Castrojeriz to Boadilla del Camino 17km

Great excitement last night with a sudden thunderstorm with huge hailstones coming down, bouncing off the ground and filling up the drains. Everybody was filming the event on their phones and posting the news back home. It was really spectacular!

Boots were brought inside out of the downpour.

 Dinner was served after all that. I sat opposite two young German pilgrims who spoke perfect English. We enjoyed Chicken noodle soup, followed by roast chicken and salad.

Huge hailstones outside.

After dinner, the Hispitalero took us all on a tour of the ancient wine cellar. This had existed for hundreds of years below street level:

I slept well and was just about the last person to leave next morning. It was another lovely day for the Camino, though it started off very cold (8 degrees) with fog in the valley. My first task was to find an ATM as the Albergue had only accepted cash and it had cleaned me out. That accomplished, I set off on my way. First, the trail crossed an area of wetland via a Roman bridge:

This was followed by a steep climb up (12 %) then 16% down the other side. Lots of people were milling round at the top. I had my photo taken with a Korean guy:

The Camino was beautiful today: “fifty shades of green”. Going downhill to Utero was a breeze, and I stopped briefly here to chat to an Irish guy on an electric bike:

Then I pressed on to Itero for lunch:

This bar soon filled up, but I managed to order a beer and a portion of paella before the crowds got here.