Day 19 - Hornillos del Camino - Castrojeriz - 20 September, 2014

Time Departed: 8.00am
Time Arrived: 1.15pm
Distance: 20 kms
Cumulative Distance: 330 kms
Percentage Complete: 40%
Weather: Cool, cloudy, some rain in the morning, sunny afternoon
Accommodation: La Pasada de Castrojeriz
Feelings: Henk - Good, Neil - Enthusiastic, Di - Good

Today was an amazing day for me but more of that later!

We were all at breakfast at 7.00am sharing country-style toast and coffee. Some walkers were staying at the wonderful accommodation for another night whilst the rest of us were driven back to the village of Hornillos del Camino. This was our second day walking on the Meseta and despite everything we have read we have thoroughly enjoyed walking across this area. This may be because it was very cloudy and cool and we are doing it in shorter stages.  It would be very different in the hot sun walking through this treeless area.

We were surrounded by threatening rain clouds and after about 1.5 hours we had to don our rain jackets. It only rained lightly for about 20 minutes but it was enough with last night's rain to turn the track into a tacky bog. The soles of our shoes were thick with clay. Once again there were many wind turbines in the distance.

At ten thirty we walked down into the delightful, small village of Hontanas. We joined many others having a break at the several cafes in the very narrow thoroughfare. We had the best coffee on the walk so far.

Our next lovely surprise was San Anton which is an ancient ruin of a monastery and hospice and is connected to the hermit Saint Anthony of Egypt. We walked under the archway and passed recessed alcoves where bread was left for pilgrims. It was interesting to see that the road passes under the ancient archway.

From San Anton we continued walking on the side of the flat road for another four kilometres until we got to Castrojeriz. From the distance we had a lovely view of the small town (much larger than we thought it would be with a population of about 600), the large church, Our Lady of the Apple Tree and also a hilltop castle built in the ninth century.

At the start of the town which is two kilometres long is the church - Our Lady of the Apple Tree. 

By this time it was lunch time so we decided to see the church which has a statue of St James with many scallop shells (and an ill-fitting hat!) and then have lunch before everything shut for the afternoon. 

Our smart accommodation was at the other end of the long narrow street. We saw very few people and our guide book says it's a rather sleepy town preoccupied with siesta except during the garlic festival in July "which adds a bit of seasoning to life."

We met at 5.30pm and walked the narrow streets of Castrojeriz. We thought they needed to have several garlic festivals! We looked around for John and Linda, the two from Brisbane we had met yesterday but couldn't find them. We decided to have a drink and were shown to a lovely terrace bar. Within ten minutes of sitting down John saw us as he is staying at the hotel we chose to have a drink. The Canadian and American couple from last night's dinner also joined us. It was lovely to meet up again.

And now the amazing part for me begins. Yesterday, it was six degrees of separation meeting John and Linda from Shailer Park. Tonight it turned into zero degrees of separation. John mentioned that he had been thinking all day of who I reminded him of. He finally knew it was his sister, Fay, and Linda agreed. He said we could be sisters. Then John mentioned he came from Viking stock and said his family came from Scotland. Crail in fact! I said, "Crail! My family come from Crail. They are the Elders." He said he came from the Elders as well.  So here we are in a remote part of Spain finding out that we are cousins. After a lovely dinner with the group I got out my iPad which has a family tree app that has been comprehensively researched by Harry, my father-in-law. John and I found out that we share the same great, great grandparents Barbara Ross and David Elder. His great grandfather is David who married Ann Dutney and his brother, Thomas is my great grandfather who married Mary Hanna Dawes. We were speechless and quite emotional about it. So here is a photo of my cousin, John Bristow. We had to walk the Camino to find each other!