We stayed at the Hotel Rural La Consulta de Isar, which comprised of a bar area, a small dining area and the bedrooms. Mine was spacious enough but the mattress was well beyond its end of use date (everyone else seating also mentioned this – their mattresses not mine!) and the shower screens over the bath were either missing or non-existent. Dinner was very nice and breakfast good but basic.
The view from my room was over a municipal area that was deserted, like the rest of the small village. After breakfast we were ferried back to Hornillos by the owner to restart our walk. As seems usual now, the weather was on the decidedly chilly side with plenty of dark clouds threatening to dump on us.
We had brief, warming, busts of sunlight as we walked along and enjoyed the rolling countryside. The wind turbines seemed to have multiplied since our visit as they sometimes filled the horizon on our left and right. It was lovely to hear the Skylarks singing as we walked along, these are “red” on the RSBP concern list due to the erosion of UK farmland habitat. The Skylarks were accompanied by Corn Buntings in an almost continuous symphony of birdsong.
At about halfway we arrived in Hontanas where, after a quick downhill, we stopped for a drink, a piece of cake and a Hola / Hello to all the folks we recognised from previous days. As we were leaving, it was “coats on” for the first rain shower of the day and then a steady downhill path towards the road into Castrojeriz. This was not the best path to walk on, in places quite rocky, in places flooded and sometimes just plain slippery. We passed through fields of Wheat, Oats, Peas, Vetch and ( a new one so far) Alfalfa. Alfalfa is primarily grown for animal feed due to its superior nutrition over other crops, it’s also used as a cover crop for soil improvement and nitrogen fixation. Humans consume alfalfa sprouts in salads (low-calorie, with vitamin K, C, folate) or supplements for potential cholesterol-lowering and antioxidant effects. We then passed beside, and under the arch of, the ruins of the Monastery of Saint Anton, built in 1146 but these ruins are from the 14th century.
There were a few more, heavy, rain showers, as we closed in on the town and passed a few colourful fields filled with poppies and sainfoin. We could see the Castillo de Castrojeriz on a hill above the town as the clouds rolled across, before checking into our hotel and enjoying a spot of lunch.
