Camino Day Twelve- Belorado to San Juan de Ortega (15.6 Miles)

We woke up to cloudy skies but no rain, and got an early start. John’s feet were a bit better and he was a much happier pilgrim today. We saw some beautiful sights.

In the first town we walked through there was a Church, the Ermita de la Pena, built into the cliffs above town. It reminded us of Petra in Jordan! We saw many more churches and fields of dying sunflowers. We climbed a small mountain through oak and pine woodlands. We climbed 2,100 feet but we felt so strong and were not winded. We are getting in pretty good shape, able to walk far and up and down hills at will. John’s feet hurt on the downhill, but we would just take it slow. After the summit, it was a really nice slow walk downhill to San Juan de Ortega, a small village with literally, two bar/restaurants, but of course a gorgeous and very old church.

Chris did laundry and hung it on the clothesline at the Hotel. It was blowing in a thunderstorm but we hoped things would dry before it rained. It was still sunny when we headed down the road to dinner. But in the middle of our meal it started to pour. The young pilgrim couple seated beside us had also hung out clothes on the clothesline and the husband jumped up and ran out the door to save the clothes from rain. When he came back, he came to us and said he was sorry, he had taken our clothes down and put them in the hotel common room. We thanked him, it was such a kind thing to do. But that’s what pilgrims do for each other. The Camino Way.

We finished our ice cream and returned to our room and sleep. It will be interesting tomorrow- rain is predicted.