Day 21 – Hornillos del Camino to Castrojeriz
Todays hike was back up into the Meseta. I thought we were out of it at Hornillos but It extends another 20 or 30 kilometers.
We were served a good breakfast at Casa Sol Del Sol; orange juice, toast with butter and marmalade, and lots of coffee. A cool wind was blowing outside. It looked to be a clear sky overhead. We debated Starting out with jackets. The temperature would surely rise quickly with the sun just a half hour below the Eastern horizon. We decided long pants and hats would be enough until it warmed up. We met some really friendly hiking couples from Germany and France and ate breakfast (Sayanuno) with the Germans swapping stories. It was fun because they knew English a little bit.
Up on the Meseta the wind was harsh and cold but sunup warmed things up as expected. No clouds all day and the sun was strong. We both left our pant legs zipped on; me to shield my sunburned legs and Nancy from the cool wind. The land is still arid but fewer nasty little bushes with thorns. Wheat is planted in this part of the Meseta but looks pretty sparse compared to how thickly wheat is planted at home. Probably because the infrequent rain wouldn’t support a dense crop. Most of the wheat had been harvested and the straw baled in large rectangular bales.
The few little villages were stunningly beautiful nestled in little valleys and protected from the ever present Meseta wind. These little villages, trapped in time 300 years ago, had all the appeal your mind dreams of when picturing Spain. One can’t see them from the windswept plains of the Meseta. They simply appear, like Brigadoon out of the mists in Ireland, when the path takes a sudden dip downward. Then you stand there in disbelief for long seconds. So charming and unreal. It seems wrong to defile these villages with our sweaty dusty selves. But we do and the people welcome us with, “Buenas Dias”, or “Buen Camino” recognizing us as pilgrims by our backpacks (and probably our smell). All pilgrims smell a bit like old sweat, onions (why I don’t know), with a little cow dung thrown in (why again I don’t know; no cows here).
Nancy didn’t seem to be keeping up today. I thought she was hanging back to avoid my aroma of onions, sweat, and cow crap. Or maybe her knee was bothering more. But the poor thing was sick and didn’t want to complain. We got to our 20 km destination of Castrojeriz before 3:00 PM and checked into the Hotel Iacobus. Great! It had both air conditioning and a fan. We showered and napped hoping Nancy would feel better but at 6:30 she was worse with severe lower abdominal pains and generally felt more tired than usual. The local Medico doesn’t open until 9:00 AM tomorrow so I arranged to get us taken to the 24 hour emergency clinic in Melgar de Yuso about 16 km to the West. Staffed by two competent nurses and a doctor on the phone they discovered both a kidney stone and a kidney infection. They prescribed pain medicine, antibiotic, lots of water (no ice), and rest. So we are going to lay up here in Castrojeriz for a couple of days. It’s a sleepy Spanish village high on the side of the Meseta with a great view over a large valley. 
Above us is an old castle, or at least the remains of one, built on top of the steep peak of this hill. Maybe we can visit that huge structure and learn its history.
I can’t imagine how miserable that must have been. I’ve had a few kidney stones, but not under such circumstances. It’s good to hear you have a place to rest and heal for a couple days.
Thanks Dave. Better today. Nice to have a day off. God seems to always put a guardian angel in our path to help. Amazes me how generous and concerned the people here are on the Camino! God bless them all!