We started early today, for us on this trip, that is . . . About 8:00. It was supposed to get HOT and we ate so much at dinner that we didn’t want breakfast. The Camino did not disappoint. The temperature was in the 60s, with full sun and a strong breeze. Perfect.

The path was most flat, occasionally rather like a goat trail, and more than half a way along a seldom traveled rural road. Beauty was bountiful.

We arrived in Castrojeriz after about 7 miles and found our hotel easily. It seems this is THE place to be in town. It has both an Alberque with nice bunk bed rooms and a hotel, a lovely garden, a hopping bar and restaurant, and outdoor tables just below our room’s windows. Happy noise! Loving it.

It is almost 90 degrees out now. We are ensconced in our room, blogging and reading. Thinking about going down for a glass of wine in a bit. Our host introduced us to Bill from Jacksonville and we had a beer with him earlier. He is staying in the albergue, which is how we got a peak at that space. Another good Camino day.

We began the morning with breakfast provided by our inn in Hortillos. From there, it just got better and better. We walked almost 7 miles, a long gradual uphill, a lovely plateau with a top-of-the-world feel, a sharp downhill into Hontanas where we are spending the rest of today and the night.

Every step was beautiful. There were hillsides painted red by wild poppies, wild flowers everywhere, multiflora roses, piles of white rocks pulled from the fields by farmers of yore, blue skies, whispy clouds, dancing wheat, and singing birds.

What a day! We are so lucky!

Yesterday’s walk was just over 7 miles. Today’s, just over 6. We enjoyed each and were happy to stop when we did.

The first couple miles today, were flat and easy. They took us into Rabe, a lovely village with what appeared to be many weekend homes as well as all-the-time resident homes.

Many barns and municipal buildings had murals with scripture references and large modern photo spreads.

There was a charming chapel where a local woman stamped our pilgrim passport with a “sello”, gave us a little medal and a blessing to keep us safe on our walk We appreciated it. At each place we stay and many other places, like chapels and gathering places, we get a sello in our pilgrim passport. It is a perfect souvenir of the journey.

Beyond Rabe, the trail start a gradual uphill for several miles. We are walking the Meseta, the relatively flat plains of north central Spain, the bread basket from the time of the Roman Empire until now. Today’s climb was over the Alto del Meseta. The final mile and a half was a too-steep-for-comfort downhill into Hornillos. Our toes were very happy to arrive at our inn, Sol a Sol.

Our room here has everything we need, in a smaller space than last night’s room, which was downsized from our Burgos suite. Hmmm, wonder what the Camino will bring us tomorrow Hahaha.

After resting , showering, and doing our wash, we hang our clothes on the lines in the garden, wondered the town, scoped out a restaurant for tonight’s pilgrim dinner, bought some snacks at the market, sat in the garden sketching and resting. Delightful way to spend the afternoon!

Another gorgeous day! We had a luxurious breakfast buffet at our hotel — local cheese and chorizo, fresh fruit, eggs, bacon, juice, cafe con leche.

We walked out of Burgos, through fields of wheat and poppies with flitting sparrows and wheatears, and into Tardajos. We are staying tonight at the Casa de Beli.

Our clothes are washed and hung to dry. Time to sketch and have a beer. Dinner will be here, with the locals.

Our flights went smoothly. The four-hour layover in Charlotte was decompression time. We watched CODA while flying over the ocean, thought of all our Gallaudet friends, and really enjoyed the movie. We arrived early, apparently with a good tail wind, causing another long layover waiting for our express bus. We slept the two+ hours to Burgos.

The day is hot and sunny. It felt great to walk into town, past the cathedral with kites flying overhead, and easily found our hotel, which is not our norm. Often we have wandered in circles despite maps and GPS. Our Camino for the Ages started well.

After a bit of a rest, we joined the locals at the Plaza Mayor for paseo. It seems the whole community comes out for a walk and some ice cream, beer, or tapas.

Tomorrow we will have a leisurely breakfast, rearrange our packs for optimal weight distribution, and start walking village to village.

It was pre-pandemic when we were last here. Wow, lots of changes.

Stela will be in good hands while we are gone. Pam and James arrived this afternoon, with Blue to keep Stela company. They will take care of everything while we are away. We had a great pizza and beer dinner. Blue and Stela ran lickety-splits around the yard. Now, for the last minute packing and repacking. We think we are ready!

We leave for the Camino on June 6 and will be in Spain for three weeks. We will use a WordPress blog because the iphone app for this platform is too cumbersome and we will of course not be carrying a computer in our backpacks. When we return, we will copy our posts to this website.

During June 2022, find us at https://hallscamino.wordpress.com.

Little did we guess how hard it would be to navigate the Covid protocols.

We knew from family and friends who have traveled to Europe recently that we had to have a negative Covid test to return to the US. The research to learn where, when, and how to get the test was challenging. Finally we settled on planned redundancy. First, we purchased 2 boxes of tests that can be tele-supervised from our hotel room or a hotel computer to assure that we take the test correctly and that it actually shows a negative result.

The boxes are light but cannot be crushed because if they are opened before the proctor is watching, they are invalid. Hmmm. We needed a somewhat larger backpack to give them some elbow room.

Next, we learned that there is a testing site at the Madrid airport and it takes appointments. Thus, our redundancy. We have the boxes of tests and we have appointments at the airport testing center the afternoon before our scheduled flight home. If there is a positive results, you must stay and isolate. We really still don't quite get how that would work and whether the positive person(s) would need to stay for 10 days, or until a negative test result. Therefore, we are bringing additional home tests to test ourselves if we need to figure out if we are negative yet. Luckily, the travel insurance company, Allianz, has a concierge service that might be helpful if needed.

We also had to get a QR Code form the Spanish Travel Health office, showing our vaccination status. Our American, handwritten cards were not acceptable once in Spain. The app on my phone didn't work correctly and changed my birthdate and date of arrival to one day earlier than I entered. A 45-minute phone call to Spain resolved the issue. Whew! We have our QR's now.

We expected the planning to be familiar and easy. The first part was. The Covid part, not so much, but we think we are on track and we leave tomorrow morning.

We decided that the pandemic was in a slow period and we would grab the opportunity to get in a short Camino walk and some time in Spain before a potential uptick in Covid in the fall and winter. Much of the planning is familiar and most is fun. We decided on the section from Burgos to Sahagun, which is relatively flat and had many towns with accommodations. That allowed us to plan to walk about 10km/6.2miles a day. We will have plenty of time to enjoy the countryside views. to sketch or read or write each day, and to sample whatever the towns have to offer,in local cuisine and culture.

We ordered new boots and some new hiking clothes. We updated our guidebooks, buying electronic versions when they were available, and dusted off our trekking poles and backpacks. We bought our plane tickets and then bought tickets for the bus to Burgos and trains from Sahagún to Leon, Leon to Madrid, Madrid to Ronda, Ronda to Córdoba, Córdoba to Toledo, and Toledo to Madrid.

Next we looked at each village where we hoped to stay while walking and made a reservation. We opted for private rooms in small pensiones and inns. We booked online and can't wait to see if they are as quaint and authentic as the guidebooks indicate. But, whatever, it is the Camino and we will adapt and adjust as needed. For the time in southern Spain, we selected hotels based on friends' recommendations. Those were super easy to book online.

Voilà. Planned!