Distance by the guide book - 20. 1km

Total distance for the day - 21.6km 

Flights climbed - 6

It was another bitterly cold day on the meseta. When we left Hornillas it was 3° with the temperature only expected to reach 14° today and that not until 4 pm. The only saving grace was that there was no wind blowing across the plains today. We had a very lacklustre first 10 kms. The cold just drained all the juice out of our batteries.  Anyway we kept soldiering on and eventually reached Hontanas just after 10. A nice warm stop at a local bar revived us enough to push on to the finish. 

I thought I was ordering what looked like a sausage roll for breakfast but it turned out to be a chocolate croissant. Oh well, it was yummy, even if unexpected. Spain has the best fresh orange juice. Every chance we get we order some. They throw the oranges, usually about 3 of them,  in the juicing machine and liquid Amber comes out the other end. Our vitamin C level must be excellent at the moment. Oranges must be plentiful because it’s not that expensive.  

We could tell by the number of wind turbines we could see as we walked along that windy days on the meseta are a common thing. Thank goodness today wasn’t one of them!  Every hill on the horizon had a field of windmills. Good to see Spain is using alternative energy although last night the power went off in the Albergue and today at lunch the hotel we were eating in lost power also. It was only off until someone flipped the switch back on but perhaps over loading the system is quite easy here. 

Coming out of Hontanas we crossed a country road.  The guide book told us we had a choice here to either follow the waymarked pilgrim route or to walk along the quiet country road which was lined with trees. This would be particularly appealing in the height of the summer heat.  What appealed to us was walking on bitumen and not on gravel pebbles!  We set off along the road. No one else seemed to be taking the same alternative which worried us for a little while but the guide book assured us that the track ran parallel to the road and eventually joined back up with it. We persevered and we’re so glad we did. It was a lovely, pleasurable walk.  We could see people walking along the trail off to the side of us. We walked through some beautiful avenues of trees. The road was quiet. Only the occasional car passed us by. Best of all, it didn’t have the ups and downs of the track and it wasn’t gravel!  Across a field I saw a shape and said to Sheila, ‘Wouldn’t you swear that was a Kangaroo over there?’  We both laughed but continued to look at it, trying to work out if it was a rock formation or some kind of animal. With that it twitched it’s ears and bounded away with its baby following. It was a deer!  

The track joined back up with us at the ruins of the San Anton Monastery and then everyone opted to walk along the roadway rather than the path. The Monastery must have been huge in its day. What is left is still quite impressive.  The forecast was promising some rain today and sprinkles followed us into town but thankfully didn’t amount to anything. That would have been the icing on the cake if we’d been frozen and wet as well!  

Castrojeriz is an interesting town.  It straddles a winding road and meanders on for about 2 kms. Our Albergue, which is lovely and new last year, is at the very beginning of the town. That was great today since we were straight into our warm abode but tomorrow morning that means we have to walk the length of the town before we start our hike!  The ruins of the old castle sit on the hilltop overlooking the town. We planned to walk up to the ruins after we’d had some lunch but the wind and the cold drove us back to the comfort of our Albergue for a siesta instead. 

Our washing is done, we love a washer and a dryer even if we have to pay for it, we’ve had a nice siesta and a lovely hot shower, the heaters have just come on in the Albergue and we’re relaxing now waiting for our dinner to be served at 7. One more day crossed off the journey and 325km completed.