Category: Map

This was taken from about halfway up the Colina de Mostalares. Click through to see the full size. That little red dot on the right is Francine. The hill just left of center is Castrojeriz. Needless to say, the photograph doesn’t do the remotest justice to the scene. Date: 15 April 2016 Place: Colina de Mostalares (Castilla y León, Spain) […]

As I mentioned yesterday, the Meseta sometimes has these wrinkles, sudden steep ridges that run for sometimes dozens of kilometers. Well, this is the bottom of one of them, the Colina de Mostalares. It’s a twelve-degree climb up, and then an eighteen-degree climb down. Here’s Francine laughing at the absurdity of it all. Date: 15 April 2016 Place: Colina de […]

Some obvious takeaways from this photo: it’s raining and there’s a heck of a ridge there ahead of us. Now, mostly the Meseta is flat as Nebraska, but it does have these wrinkles, sudden steep ridges that run for sometimes dozens of kilometers. They’re too long to go around, or there’s private property or dangerous terrain blocking the flat bits, […]

We left our albergue in Castrojeriz just after dawn on April 15, 2016. The waterfall of the night before had calmed down somewhat, as you can see from this photo. It was a grey, rainy morning, the start to a grey stormy day. Well, week, really. Our goal today is the town of Frómista, a distance of about 25km as […]

As we walked past the Iglesia de Santo Domingo in Castrojeriz, we couldn’t help but stop by these skulls in the walls. No, they’re not a warning against pirates. These are meant to remind you that you will die – memento mori – so that you will take stock of your life and amend it. Always a good reminder, but […]

A closer look at the lovely, if somewhat run-down, Iglesia de Santa María del Manzano – which I feel might mean the Church of Saint Mary of the Apple Trees. Honestly, I’m not even entirely certain that it’s still in use as a church. Date: 14 April 2016 Place: Castrojeriz (Castilla y León, Spain) Today’s map:

As we approach Castrojeriz, the Camino passes in front of the famous Iglesia de Santa María del Manzano. The earliest records of this church are in the tenth century, but it was already an old and powerful establishment by that time. The current building dates 1214. You can also get a pretty good idea of how steep the hill of […]

After leaving the ruins of San Antón, we follow the Camino through the intermittent rain towards the distinctive hill and town of Castrojeriz. There’s an old castle ruin on top of the hill, but the town itself wraps around the base. This is our planned stop for the evening, though we were uncharacteristically fuzzy about where in town we were […]

Walking around the ruins a little bit brought me to what I think was the apse of the monastic church. Heck, it could be part of a bell tower for all I know – there really isn’t much left here. In any case, I thought it was beautiful. Date: 14 April 2016 Place: San Antón (Castilla y León, Spain) Today’s […]

I‘m standing in the middle of the road, looking up through the ruins of San Antón. Three years before, I’d taken a very similar photo, but a dove flew through the window as I was taking the shot. You can see that here. This place really evokes for me the lonely centuries through which the Camino has passed. It is […]