Day 12 of Walking

Hello everyone!

We are now in Castrojeriz, in the Meseta. Today we walked in beautiful weather (finally!) about 18 miles.

Yesterday someone told us that May is now the busiest month for pilgrims since everyone saw that most people were going in July and August. So it kinda feels like a race for a bed each day. Here we are passing through the Arco San Anton. It is an ancient monastery and hospice of the Antonine order. The Order´s sacred symbol was the T-shaped cross called the Tau.

Two days ago we arrived in Burgos, and for such a large city (200,000) they only had one albergue, so we ended up in a hotel. It was expensive, but unavoidable. Yesterday morning we toured the Cathedral at Burgos - just beautiful! It took 300 years to build it.

Some of you have asked about our daily routine. We usually get up at 5:30 and try to get out ASAP (this morning it was 6 am). We make brief stops for cafe con leche (YUM!) and maybe lunch. We try to arrive at our destination town in the early afternoon, but we´re finding that many times the beds are already taken. Then we have to decide if we go on to the next town (which could be 5 miles or so away). Dinner is usually around 7 pm (two courses followed by dessert, so we´re not losing any weight), and often we´ve been able to go to Mass in the evening. Hopefully in bed around 9:30 or 10 pm, and start all over the next day.

This cross, with a dagger at the bottom, is the type of cross seen along the camino. We have seen many of these. This is at the begining of the meseta.

We´ve been walking in a lot of mud, which is tiring, but the meseta is flatter, which is good. They´ve had a lot of rain here for a couple of weeks, so the rivers are high. The temps have been cool (41 when we started this morning, and I don´t think it got above 55 today). Early on, day 2 and 3, were hotter, in the low ´80s.

We´ve been meeting people from all over, especially Germany and France. We´re getting along in Spanish with a mixture of high school Spanish and charades. So far we haven´t insulted anyone (that we know, anyway). Our roommates tonight are from Korea, Australia, and France.


Bill made a friend outside of our albergue.

Please continue praying for us as collectively we have shin splints, blisters, sore shoulders, sore hips, sore feet & ankles, and soapy knees (Colleen has to learn to rinse Bill´s pants better). But our hearts are happy, we´re able to pray many Rosaries every day, have lots of silent time, too, and have been singing our way across Spain.

On Friday we´ll be halfway through the Camino. We hope to find a computer with a port so we can upload pictures (we have lots to show you). We pray for all of you every day, please continue to pray for us.

The pilgrims.