Day 17 To Itero de la Vega
Day 17 Sept 25 Destination = Itero de la Vega / 458 km to go.
Today will be a looonnnnggg day. Pleasant evening drying out in Hontanas until…. I woke up at 5 AM wondering where I left my walking poles. I turned on my phone flashlight, tripping on all of the miscellaneous shoes backpacks and possessions my fellow Peregrino‘s had scattered on the floor trying to dry them -they were nowhere to be found ! Fearing losing these I am in now a little bit of a panic mode since the dining room and the reception bar area downstairs are locked overnight. Fortunately once they unlocked the bar reception area there they were over by the counter where I first checked in yesterday. I must have forgotten them in the bar after my second glass of Vino Tinto. It appeared that they just wanted to ‘stick around’ in the bar after I turned in early for the evening 👻 Whew!
Big ups onto the Meseta means subsequent big downs into the valley were the villages are located near streams of water. So this morning I spent the better part of 90 minutes ascending back up onto the Mesa but not before an epic sunrise captured by Kathy! I essentially walked alone for the next four hours only being passed by a couple of people and a few bicyclists. 18% grade descent back down into tonight‘s village.
“Walking takes longer…than any other known form of locomotion except crawling. Thus it stretches time and prolongs life. Life is already too short to waste on speed.” – Edward Abbey
Another epic start to the day before sunrise - photo by Katya
I walked on ahead at a faster pace and didn’t know that my friends are up ahead chilling at San Anton convent.
Had I chosen to bike the Mesa this gentle downhill would’ve been an incredible trail to fly along at max speed. While bikes are usually on separate road we sometimes share the trail never quite knowing whats around the next bend in this ancient path
The ruins of the convent of Saint Anton founded by King Alphonso VII - 1146. The order was dedicated to care for pilgrims that were afflicted with the fire of San Anton -evidently an epidemic at the time. It seemed to breath its history on us. The cross in the shape of the Greek letter Tau was given those to wear as they left as a sign of protection from evil. The order just plain disappeared in 1787. It has an a amazing ambience and we had some coffee there. As a hostel it has a few beds if you need a room for the night-usually booked ahead by others. I would plan and book a bed here a future camino. The evening here alone would be epic ! I ran into Holger and Lars again here. We were all deeply moved by the vibe and history. We stamped our own credentials and had a cafe con leche and took it all in. And then off for an hour of fast walking until we hit a bar just short of Castrojeriz. Logical time for fruit snack and cerveza Clara (2 % ABV with lemon)… very refreshing without making you trail tipsy.
Beautiful sun on the really cool town of Castrojeriz before a little more rain and high wind back up on the Mesa. This beautiful small town had a few hostels that were dedicated to meditation and contemplation. Incense and beautiful music emanated from a few of them. A sign on their doors said “quiet, silencio por favor, no talking. Friend Holger was so moved by its vibe he chose to stay there tonight instead of further on down the line.
This wide valley was traversed today and you can see Castrojeriz with its fortress on top of the big hill (previous picture) halfway between today’s two mesas. The trek back up on this side is much higher than it appears here and puts you on a high mesa on la meseta. Giant downhill on the other side where I saw the first and only deer on the whole camino.
It occurred to me for the first time during this stretch that my trip will actually end in a few weeks. This ‘sadness’ took time process and sink in. While still a long way off and while I miss my family greatly it is nonetheless a sad thought. The daily rhythm is ‘dialed in’, repetitive, and enjoyably predictable every day. This was a very satisfying thought. In three days I will have fewer steps remaining than I’ve taken already. I savored each step on the uneven ground, the worn ruts, and around the innumerable mud puddles today greatly. (I don’t know how I managed to avoid so many days of rain that came before (and after) me). As such I’m still not quite ready to put the headphones in and ‘zone out’ with tunes -there is so much yet too see, soak up, and try to remember with high resolution for the rest of my life. The trail is my ‘friend’ and endless wandering thoughts felt restorative in an inexplicable sort of way
My greeting as I entered Itero was magnificent - hundreds of rows of Aspen / like trees - fall color is just beginning. Dang! where is my hammock on days like this…
Camino Magic
- there is this Camino Magic concept out there, and I’m not quite sure what it means in its entirety, but part of it is certainly the social element of the people that float in and out of your life along the Camino. One such example -as I was leaving my room to go shower (and do laundry while I shower) lo and behold who’s in the room next-door to me here but my new friend Martin from the UK who is walking his first Camino alone! I just met him last night. Neither of us planned to stay at this Albergue. (What was that phrase from Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca ‘about all the gin joints in all the world…and you step into mine’). Looking forward to dining with him shortly. He has done an outstanding job with his blog you can find here: https://martinvcamino.blogspot.com/2020/02/introduction-and-route-details.html?m=1 He is very thorough with his documentation and I am impressed with his detailed approach to chronicling his camino !
There are other fascinating examples of Camino magic i’ve heard of and I will try to weave these stories in somewhere as well as new ones as they actually occur. Events that are too coincidental to be ‘random’. Things like losing possessions, and their unlikely repatriation a few days later.
For me another aspect of Camino magic is the fact that your senses become sharper and tuned better with discernment becoming more accurate. Listening, interpretation and perceptivity seem to be heightened, adjusting, and improving. This was a very cook and noticeable phenomenon. Maybe this is something that comes with long stretches of silence coupled with my choice to completely tune out all news of the world all Internet surfing and firing up the random apps I found so valuable on my phone before all these steps. The ‘noise’ in daily life at home is slowly being erased. This is awesome. I wonder how I can replicate this from time to time ‘back home’
While I was tempted to move on one more town, I’m glad I didn’t keep walking today as the heavy downpour just set in. Good weather should settle in all the way to Leon starting tomorrow according to our Camino weatherman Lars - although I have no idea where he is today since we all split up around 0900 and did our own thing walking. (he’s the one who started his Camino (number 4) from 100 and some miles inside France)
Sadly, I learned of a couple of folks I met my first week that had to end their Camino early for a variety of phycical maladies. They shared with their ‘tribes’ they were in tears at the airport as they boarded their flight home. I’ve heard the percentage that have to drop out might be as high as 15% but I don’t know if that is factual. I can imagine it being close to 10%
