Day 12: Dogs and cats and ruins

Rabé de las Calzadas to Castrojeriz / 17.94 miles

I’m writing this after 3 days and 56 miles, so I’ll keep it short… Day 12 was long but strong. My legs felt great all day, and my pace was reasonably, appropriately slow. I started the day under starlight. It was the coldest morning yet — under 45F to start the day — and I was glad to have the gloves I’d picked up back in Viana. My long sleeve shirt, puffer jacket and raincoat/windbreaker kept me just warm enough as long as I kept moving. Only once the sun was fully up did the air start to warm. I was glad for the light, too — before dawn, an animal’s eyes lit up in my headlamp, spooking me a little bit until I realized it was just a feral cat.

I stopped for breakfast (another bocadillo de jamón y queso, RIP to my health) in Hornillos del Camino. Finally it began to warm up, and I was able to shed some layers. Between towns I walked an endless golden, flat path, my first long day on the Meseta. I continued on past Hontanas to find the Convento de San Antón, built beginning in 1146 and today standing only in ruins. There is a small albergue there for pilgrims to stay the night. Before continuing on to Castrojeriz, I spent a moment walking around the old structure. How neat to see pilgrims’ laundry drying on racks set among 900-year-old walls! There were also some teenage kittens and a dog or two wandering around the structure, plus two pilgrims who were walking the Camino with their own dog.

I arrived in Castrojeriz around 2:40pm, though the town is so long that it took me another 35 minutes to reach my hostel for the night. As happens on the weekends, most of the town was closed, so I didn’t get to explore much beyond the Hostal Rosalia (10/10) and a small bar in the plaza where I found another ham and cheese sandwich and a lemon Radler.