Itero de la Vega

This morning I left a bit earlier than Doug and walked with Laetitia and Dokona the couple who live in Australia. After awhile I slowed down and Doug caught up with me.   There was sun in the forecast but for now it's still cloudy but not cold. After 6 km we passed under some high arches, remnants of the St. Anton monastery. Back in the Middle Ages people came from all over Spain to seek a cure for St. Anton's fire, a kind of gangrene common in those days. In the remnants of the monastery is now an Albergue for the pilgrims. Another 4 km and we entered the beautiful town of Castrojeriz. The sun came out! We found a coffee place and they had our favourite pastries. (The chocolate kind). Dokona and Laetitia were just moving on. We would see them again. After coffee we walked through the town. It celebrated their millennium back in 1974! We found a shop and bought some things for lunch. As we have seen in almost every village along the way there are ruins and new houses side by side. Most villages are not viable without the pilgrims. There are no schools and one rarely sees some children. I also noted that the route is more desolate than east of Burgos. The stretches can be long and tedious. However, the road is mainly flat. We continued and just before the hill we found a stone and had our lunch right there with a view of Castrojeriz. Up the hill was not too bad. My poles help a lot. Coming down was an other matter. It was a decline of 18%! I had to do it zig zag as the pressure on my left foot was too much. We still had 11 km to cover before we reached our destiny for the day. Both my feet were hurting. I think I'm developing a blister on my right heel! Just what I need. When I thought I couldn't go any further there was a pic nick place. We had a nice rest there before walking the last 2 km. We arrived in town together with Laetitia and Dokona. Doug joined them to find an Albergue while I was waiting for then on a chair along the road. The Albergue municipal was open but the volunteer hadn't arrived yet. A note told us to enter and make ourselves comfortable. A bit later Philip, a young man from Switzerland joined us there. We were just about to leave to get some supper when the volunteer arrived. We checked in. She turned the heater on for us. Soo nice. We had a good meal with good company in a local bar. We took the left over wine to finish it in the Albergue. I did indeed get a blister and I put one of those blister patches on. That should do the trick.