San Juan de Ortega

We started out late, but the pg tips for breakfast were worth it.  I should add that there was free tea and coffee once we had checked in at the albergue yesterday, another reason why it was so welcoming!  Again, walking was good, and we made good progress.  The boys kept on saying they could continue, so it was close to 11am when we stopped for either second breakfast or early lunch. The sandwiches at El Pajaro in Villafranca Montes de Oca are wonderful, so good, in fact, that we bought extra for the boys and had them wrapped for later.  The walk up to this point had been fairly level, but we soon had to climb a very steep hill, that seemed to go on forever.  

At the top of the hill was a very simple, yet moving memorial to the earliest victims of the Civil War.  Several young men of the village had protested the military coup led by Francisco Franco in 1936, had been arrested, taken to this isolated place and shot.  There were fresh flowers in a vase.  It was a powerful reminder of the futility of war.

After a few moments of reflection, we continued down at steep slope and up an even steeper hill.  The path widened and we were walking through a pine forest.  It was sunny, but there was enough shade, and we kept walking without realizing how far we had gone.   Suddenly the path turned a corner and there was the very small village of San Juan de Ortega, our destination.  We hadn't even had lunch.  We stopped at the bar next to the albergue attached to the church and thought about continuing.  The boys ate their sandwiches, and I split some of my beer. Part of us wanted to walk on and in some ways I wish we had, but in others, I am by glad we stayed.  The dormitories were upstairs, and one led to another.  The beds were not numbered, so we just had to find beds that had not been claimed.  I showered and then curled up to sleep.  The boys showered, their water was hot, mine was cold.

We attended the mass and pilgrims' blessing, which was not so moving, but still interesting, and went to the bar for dinner.  Ezra joined us again, and Jonathan tried morcilla for the first time (Spanish black pudding), which he loved.  Ezra and the boys then went down to the river, and I chatted to the barman for a while.  It was getting chilly, so we had an early night.  It was so cold in the albergue that the radiators were on.  The boys put their damp clothes over a radiator to dry.  I had the best night's sleep so far, because it was cold.

We were actually up early and out before the majority of the others in the albergue the following morning, and on the way to Burgos.