Since Burgos is such a large city, we took a taxi to get out of the city and back into the country. Our drop off spot,  Hornillos with a 13 mile walk to Castrojeriz, Spain. Donna has painful shin splints, so she opted to continue in the taxi to our next overnight spot in Castrojeriz.

Hornillos is a small, charming village with one small grocer, two bars and several homes. We arrived as several pilgrims were marching their way through the village. We met the charmimg local grocer who set us up with fresh water and snacks before we started our walk out of the village, up a mountain trail an onto a large plateau area. Once on the plateau the area was so Flat that the heavy rains from overnight has nowhere to go, but to sink into the dirt road, creating a thick layer of sticky mud that felt more like paste. It was difficult to walk on, caking into the bottoms of our boots. Bicyclists had a very difficult time passing through the heavy mud, as it would accumulate in the tires. We walked in this mud for about 2 miles across the plateau. It then started to rain on top of that. Eladio and I looked at each other like, “uh, this could get bad.” Just a few minutes later we came to a ravine leading off the plateau and into a quaint village called Hontanas. We dodged a bullet, arriving into the village and into a cute cafe before the heavy rains fell. We waited out the rain over a coffe and fresh croissant.

The next leg of our walk from Hontanas into Castrojeriz was some of the most beautiful scenery we’ve experienced on our Camino, lush green pea farms, laced with large trees along the street edges with puffy white clouds and deeo blue skies simply took our breaths away.

My favorite part of the day was wandering upon the ruins of a huge monastery and church in the middle of the street we were walking on. The ruins of St. Anton Monastery were beautiful and haunting at the same time. A city street now runs through the center of the chapel entrance arch. Inside the cathedral ruins, pilgrims have built a small albergue (pilgrims hostel). You can stay the night in the ruins for around 8 euro in a cozy bed. There are volunteer pilgrims who run the place. We met one of the volunteers, Karen, who is from New Jersey. She’ll be working the albergue the next two weeks. She really wanted us to stay the night, but we already has reservations in Castrojeriz.

The village of Castrojeriz is charming. We thoroughly enjoyed walking up to and through the village. It’s built on the side of a small mountain. There’s a castle in the mountain top. The village offers lots of friendly services to Pilgrims.

Hornillos Spain. Kinda looks like Mexico.

Hornillos. They have a rooster.

Walking from Hornillos to Castrojeriz. Windy first part.

A nice place to stop for a rest on the plateau

Walking through 2 miles of mud

Bikers getting mud on their tires

The mud is gone, yay, a village – Hontanas

Gorgeous walk into Castrojeriz via pea farms

The ruins of St Anton

Ruins of St Anton Monastery

Eladio at Ruins of St. Anton

With Karen, a volunteer at the albergue in the ruins

Ruins of St Anton

Ruins of St Anton

Ruins of St Anton

Approaching Castrojeriz. Looks like a ferry tale.

Cross bones on Santo Domingo church in Castrojeriz.

A nice place for pilgrims to stop for lunch in Castrojeriz