6th May 2024 Castrojeriz to Boadilla del Camino

We had decided to have a quick breakfast for numerous reasons, and it was lovely to be greeted by Fernando when we came downstairs.  Yesterday we had the pleasure of his dog, Pepe, but this morning Pepe was outside in their home.  Toast and coffee went down well, and Fernando would not take payment for it today – he said it was his parting gift to us and he wished us well on our travels.  They really did so much for us and it was a pleasure spending time with them.  They work 16 hours a day, so his gesture was even more appreciated.

It was quite cool when we left but we knew that about a kilometre or two out of town there is a large hill to climb so we probably chose to wear less clothing than normal as we would get hot! It was also very cloudy, and the Castille was enshrouded and couldn’t be seen.  The hills out of our window had also been covered with low cloud.  As long as the rain stayed away, we would be happy walkers.

We crossed over to the start of the climb and started making our way up but had to keep stopping as the view was constantly changing as the sun sometimes broke through the clouds. Sometimes it was just breath-taking, but we made our way up the 1km track with a 12% gradient and stopped once again at the top to just sit, have a drink and a bite to eat and enjoy the amazing view.  A lot of people were doing this, and it was quite peaceful.  Sometimes when there are a lot of people, they tend to be very noisy, but this was lovely.

We continued for a while and met Christine and Darren, a couple from Los Angeles – lovely, down to earth people.  Christine is a retired ER nurse and Darren is a retired paramedic/firefighter.  We really bonded and I spent the next five or so kilometres walking and talking with Christine while Steve and Darren chatted as they walked behind us.  Christine, like me, is quite a fast walker, but she is trying to learn to slow down in life but is finding it is hard to get off the “fast” treadmill as it is all she has known for a long time.

We came to the Ermita de San Nicolas just before the River Pisuerga that marks where the Province of Palencia (the historic border between the kingdoms of Castile and Leon) starts. This little Ermita practices a ritual foot washing for pilgrims, but we didn’t have time to stop and enjoy this, but it was a nice stop anyway.  The Ermita is also a hostel run by volunteers that doesn’t have any electricity, so their dinner is held by candlelight.

Our conversation continued and we got to know each other well.  Turns out they have a motorhome and love going on adventures together.  They don’t have any children, so they have a lot of freedom now.  Darren’s father is in his 90’s and they have someone looking after him, but he has urged them to continue their adventures.  They have done training so they can be volunteers in Yosemite National Park in the summer next year and they are really looking forward to it.  After that, their next adventure will be to take their motorhome to Alaska.

We said that we can head off in our caravan with our Starlink which enables us to do some work if needed but we really enjoy the serenity of having time away from people.  They really were interested in what we were saying so we said we would show them some pictures when we got to the town of Itero de la Vega, where they are staying tonight.

There was a bar right next to their albergue so we said we would stop for some lunch, and they would settle in then drop by.  About 30 minutes later they arrived - we had eaten lunch prior to that and warned them that it seemed to be a bit over-priced.  We are finding that the prices seem to be going up as we are moving west but I suppose the owners have a bit of a captive audience.

William Creek was mentioned as was the Great Australian Bite and Steve’s drone footage was enough to have both of their jaws on the floor.  I told Christine about all the whales in about August and she was envious that we have that relatively close to where we live.  They said they are going to try to get to Australia as it is so different to what they have experienced.  The photos from William Creek and Lake Eyre just stunned them both.

That was a crazy little town – we read that a music festival is held there each August and to quote the information “brings together long-haired, motorcycle-riding, guitar-smashing degenerates from all over Spain for a day or two of drug-fuelled chaos” with the profits going to children’s charities in Angola! Go figure!

Time was ticking by and we had to keep going so we all hugged and we headed off for the final 8km to Boadilla del Camino.  The area in front of where we were staying (opposite the Iglesia de Santa Maria) has a long history – there is an ornate Renaissance stone column beside the church with Camino related symbols on it, but it is actually where criminals were tied up and subjected to cruel forms of humiliation.  It is hard to imagine as the town is so quiet and peaceful.  Coming in we had seen that the church had about 5 stork nests on the roof and, when we got to our room, we were very excited to see that we were within about 15m of one of the nests. 

We had met a lovely young man from Melbourne as we were checking in – Chang – and we said we would try to catch up at dinner.

I loved watching the storks and spent some time just sitting and listening to the clattering of bills and the displays – I am not sure what the displays were about, but they seemed to happen when other birds got a bit too close to the nest.

Steve and I sat outside in the beer garden for a while before heading back upstairs to shower.  The internet was pretty much non-existent, so we just relaxed before heading back down to the beer garden before dinner at 7pm.  We were close to a couple of guys from USA, two lovely German women who didn’t have a lot of English and a young guy called Daniel, from Hungary.  We couldn’t see Chang but hoped we might see him tomorrow. It was a pleasant night, but I headed out to the desk to pay before the line became long (there were at least 50 people at the communal dinner) as I had heard that the church was opening at 7pm and I had read about the 8th Century baptismal font and, would you believe, an unusual “pole-dancing” Jesus.

I was pleasantly surprised to find the church was open and I headed inside.  It was freezing and I wished I had brought my down jacket with me.  A group of women were reciting their vows, so I quietly wandered around keeping well away from them.  The font was amazing and the light coming through the window was special.  I found the “pole-dancing” Jesus then headed back to the room before editing photos and we watched a bit of television (would you believe Opal hunters in Australia) before heading to bed.