Day 18 – Hornillos to Castrojeriz

24.3 km ~ 34,266 steps

Song of the Day: Better – Declan Donovan

After quite an eventful night, I left Hornillos far before the sun had risen, folding a note for my Camino Angel and leaving it on the pillow she had so kindly let me use.

Here, we finally stopped and I pulled out Maverick’s food to feed him his breakfast. I didn’t want to make any noise while I had still been in the Camino Angel’s house, so I hadn’t fed him before we left. As he was eating, I just stood and watched the sky begin to lighten, pink tracing where the sky met the endless wheat. An older gentleman passed us, uttering a quiet “buen camino” but that was it. It felt like we were the only souls out here.

My favorite picture of the Camino

By the time we reached Hontanas, it was barely eight and I was hungry for some breakfast. We stopped at the first café on the way into town and I went in to buy something and left Maverick hooked to a leg of a table on the patio. As I came out, I spied a girl off to left looking positively terrified. I eyed her strangely as she let out a squeal and sprinted into the café as if Maverick was about to attack. He simply licked his paw where I had just taken off his booties in response. As soon as she had disappeared inside, I couldn’t help the laughter that burst out of me.

Tobiah passed as us as I was eating and Maverick was enjoying his time not wearing booties. I had met him last night at dinner at the Green Tree but hadn’t seen him since then. He stopped and said hi and then continued on his way. After that, no other pilgrims passed. I guess most were still behind from sleeping later.

Eventually, I strapped Maverick back into his booties and on we went. Though I thought we would be spending the day alone again, Tobiah still happened to be in Hontanas as we were leaving and fell into step with us. The kilometers seemed to fly by with him beside us, chatting about his past camino, what he did for work, and attempting to keep Maverick from attacking his walking stick. He still hasn’t grasped that there’s a difference between a walking stick and any other stick laying around. He wouldn’t give up on Tobiah’s so I eventually had to get his ball out so he had something else to occupy his mouth with.

I was telling Tobiah how we’ve been having issues with people accepting dogs and how it’s been hard lately, that people just don’t look at dogs here like they do in America. Just as I finished up saying this, we broke from the scrubby land back towards a road where a car was parked. An old man was sitting inside, trinkets and stamps for credentials scattered on the dash and passenger seat. As we came up to him, he asked if we wanted a stamp and upon seeing Maverick, got very excited. He pulled out one of the many wooden crosses he had and gave one to me, explaining it was a Tau, a form of a cross very popular here at San Antón. He told me it was “por el perro”, explaining that San Antón is the patron saint of animals. It all seems like too much to simply be a coincidence. First, the awful day yesterday and feeling so defeated, then just talking about not feeling welcome with Maverick to Tobiah, and right after this man is here with a cross for my dog and we’re in a place named for the patron saint of animals? Okay, God. I see you there. I’m understanding.

As Tobiah and I walked into Castrojeriz, I think se spent more time chasing Maverick’s ball down side streets than we actually did on the Camino. Apparently, Maverick has gotten tired of carrying it himself. Or he just thought it was amusing that if he dropped it, it would roll down the entire side street with either Tobiah or myself running after it like one of those giant cheese wheels down a grassy slope. Anyways, we finally reached a shady bench with a fountain beside it that we took a break on and stretched our tired feet.

Tobiah was thinking of heading on, and while I was feeling good today and actually having fun despite the awful night last night, I knew it was best not to push it. There was an albergue here that was willing to let Maverick and I stay and who knows if that would be available in the next town. So we parted ways with Tobiah and went to claim a bed for the night, happy to have a shower and wash my clothes after yesterday’s fun time.

Maverick’s gorgeous hand-carved Tau from the man.