After Burgos: Rain, rain, rain, mud, mud and the Ermita de San Nicolas

Yesterday was a long, cold, grey, wet day. The early birds started rustling their plastic bags and packing up to leave the Hontanas albergue at 5 am, so that when I finally gave up and got out of bed, it was 6 in the morning. I left at about 8 AM and walked on my own for the next 6 km to Castrojeriz where I had intended to stay for the night, due to the weather!

Walking in the rain is not easy and walking in the rain for 6 kilometres is worse.

My rain coat supposedly keeps me dry but in actual fact I perspire so much that I am just as wet on inside as I am on the outside. To avoid this as much as possible, I put on only a T-shirt, but this means that if it is a little windy I get quite cold.

Secondly, my glasses get fogged up and wet, so eventually I take them off and although my vision is a bit fuzzy at least the colours are wonderful. 

Then of course there is thick and sticky mud on my boots, and all the little bones on my feet and ankles get stirred up as I struggle to keep my balance on the mud and not fall flat on my face! Thank goodness for my Pacer poles which means really that I have four legs instead of two! Then, if I walk along the edges of the path on top of the weeds, where there is less mud, I pick up water from the weeds which go into my boots and this is bad, because wet boots often result in big blisters! 

A rainy day also means that I have a small window from which to view the world as my rain jacket closes in around my face. I miss a lot of little things that I often notice when it is not raining. And then I can’t take as many photos as I would like, because moisture is very bad for my camera.

I got into Castrojeriz cold and wet, and went into a Bar, which is the only place one can go into on a cold and wet day, in a small Spanish village. Often the bars are dark and very smoky and display a sign at the entrance which says. “Se permite fumar”. After experiences at 8 or 9 am in smoky bars, it is definite that I will never smoke again!

The man in the bar was very friendly so I went in and had a large “café con leche”. I sat there for about an hour trying to get warm but all that happened was that I got cold. Finally I decided to go up again to the meseta and down to the Ermita de San Nicolas, about 11 km away.

As it was still raining and I was already wet, I might as well keep going…..so I started the long trudge through more mud, and then a long and steady climb back up to the meseta, then across the extremely beautiful meseta itself, where I felt as if I was in heaven and the air was fresh and I could see for miles, and hear tiny birds all around me. I was lucky because it stopped raining while I was up there. It was beautiful, but the mud was thicker and heavier; and my backpack felt heavier and heavier as well.

And then the rain started again, on my way to the Ermita and as I walked down some very steep slopes on more mud which continued on the flat at the bottom. Then my poor little feet had a few more kilometres to do on asphalt. At last! I could see it, the Ermita of San Nicolas!


and as I approached, a Dutch pilgrim who was sweeping mud off the front porch welcomed me.

It was wonderful to arrive. I was absolutely soaked, exhausted and my old ankle sprain was reminding me to stop. I burst into tears as the hospitalero started taking off my raincoat and then wrapped a blanket around me. Another pilgrim raced off and brought me a hot cup of coffee.

It was dark in the Ermita and when I got used to the darkness I could see that it was very old and I felt that I had been transferred into medieval times…..more later!