Hi everyone! Started the Meseta with the big 60 on my back and as a present I received a persistent pain in my left knee….can only do about 13 mi a day….down hill is the most painful and getting started in the morning…started doing Advil and Tigerbalm….not giving up….no…no…no. Most people stop walking about 1 pm also, since the sun is strong in the meseta….no shade and few villages with auberges and those fill up quickly…that means – stop – or you have to walk another 10 km to the next and it may be full. We ran into two guys returning from Santiago and asking for money to buy food. They have walked from Hungary to Santiago and are now walking back to Hungary…ran out of money….looked very tired….that’s over 2000 km air distance one way – what people do.

Castrojeriz – a sleepy town of pop. 600 – we had a “Boccadillo” sandwich with smocked Spanish ham and cheese here, on the next table a guy ate something – Charlie wondered what it was and asked as we where leaving, the guy let him try it and said it was a salt water barnacle called “Choccadilla”??? Charlie loved it so, he tried seconds.

Village of Hontanas pop. 80 and ruins of the Convent of San Anton below

Hornillos del Camino “Downtown”  pop. 70, here we celebrated my 60 – a bottle of vino tinto (good red wine) is only 2 Euro

Did you know that poppies have crosses inside them?

The Meseta