Monday 17 June 2013

Day 18: Hontanas - Boadilla

Today seemed to be America Day. I had a lovely breakfast in Castrojeriz, where the owner was playing classical music - a step up from the usual chart hits, although I've had Madonna and Depeche Mode in recent days, which also work for me as breakfast music. Also excellent orange juice and tortilla, and an interesting conversation with Stuart and Marguerite, a young couple from the US who are working in South Sudan for the United Nations. Quite understandably they want to have a relatively relaxing holiday, so are staying in smart hotels on the way, and the lack of pressure to find a bed at the end of the day means that they don't need to start at the crack of dawn - Castrojeriz was 10km into my walking day, while they were just limbering up for their first steps. Luxury indeed!




The day's walking was very similar to yesterday. Long shadeless kilometres with a few steep climbs on hard packed farm tracks. I worked out that the 500km point of my walk pretty much coincided with a magnificent old bridge that crossed the river just before Itero de la Vega, and I stopped to have a celebratory ice cream with Nicole, a young Aussie who I've been bumping into for the last few days since Grañón. 


I finished the day at Boadilla, where I had supper in the albergue with Brenda and Laurel from Austin who I'd been walking with yesterday, and I spent the rest of the evening talking to Kim and Kurt, siblings who are walking with their sons. The family foot maintenance session was thorough - and gruesome!

Kurt, Kim and Connor