Tonight finds us in the wonderful town of Castrojeriz, having spent a second day on the lovely plains of the Meseta. Sunny, warm and absolutely beautiful again today – loving it!!!!
We have treated ourselves to a semi-private room at this evening’s albergue which means a private bathroom, real towels and a bed with sheets. I don’t really deserve the treat after only 2 days but I’ll take it anyways. The albergue itself was once a wine press – press is still in the dining room and the cellar is below – and we get a free tour and wine tasting after dinner!!!
Last night continued the friendship and wonder of Hornillos as most of the folk staying at the albergue joined together for the communal pilgrim dinner. We all laughed so much and got to know each other well. Patti who is also from Toronto has been to Antarctica 4 times (you all know of our failed trip to Antarctica this year) – she presented a perfect travelogue with pictures on her iPhone – penguins who actually seem to smile and pose for the camera. Dee and Kevin from the south of England are a joy – it is his 3rd time walking the Camino and her first. They are both hilarious and a joy to walk with. Most amazing of all is Martine – she is also Canadian, from Quebec and more specifically, Lac Megantic. All of my Canadian friends reading this will have just done the same “ohhhh” that Laura, Rosemary, Patti and I each did sequentially last night as we learned where her home is. For my American friends you can google the town but I will briefly tell you it was the site only a few years ago of a horrific train accident with a loss of life so severe virtually everyone in the town suffered some loss. Martine is our age (a youngster – ha ha), has been a widow for a few years (prior to the accident), one of her sons is a fireman and was a first responder the night of the explosion and one of her daughters had been in the downtown core only an hour before. Martine is walking alone – and probably has more courage than the rest of us put together. As dinner wore on last night the men shuffled off one by one leaving the ladies to have a good old gab – almost as if we had all known each other forever.
Tomorrow is a longer and more challenging walk. Wish us well.
Camino 2017 - the sequel 
