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Day 21 - Camino Frances: Hornillos to Castrojeriz · WCBH

• 0:25
  Good morning, day 20, 19 kilometres today, walking from Horneas to Castro Heretes, Geretes?
• 0:36
  Heres, Castro Heres. We must be in sync with the other pilgrims this morning
• 0:42
  because we're just walking out of Horneas and I can count six pilgrims in front
• 0:48
  of us, sort of all separated possibly by about 50 metres.
• 0:51
  Could be further, more in front, but there is a bit of a bend so I can't quite
• 0:56
  see around the bend and there's probably a few behind us so I think we're sort
• 1:01
  of in tune we must have been up and moving and ready nice and early this morning,
• 1:07
  every now and then you find a little bit of a find we're
• 1:10
  currently sitting at a place called Fuente Ciedras it's
• 1:16
  an albergue but it's also a bar cafe it's in the middle of nowhere middle of
• 1:22
  some fields halfway between Hornillas and wherever we're walking to this afternoon, Casterja Res.
• 1:32
  It has the best advertising, starts a couple of kilometers out,
• 1:36
  and you don't normally see this, but advertising that there's breakfast only,
• 1:41
  you know, a kilometer away.
• 1:43
  And just as we were sort of walking down the path, because it is a little bit
• 1:46
  off the side of the road, lady comes out and she's waving at us and places sort
• 1:51
  of perched up on just a slight rise.
• 1:53
  It looks relatively new. and I must say it is the most welcoming of places and
• 2:00
  I didn't get a coffee this morning.
• 2:03
  There was some instant decaffeinated coffee in the cupboard which I just can't do that.
• 2:10
  Not trying to be a coffee snob but can't do decaffeinated so I had a cup of
• 2:15
  tea but this place just looks so inviting.
• 2:18
  So we came in, everything about it is just so good. Get this, the mugs are big.
• 2:22
  So most of the cups you find in Europe, the mugs are tiny, the mugs are big.
• 2:26
  So it's a full cup. She said, do you want your Americano short or long?
• 2:30
  Yes, long. So it's full to the top.
• 2:33
  Second thing, on the menu, they've got things like bowls of cereal.
• 2:38
  Wow, every Australian must love that. Secondly, one of my favourites,
• 2:42
  peanut butter and banana on toast.
• 2:44
  That's so good. One of my favourites I have all the time at home.
• 2:47
  In fact, it's my pre-game meal before playing footy, peanut butter and banana on toast.
• 2:54
  Toilets are clean. People are very friendly here. So much to like about it.
• 2:58
  I think Sheridan's having an omelette with vegetables.
• 3:00
  Chance having the granola bowl. I'm having peanut butter and banana on toast.
• 3:03
  We've all got big mugs of a warm drink sitting in front of us. This place is great.
• 3:08
  In fact, have our time again, we would have factored in to stay at this place overnight.
• 3:14
  Getting towards the end of our walk today, still a couple of kilometres to go,
• 3:18
  but our town that we're heading to has just come into sight, Castrojo is.
• 3:23
  We've just passed an abandoned abbey.
• 3:27
  It's probably, I don't know if you'd call it abandoned now or just ruins,
• 3:30
  but it was quite spectacular. The size of the abbey, the size of the windows, et cetera, all stone.
• 3:36
  It looks like there's some sort of preservation work looking to be taking place there.
• 3:41
  But back to Castrojuriz, it's a village or small town at the base of a hill.
• 3:50
  And on top of that hill, I believe it's a castle.
• 3:55
  You know, we've come across so many things like castles and cathedrals and abbeys
• 4:02
  and just the impressive stonework of this countryside, which must have been,
• 4:10
  takes so long to quarry, to mine, and then to construct these amazing different buildings, etc.
• 4:19
  But just off in the distance, this very, very picturesque town.
• 4:23
  Town at the base of the hill, castle, or the ruins of the castle on top of the
• 4:30
  hill about two or three kilometers away from where we are now.
• 4:34
  So we're here in Castro-Huriz. It's the end of the day.
• 4:39
  Castro-Huriz has this very, very long main street, I suppose.
• 4:44
  The pilgrimage route runs right through it, and the village extends a long distance
• 4:51
  along the route rather than sprawling out a number of streets wide.
• 4:56
  It's just one very, very, very long street. It is at the base of the hill.
• 5:01
  At the top of the hill is the castle.
• 5:04
  Medieval castle, and it was, I suppose, a fortified area, and this was in the
• 5:10
  time of the Moors and the Christians all having their areas in this region.
• 5:18
  It's remarkable what has been built in stone, and how must have they, one,
• 5:26
  quarried it, two got it right up on top of this hill and then put it block on
• 5:34
  top of block on top of block to make these castles truly remarkable.
• 5:39
  Yeah, it's amazing. Like these things have been around hundreds of years,
• 5:44
  some I suppose thousands, and yet the architecture and the techniques that would
• 5:50
  have been used in the construction just truly amazing. The rock.