Tardajos to Hornillos to Hontanas 28.6km, 39,410 steps.
We are walking again! We're taking it slow and enjoying the journey. This is definitely "one day at a time" with lots of laughs. We had a lovely stay in Tardajos in a lovely room with a huge bathroom and white fluffy towels. We were just going to get beds in the Albergue, but when I found out it was only 10€ more for the double room than it is for two bunks in a bunk bed, I thought what the heck. It was lovely.
The place is an old mill that was falling down and the owners of the Albergue restored it and turned it into a beautiful palace while preserving much of the historic structure. It's the place the lady with the I ❤️ Frankfurt said wasn't a real Albergue. But we've already taken the plunge into not being real pilgrims. We took a bus, we've shipped our packs, and now we're staying in rooms. lol
Anyway, there were flies in the room and they were very annoying. We didn't have a matamosca (fly swatter) so I went on a rampage and beat them with my rolled up sarong, knocking them silly and then stomping on them when they fell to the ground. Leea was laughing so hard she almost wet her pants. Leea kept telling everyone that I had squished fly bits on the soles of my feet. So I had to keep cleaning them off. But we slept soundly without flies.
The dinner was amazing also. Bar B Q'd pork without the sauce, juicy and tender like I've never tasted before. They were like steaks. Sorry to my vegan sweetie and all my veggie friends, but it was delicious with a salad and a lemon yogurt dish for dessert. Yum, yum! Then for the 3€ breakfast, we got café, juice and our choice of sausage and eggs, and a bunch of other American breakfast dishes. We just had tostada con mantequilla and mermelada. The people were so friendly and helpful. The owner washed our clothes in her washing machine and when I went out to get them to hang them up, she had already done it. Great place. It's called the Albergue La Fabrica if any of you is passing thru there. Oh yeah, dinner was a menu del día for 9€!
So we left there in the morning and
- Rest Break
walked through some beautiful landscape. We are passing into the meseta, which is sort desert like in that it is flat and hot. It's like a plateau. But it's not sand. There are miles and miles of wheat fields. The subtlety of the gradations of color, the textures
created by the wheat and the patterns of the wheat as it wraps around rock pile and green areas is just beautiful. I will never understand why people say this part of the Camino is boring.
We got into Hornillos and I thought we would we would have to wait for the Albergue Alfar Hornillos to open, but there was a big "Open" sign on the door and Pilar was there being just as welcoming and helpful as she was two years ago. That night Santiago made his paella and it was yummy. It was yummy and the community dinner was entertaining.
Santiago remembered me from two years ago. He even reminded me, which I had forgot, that the day after I stayed there two years ago I was in Castrojeríz having a café and he was there talking to some business people. He spotted me and came over and chatted with me.
A funny thing happened this time at the Albergue. We got our room there were two bunk beds, so four beds. Leea and I were in two of them and a lady from Finland was in one of them. The other one was the last one available. All the other beds were taken. Well, who walks in but "noisy man!" I swear to God. As John says, "you can't make shit like this up. " Leea looked at me, I looked at her and we both stifled giggles. We last saw him in Los Arcos. Since then we had walked, rested two days in Logroño, took a bus, and rested three days in Burgos. And here he was again. What are the odds? Just lucky I guess. lol
The woman from Finland couldn't believe it either. He finally went to sleep and then snored all night. We didn't get much sleep. The other woman got up about 3:30 am and left. He got up about 5 am made noise and walked around with his headlamp on flashing all over the room. After he left we went back to sleep until 7 am.
After we had café and toast we headed off for Hontanas. Again, the colors and landscape are hypnotizing. There is more flat walking and Leea's foot is doing ok. It's not getting worse. We are taking day by day.
Tonight we are in another new Albergue in Hornillos. It has only been open since March. It is also very nice and comfortable. The mattresses a to die for comfy. Each bed has an electrical outlet and a night light and each room of three bunk beds has its own bathroom. All sparkly new showers.
We had paella again tonight for dinner. A father and son from Italy, who we met in Hornillos is here and the South Korean young man we met in Estella. Now it's time for bed. Night all
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