We got up and out with another good breakfast of croissant, fresh squeezed orange juice (zumo de naranja) and coffee. The morning was cool and overcast, the way we like it.
Once out of town it was pretty flat, walking on a dirt path by a river and, after
we crossed it, on a muddy dirt track which ran parallel to but not right next to the N120. Four kms later, we got to Tosantos where I took this photo of a fountain with a neat cross on the top of a pole.
Right out of town as Compa went to photograph the Ermita de la Virgen (across the way and in the cliffs), she had a panic attack, thinking she had left the battery charger in the hotel 5 km behind us. We started to think of how we could get back there, how much time it would take out of the day and then I remembered that I had unplugged it and given it to her the night before because I also feared we would leave it behind. Beyond that, I couldn't remember what we'd done with it so I took apart my pack and there it was (I carry it). A major crisis averted.
We walked on a ridge in open fields, lots of sun and hard, hard wind. It was really blowing hard, almost small craft warning strength. We saw lots of large vistas. We went along fields and then down a hill past a ruin of a 9th century monastery.
In Villafranca Montes de Oca, the guide said there were three restaurants, one at the far end of town. So we walked past the first two restaurants that were full of pilgrims, got to the turn-off for the camino and found that the third restaurant wasn't. We didn't feel like backtracking, so just before slogging up a STEEP and very muddy road, we sat down on the sidewalk, had a snack and I worked on the blister on my pinky toe.
We could have bypassed the mud wallow if we had taken the street on which we were sitting but we didn't figure that out until we got up above it. It connected with the muddy path and the paved street turned into a dirt road that went up and up and up until we were in a large grove of oaks and then later pine trees. We'd entered a wonderful eco-reserve in the oldest mountains of Spain.
The sign describes the flora and fauna up on top, identifies the various mountains and gives a description of all the creatures that inhabit the eco-reserve. There are wolves, fox, deer, wild cats and all sorts of animals and birds. It seemed wild up on top there, with all the trees and the WIND that was blowing us backwards, until we connected back up with the N120 and a stupid ATV driver who went by us twice, stirring up the ground and disturbing the quiet.
We came downhill out of the wind for a moment and sat down by a brook for cheese, bread, cherry lunch. A Danish walker, and two other Scandinavians joined us, offering us wine and chocolate but we declined their kind offer. We would bump into the Danish walker off and on for the next week.
Then we went straight uphill again and walked for ever it seemed on a wide open track through pine woods with all sorts of different flowers. It was long and it started to rain so we ducked into the woods to put on all the rain gear. Though gentle, this part seemed to go on and on so it was a surprise when all of a sudden we found ourselves coming out of the forest, down a hill and into San Juan de Ortega.
There in San Juan is a hostel, restaurant and a beautiful gothic church that was open (!), with San Juan's tombstone. Even though the signs said that one should be quiet, I sang my usual Veni Creator Spiritus. It has nice acoustics.
We spent an hour in the crowded bar having a beer/glass of red wine and talking with a couple: he's Australian, she's Colombian, they live in Australia for right now and decided to do the Camino as a sort of in-between place. We would bump into them again in Burgos.
Then we walked the last six kms to Atapuerca. We were out in open space again with this fierce wind blowing in our faces.
To the west it was clear, to the north it was stormy. It's not easy to make out in the photo but there was a big wind farm in the distance. The use of wind turbines in Spain is impressive.
The last six kms were hard. My feet were hurting: I am working on two huge blisters on my pinky toes, blisters on top of blisters. There's a nascent blister on my left heel, too in about the same spot where I got the deep, deep one last year that eventually got infected. I was also tired and lordy my eyes were windburned. We dinked along until we got to Atapuerca.
We had to take a photo of the Medusa who arrived at the nice hostel (a redone old house) with good food and friendly hosts (lots of political commentary as they watched the returns for mayoral elections in Spain).
Atapuerca is the home of the being that links the two family trees of Homo Sapiens and Neanderthall, about 250.000-350.000 BCE. They have found bones up on a plateau which one can visit. We couldn't do that but we did visit the exhibition hall. It has many artifacts from the site including bones, pots, arrowheads and other stone implements. It is pretty wild to be on a medieval pilgrimage route that crosses a history far more distant than the 8th-12th century.
