Hontanas to Boadilla del Camino

Well, it had to happen sooner or later: it rained on our parade!  Boy, did it ever.  Worse yet was the headwind we fought all day.  The day started out with some promise weather-wise.  At least the view from our casa rural room window looked pretty good...

But within half an hour the sky darkened, rain began to fall, the wind began to blow, and we put covers on our backpacks, hauled out our rain pants, and for the next 90 minutes it came down hard.  My water proof pants were not!  I managed to take a couple of pictures anyway...

When we arrived in the town of Castrojeriz, we found a lovely warm hotel bar where we spent half an hour drinking coffee and drying out.  When we hit the road again, the rain had died down.  We soon warmed up with a brisk walk over an ancient Roman road...

...and then a stiff climb up a long hill you can see behind me.  To see just how stiff, here's proof of the grade upwards and downwards...

We stopped for lunch in the village of Itero de la Vega, as it was no day for a picnic.  On the way there, between that steep hill and our lunch stop, we went through 2 more rain showers, and a long stretch of mud and slippery clay, finally opting to walk along the edge of the grain field.  For lunch we had coffee, a ham and cheese baguette sandwich, and yogurt.  From there it was 8 more kms to our day's destination, with one more rain shower to endure, and even stiffer headwinds.  It was a slog all day, but the beauty of the countryside made it all worthwhile.  Some more pics...

Yes, that's Diane pictured above.  When we were almost at our destination, we were greeted by a huge field of poppies, welcoming us to our home for this evening...

We were brought to our rooms by Chico, who thankfully speaks English, and his brother, who speaks Dutch!  After a warm shower and dry clothes, we feel alive again.  Unfortunately, the weather forecast for the next couple of days is pretty much more of what we had today.  Oh well, one day at a time, and this land and all these fields we pass through need the rain.

Distance today: 28.6 kms

Time on the road: 7:15

Total distance to date: 350.3 kms

Walking days remaining: 21