Gabriel and I met some new pilgrims with whom we were sharing the albergue. Some of them we would continue to meet almost regularly later, all the way to Santiago de Compostela. There were two Brazilians, one Argentinean, one Puerto Rican, a couple of Americans and a couple of Germans.
That night the three of us spent in a four-bed room and this was perfect the following morning when we got up. Namely, we never made a lot of noise in the morning when leaving the accommodation, but we could certainly feel more relaxed this time and we could even turn on the light knowing that this would bother or wake nobody. We left the albergue while it was still dark, but Gabriel had his headlamp, so Francesco and I knew where to go. When the Sun started to rise, we were well outside inhabited areas.
The Sun is rising behind our backs
The landscapes here differed to a certain extent from those I had seen earlier, simply because there was more grass and green colour around me. These were actually fields covered with alfalfa (at least I think it was alfalfa), along with unavoidable common poppies.
A detail from the fields we were passing by
Apart from the beauty that filled up my eyes, like every morning there was a lot of beauty that also filled up my ears. This morning, the star of a magnificent concert was the corn bunting (Miliaria Calandra).
Corn bunting concert
After a wide and flat dirt road, the Way turned into a somewhat narrower path covered with stones which mostly went down. We were often overtaken by bicycles in this section. Francesco, a passionate cyclist, often complained why those overtaking us were not using the bell more often in order to announce their approaching (some, albeit few, did use it). I completely agreed with him. Because of the direction of the possible wind, the sounds of nature, as well as the sounds of walking, both our own and that of other walking pilgrims, it was not always possible to hear a bicycle approaching and relatively easy there could have been an accident with injuries. Using a bell is such a minor thing to do and yet it can help avoid such potential problems.
Going down the path used by walkers and cyclists
Regardless of this, the nature was still incredibly picturesque and I truly enjoyed walking there.
A scene from the Way
And then we got to an asphalt road, but there were hardly any cars there. Perhaps surprisingly, but I even enjoyed walking along an asphalt-covered road. I guess this was because of the predictability of the flat surface in comparison to the stones and pebbles of different sizes that make the foot and the leg continuously wobble.
Walking on the asphalt
The asphalt road then took us to the remains of the Monastery of San Antón. The monastery itself was founded in the 12th century, but the ruins we came across were actually built in the 14th century. Next to the monastery, there used to be a hospital ran by brethren from the religious order of San Antón who treated pilgrims on the Way of St James. They were particularly specialised for treating those suffering from erysipelas, a disease also called the holy fire or St. Anthony’s fire.
Remains of the Monastery of San Antón
Nowadays, an asphalt road passes through its arches and a few kilometres farther there is a village of Castrojeriz, located at the foot of a hill topped by the remains of Castrojeriz Castle.
Castrojeriz, the place and the castle
At the very entrance into the village, we passed by the Church of Our Lady of Manzano which started to be built in 1214. It seemed very pretty, but I was too tired to visit it right away and thought that perhaps I could come by later.
Church of Our Lady of Manzano
The village itself is not too big, but it spreads longitudinally along the road, so we had to cover almost 1 km going through the village in order to get to the albergue. While I was resting after the shower and washing of the laundry in order to recuperate, I posted a text for my social network friends:
Day 17: “Bird Singing”
This morning I left with my pals before 6 am! In this case, this means when it was almost still dark. Serbia and Spain are in the same time zone, but just as Serbia should, according to the meridians, go one hour earlier or later, depending on how you look at it, i.e., like Greece, so should Spain be in the same time zone as the UK. In terms of the morning light, and the Sun comes out around two hours later, it would be as if in Serbia I had started walking at 4 am! Needless to say, there is a difference also in the evening and the Sun sets here significantly later, but I don’t actually have a clue about it, since I go to sleep sufficiently early to put to shame the earliest bird – last night I said “Good night” to all this could have concerned already at 9 pm!
Still, I did not feel chirpy this morning. I yawned a lot and my leg made me aware of it more often than I would have liked. During the first hour I kept up with Francesco and Gabriel quite well, but when the sun started to come up from behind the clouds that lingered above the horizon, I wanted to stop occasionally and take photos. Here, however, nobody waits for the others and everybody goes at their own pace. As I stopped, others caught up with me and, of course, overtook me. I did not care about it, but I did wonder what the purpose of it all was.
What I want to say is that I have simply found it odd that a lot of people just walk and seem not to pay any attention to the beauty that spreads all around them, whether this concerns the seemingly endless grain fields, or the battle between the Sun and the clouds, or the chirping of birds that constantly follows pilgrims. If they are here for religious reasons, shouldn’t they be admiring the God’s deed all the time? If they don’t walk for religious reasons, I still think they could stop for a while and look around them. After all, they could be “here and now.” As I walked this morning I wondered what the purpose of being here was, of walking here and yet not being aware of the surroundings, but rather lost in one’s thoughts. It seems to me they might just as well walk on a treadmill in a gym.
The fact is that I have no moderation when it comes to taking photos, but I’m just trying to record as many details as possible or images that I find beautiful in order to be able to enjoy them again later and recall the memories with all the limitations imposed by the medium itself. On the other hand, this morning I also thought about the fact that I have an opinion on just about anything (from why the Sun rises where it does to everything else), but unless somebody asks me directly I try to keep my opinion to myself, which is something I always recommend to everybody else. (In these texts, of course, I do present my opinions after all, but by deciding to read what I have written, you have waived your right not to be lectured).
Anyway, so I’m walking and thinking how everybody else is odd and weird because they are not looking around themselves, when I noticed a young man who was walking just like that, looking only in front of him, but I could also see that he held a rosary and a cross in his right hand. I interpreted that as a warning not to grumble, but rather to mind my own business, so I kept walking, enjoying the views, taking photos and not bothering about others.
Since we haven’t had a lesson from the Way for a while, let me share the latest one with you:
Lesson no. 5: “Walk, observe, be aware, but mind your own business!”
Eventually I caught up with Francesco and Gabriel, just in time for us to stop somewhere for breakfast where I also applied ice and it felt good. The other half of the walking felt significantly more pleasant and the landscapes changed again, as well as the base – after a broad, gravel-covered dirt road, there was a narrower, more earthly path, and finally a asphalt road that took us to the destination of the day – Castrojeriz.
In front of me: 464 km
Behind me: 403 km
Following a brief respite, I went indeed for a short walk with an intention to go back to the church that is located at the entrance into the village. However, after a while, since the village is rather long, I realised there was no need to torture my legs too much and that it would be better to stick closer to the hostel. But, I still walked around different streets and could see that Castrojeriz was a very pretty place.
In the evening we had a communal dinner again for which we had registered and paid at the same time as the accommodation and the albergue we stayed at in Castrojeriz was firmly set in the memories of the three of us as the place where we had one of the best communal dinners on the Way.
Still, while we were waiting for the dinner, I enjoyed the details which the hosts arranged within the yard of a sort in the back the albergue. As opposed to the previous albergue, this one had no grass and garden, but it did have some kind of a fenced-off terrace in which there were, among other things, a large dining table where guests can eat, as well as some nice decorative details.
Decorative details from the back yard of the albergue in Castrojeriz
Decorative details from the back yard of the albergue in Castrojeriz