Wednesday 11 October.  Same dry hot afternoon. 

Starting out. 

Garmin 23.7 km

We are staying at a Posada.  These exist in Portugal, Spain and Brazil,each with different set of rules. Here in Spain they are old important buildings not of historical significance.  They cannot be modified.  No elevator, no A/C.

Paradors, our favorites, are of historical significance but are larger and allow elevators and air conditioning.

This one is wonderful except for the above two points.

As expected the landscape is barren though we did see a field of dried out sunflowers, above.

About 12km of barrenness and we reached Hontanas, another 50 person or so town.  Here is a view from the top before descending.

The almost obligatory 14th century chapel.

We were expecting to find no rest until we reached Castrojeriz but about 5km after Hontanas we found a …bar.. rest area..character with a shop….

Certainly the latter. Someone who definitely belongs in the hospitality business.  Gave us (and later two Norwegian woman we invited into the area) watermelon slices.  Just because he had them.

Bought bad coffee and some beer and the. he gave all of us slices  he made from the ham sitting on the counter.   Just because he had it.  Once again, Spanish hospitality.

Coming into town we saw a castle for the evening stay.  Well ventilated.

But we stayed at the Posada as it was rated 9.7 on Booking.

The town is 3km long built into a step hillside. More than a 1000 year history.