We wake up in the motorway hotel. Yesterday it rained pretty hard, but thankfully this morning it's dry and sunny. We pack our bags, enjoy our standard breakfast of yoghurt with muesli and hit the road. We start the route a bit like we ended it yesterday, over asphalt, but at right angles to the motorway fortunately. It's Saturday morning and a little after 8am, so the road is still pretty quiet. It seems that the Spaniards start slowly on weekends. It's a stretch of almost 4 kilometers until we can leave the road, but as there is almost no traffic we can walk side by side, which is just a bit more cozier. Once off the main road, we walk along the familiar wide paths between fields, this just remains beautiful and we never get bored of it. We walk past grain fields, some barns and greenhouses. The advantage of this part of Spain, especially compared to Andalusia, is that there are just few gates, the fields and many barns are not fenced off. But here we come across a shed with a large garden greenhouse, that we would have preferred to have a fence. Two large German shepherds stand on the path barking at us with bared teeth, not wanting us to pass. There's no one in sight, nor is there a car. These are again some of those dogs that are tied up day and night to protect the sheds and are fed once or twice a day. In other words, not exactly socialised animals.
They are tied up, but the ropes are so long that they come right up to the country road. We could walk a few meters through the field past the dogs, but after some deliberation we don't really trust the ropes and decide to go around the sheds in a wide arc. We walk for a stretch along the back of fields and through a wheat field, closely watched by the dogs. It takes a long time before they give up and lie down quietly. Even though nothing would probably have happened if we had just walked on, we are glad we took the diversions. Although perhaps we should have taken a closer look at the map to see that there was also a road a hundred meters in the other direction that we could have taken.... But hey, we are not eaten by the dogs and continue walking along the path, this time along a beautiful river. We pass the ruins of an old monastery with, of course, a stork on the roof. Another monastery from the 13th century that was taken during the 'Desamortización de Mendizábal' in the 19th century and has been abandoned and in disrepair ever since. What a shame, for such a beautiful building. It says 'Se Vende', but there is just a bit too much renovation work to do....
The monastery is on the outskirts of the village of Palenzuela, which starts on the other side of the bridge over the river Arlanzón. An unexpectedly beautiful place built against the hills. On the rocks above the river is another ruin: the walls of an old castle, which now looks more like a sand castle that's standing too close to the waves and could sink into the river at any moment. In the village there are even more ruins: these of Iglesia de Santa Eustalia, a church from somewhere around the 13th to 15th centuries, built in the Jewish quarter but later becoming Catholic anyway. We walk under a city gate and immediately go up quite a steep hill on narrow streets, past beautiful old houses. The lower floors are built in large stones, the second floors more often in wood and loam. At the top of the street we arrive at Plaza Mayor, with two churches close together and, just around the corner, a farm with a garage and tractors, overlooking the church. How nice to unexpectedly come across such a place. With just over 200 inhabitants nowadays, but with a pre-Roman history. Spain at its best! The surprises don't end there for us, once out of the village we have another stretch of climbing ahead of us. Yesterday we were hoping for a stage away from the motorway in a more varied environment, today we are treated to a stretch through the hills. A wide path here winds between grain fields and up the slopes. It's a stunning stretch. Once between the hills, the landscape immediately becomes a lot quieter than in the river valley. A man approaches us, also carrying a large backpack. We haven't seen that in a while, a fellow hiker. We get talking, in poor Spanish, but we understand each other just fine. He tells us where he comes from: from Burgos, before that from Pamplona, through the Pyrenees, before that Carcassonne, Nice and before that from Italy. Wow, that's exactly our route! That's a coincidence, he hikes to Portugal and we're going to Nice. It's the first time we've come across someone doing the route for the love of hiking and the country, and not necessarily to get to Santiago, and then the same route too! Super.... Nice how you can make yourself understood even in poor Spanish, as long as you speak the same 'language'.
Once at the top, we have a magnificent view of the valleys and hills beyond. We take a break overlooking the windmills, we're at the same height by now. Oh by the way, regarding Spain's carbon-neutral efforts: all but a few of the 100-plus windmills are at a standstill, although it's far from windless. Maybe because it's the weekend? ;-)
Moving on again, we walk flat for a bit and then find ourselves at the top of a beautiful descent. The slopes are covered with a blanket of green wheat, yellow corn and fields of poppies. A church village lies at the bottom among the hills, low eroded mountains that seem to flow slowly into the valleys, into the wide, busy river valley. It's a stunning descent past man-sized bushes of gorse and the colourful fields. This is real enjoyment. We walk through the church village and along small paths again towards the river. On the other side, the village where we'll spend the night is situated. Once again close to the motorway, which together with the river and the railway is one of the lifelines of this area. Though we only really start to live at the foot of the hills... Today we are truly spoilt with the beautiful hike and it just shows how quickly the landscape can change and how beautiful the Spanish inlands are. Or at least it can be, a bit away from the crowds and the beaten track. Gorgeous!
