Day 14: Hontanas to Boadilla del Camino
- sarezend
- May 2
- 3 min read
The word of the day is Mud. Jimmy and depart Hontanas after a breakfast of coffee con leche and a croissant. Our dinner the previous evening was a pilgrim meal at the only restaurant in town. We are seated with other pilgrims and we meet Andy and Jackie from England, and Lucas from Belgium but living in Coimbra, Portugal. These meals give us an opportunity to meet other people and converse on many subjects. Lucas is an interesting person out on the Camino by himself. He doesn’t tell us what he did for living but is retired. More to come with Lucas.
Our breakfast is fast and we are on the trail by 7:30am, knowing today would be a long day of 29kms. The morning was cool and it rained lightly for the first hour. We also had a climb of about 100 meters later in the day. However, the Meseta is known as a flat landscape. It reminds me of “big sky” country, Montana and Idaho. Farms everywhere for the eye to see but no one around.
The trails are slick due to the rain the night before and morning. It slows us down because we are trying to avoid slipping and falling most of the day. From the rear I hear my name, it’s Jimmy holding his boots tread in one hand, the rest of the boot still on his foot. It’s a flat tire, and Jimmy has to change into his backup shoes, Brooks running shoes, not ideal for the mud we are experiencing.
The mud is challenging most of the day. Jimmy ends up with several blisters.
When I pre-booked our rooms in the town of Boadilla del Camino, I had no idea what we’d get. As we enter the town, I see the place, Hotel Eural En El Camino. The town is small, what could this be, I see 3 stars on the sign, but not a 4th scratched out like our last hotel rural in Atapuerca. We walk into the lobby seeing an elevator and a very modern looking hotel, people everywhere and the owner, Luis, waiting to help us. He’s busy, he checks our reservation, hands us each a key to our room and says, “go relax, and come back and we’ll finish checking you in later.” After 29kms, we must have looked tired, our shoes and pants muddy from the day, Luis didn’t seem to care.
After a shower, Jimmy and I go down for a beer at the bar, and of course we see Lucas, and he joins us. Dinner was a full community pilgrim meal with about 60 people two large tables. We sit with Lucas, and meet Rob from Newark, NJ, two women from Holland, Lori and I don’t remember, and a Spaniard who spoke very little English but tried anyway to hold a conversation. It was an interesting night, getting to know your community. Pilgrim meals come with a bottle of wine for two people. This Meal included 2 soups, lentil and vegetable, choice of meal, chicken or fish, and desert. Every meal comes with French fries. Desert is usually an ice cream bar. Nothing fancy here just a bunch hungry pilgrims. It’s difficult to explain these community meals, but they can be fun, full of insight and again, sitting with like minded people. Lucas said it right, you only meet good people on the Camino. It’s true. Please enjoy some pictures of the day:
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