Day 17: San Juan de Ortega - Villafria
(June 15, 2023)
I said goodbye to Rita last night, and she left very early this morning. I got up at 6:30 am and walked out of quiet San Juan. After passing through the woods, I was greeted by beautiful cows in the fields. As I passed them by, they stared at me, and I wondered what was on their minds. I am pretty sure they see humans passing by every day. They are very handsome cows, all tagged.
Soon, on the open road, wildflowers happily greeted me, and I had to pick one to put in my hair like all other days. I enjoyed the fresh morning air with the sun gently shining on the endless land. How wonderful everything is!
Passing through the town of Ages, I enjoyed the many unique art decorations in the town.
Back on the open field again, the trail became narrow in the middle of the crop and alongside the car road. Beautiful, interesting trees and a beautiful landscape with wildflowers surrounded me. I met Don on the way, and we walked not far from each other at our own pace. There was no one else around. Don is an 80-year-old retired law professor from Canada. It has been his dream to walk the Camino, and it has arrived a bit late in his life, but he was glad he made it. Even though he had passed out on the first day and was sent to the hospital, he was still walking the Camino today.
Quietly we reached Atapuerca, where Don and I stopped for coffee before continuing our journey.
We encountered a herd of sheep passing through on the mountain road. I was able to take some decent photos and even a video. It was one of the highlights and excitement of the day.
Soon, the trail got hilly and rocky. It was hard work walking through it, but the view at the summit made it all worth it.
We continued our journey passing beautiful fields; now, the trails also got wilder. The sun also got hotter without any shades. I kept reminding Don to keep drinking water; I worried about him a little and kept thinking please do not pass out today while you are with me and with nobody around us.
We passed Cardenuela Rio Pico. Out of town, the trail became a car road without a sidewalk. We walked on the left side of the car road, sharing it with cars. Good thing there were not many cars on that road.
Soon we arrived at another town; it was the first time we saw something going on there: a road repair. There, we stopped at one of the Albergue patios for a cup of coffee.
Soon we were on the road again, sharing the road with cars again, walking in and out of a bridge, following the directions carefully, passing through a road construction site. That was an interesting detour.
There were almost no shades whatsoever in the last 3.5 km to Villafria but road was mostly flat. The landscape along the way was spectacular, with different color combinations. It seemed that the landscape on the Camino getting prettier each passing day. It was now the middle of June, the high season for the wildflowers and the crops.
We went back to walking on the road and sharing it with the cars once again. We walked long stretches on a thin line of the road that was shared with cars, trucks, tractors… One thing I learned on the Camino was that I no longer worried about the cars on the road. People living in Spain seemed to be much better drivers than people living in America.
After a long stretch of walking on the road with car, under the increasing temperature and sun blazing, we finally reached Villafria. After a little inquiry, Don and I both finally reached our hotel.
