Pilgrims on the Way

Once a village stood on this site, and this is all that remains. This bare ruin is known as San Miguel. I’ve been told that it’s the remains of a castle, or a convent, or even a mill. To me it has the look of a bell tower, so I lean towards the convent – or even just church – […]

Just past Hontanas, we come to these farmland hills and valleys. The Camino avoids the worst of these, but some ups and downs are inevitable. So far, this section of the Meseta has not lived up to its reputation for flatness. It was beastly hot outside, which didn’t help. The eagle-eyed among you may have noticed that tower to the […]

We come back from the Fourth of July holiday weekend with what appears to be the only quasi-decent photo I took in Hontanas. We’ve stopped in here on both of our long Caminos, although always for a quick snack, never for the night. I’m fairly confident I stopped here in 2013 for a café con leche, though I wouldn’t swear […]

A rare montage! Just before Hontanas, there’s a tiny shrine to St. Bridget. The question is: which one? Based on the head covering and book, you would think this is St. Bridget of Ireland (c. 451 – 525). But based on the inscription that runs around the inside of the dome, where it mentions her Camino, it is more likely to be […]

Most towns on the Meseta tend to be on hills for defensive reasons; many of them were founded in a time when raiders and bandits (and the occasional army) were common. Some, though, like Hontanas, took another route. It’s in a valley – more of a hole, really – and you can’t see it until you’re practically on top of […]

This is a photo that I think every pilgrim takes. Sometimes more than once. Since the Camino is basically an east to west walk, and you spend most of the morning walking, you’re often walking into your shadow. Since San Bol is just off the main Camino, I could get a sideways image like this while walking the access road. […]

I feel like our plan was always to set out at dawn each day, but that this was one of the vanishingly few days where we actually did so. And it was glorious. Strangely, Francine and I did exactly the same thing at this location three years later. Note the lack of cloud coverage. It’s going to be a scorcher! […]

Day 13 dawns, the Third Sunday of Easter, and we bid San Bol farewell. Our hospitalero turned off the site’s generator when he left, about 9PM, so it was lights out! We left early enough that the sun was still dawning, throwing a golden light over the Meseta. Our plan is to grab breakfast in Hontana in maybe an hour […]

It was something of a running joke: Eamon loves his flan for dessert! Places with a pilgrim menu or a menú del día would always have more or less the same dessert options: fruit, pastry, or flan. So far as I can recall, Eamon always chose the flan. It usually came in this sort of plastic container, though very occasionally […]

Albergue San Bol is one of the great places on the Camino. Felix the hospitalero made a delicious dinner for us, which we ate in the round dining room under the “beehive”. Eamon and I were joined by German and Irish pilgrims, and eventually Santiago, seen here on the far left. I took numerous photos inside San Bol that evening, […]