Camino Day 16: Hornillos - Castrojeriz (08/10/15)

We left the “Meeting Point” albergue at dawn; the Moon and Venus could still be seen hanging in the sky of a calm, clear morning after the recent wind and rain. The day turned out to be a hard day’s walking for me because I had a blister on the inside of my left little toe which I had stupidly covered with Compeed to try and protect it the previous day in much the same way as I had successfully protected blisters on my heels; however instead, I had only succeeded in pulling the top off the blister and each step of the day was throbbingly painful. In addition, I had a hot little blister underneath my foot between the first and second metatarsals, so I limped along grimacing every now and then!

Matt & Matthew on the Meseta

Putting the discomfort in my foot to the back of my mind, however, I was otherwise soon enjoying the walk as we climbed out of Hornillos and back up onto the Meseta. I found the Meseta sublime; a stark, pared back landscape of expansive views, distant wind turbines, wide fields and the whisper of the wind with the ever present sound of Skylarks bubbling effusively high above the meditative silence.

Descending into Hontanas

A short, steep, descent brought us down into Hontanas where we had breakfast, a little after 10am, accompanied by the obligatory medicinal glass of Vino Tinto (what a difference it makes to walking!). We ribbed Matthew by placing our empty glasses in front of him and then texting the photograph to his wife Heather back in Ireland to inform her that he was already on the alcohol so early in the morning! After breakfast we found a secluded courtyard behind the church, which was being used as a children’s playground and sat in the sun saying Morning Prayer together.

Matthew enjoying his breakfast wine

We walked separately after this and I took a few minutes to examine the ruins of the monastery of San Miguel. A solitary pillar of stonework, which I took to be possibly the remains of the east end of the church, standing on a hillside above the Camino track is all that remains of this religious foundation.

San Miguel

Searching for more information afterwards, I was surprised how little comment there was on the site, even in guidebooks, that otherwise go into great detail about even the most obscure locations and so I was unable to find out anything about San Miguel. It was good however to sit for a few minutes in that rocky field the only colour coming from wild yellow Verbascums and to have the sense of time having passed the place by, even as pilgrims on the track below me were hurrying on their way without even pausing to notice the ruins.

A few kilometres further on I reached the ruins of the 14^th century monastery and hospital of St. Anthony and caught up with everyone else. The impressive Arco de San Antón straddles the road. The blocked up archway of the church beneath the arch has six archivolts full of decayed carvings, but is still striking enough despite this and opposite the entrance are alcoves in the wall where the monks used to leave bread for pilgrims who arrived when the door was locked. Today the alcoves are full of messages and momentoes left by modern pilgrims.

Arco San Anton

The Antonine Order that ran the monastery is interesting in itself. It is named after St. Anthony, one of the first and probably the most famous of the 3^rd Century Desert Fathers, who lived as hermits in the desert of Egypt and whose rule became the basis for Christian Monasticism. Anthony’s relics were eventually moved from Egypt to Constantinople and then to France to protect them from the increasing Muslim incursions in the Middle East. In 1095 the Antonine Order was founded by the French noble Guérin and authorised by Pope Urban II and very soon, the Order became famous for treating the skin disease erysipelas, also known as St. Anthony’s fire. Interestingly, St. Anthony was also the patron saint of swineherds as pigs can also suffer from erysipelas.

Tau cross in window of ruins

The symbol of the order was the “T” shaped tau cross, some of which still adorn the stonework of the ruins in several places, especially the windows. The historic cross Jesus was crucified on may well have been T shaped rather than the Latin form of the cross which we are familiar with today and it is an interesting study in itself to note that in the old Hebrew alphabet (pre the Babylonian exile) the last letter was tav, which came from the same ancient root (probably representing two sticks on the ground) as the Phoenician letter that the Greek letter tau later originated from. The Phoenicians, who lived in the Levant, invented the first phonetic alphabet (rather than hieroglyphic symbols for words) and our letter “a” like the Hebrew letter Aleph, originates from the Phoenician symbol for an ox with horns that then got turned on it’s side. It is fascinating, therefore, that the old Hebrew alphabet started with the symbol for sacrifice and ended with a cross! A prophetic coincidence? I doubt it, but draw your own conclusions! 

Semitic letter chart showing development of tav / tau
www.ancient-hebrew.org

What certainly is interesting is that in the Bible in the book of Ezekiel 9:4 - 6, the Prophet Ezekiel saw a vision of an angel who was told to go through the city of Jerusalem before it was judged and mark those whom God was going to protect with a tav (tau) or mark on their foreheads. The angel was told “but on those you see the tav, you shall not kill” The symbol of a cross protected them. (It is also a sobering thought to look at the bottom of the above chart and realise that in it's later Arabic form this is the same letter that ISIS recently daubed on the door posts of Christian homes on the Nineveh Plain in Iraq when they swept into the area of Qaraqosh in 2014 persecuting Christians and destroying churches).

Alcoves

The Antonine monks of course knowing all this and that the tau cross was popular amongst the Desert Fathers and the Coptic Church that St. Anthony came from, wore a blue tau symbol on their black habits and used tau crosses in their healing ceremonies, which they considered to protect people from evil and sickness. (St Francis who had contact with the Antonine Order also wore the tau and his robes). Unfortunately however the healing ceremonies and use of the tau became increasingly esoteric and superstitious. After the Reformation the Order’s income declined and once the link between the Ergot fungus which blights Rye crops and produces alkaloids that affect the circulation in humans when ingested and therefore causes erysipelas, was realised and steps taken to avoid it, the Antonine Order lost its role and was amalgamated with the Knights of Malta in the 1700s.

Leaving esoteric thoughts of tau crosses behind, we began the nearly 5km walk along the road into Castrojeriz with the impressive fortress rising before us with the town strung around the hill beneath it like a necklace. By the time we reached Castrojeriz, my back was playing up and I was getting ominous twinges in my lumbar region, which sometimes happens when I carry a rucksack for too long. I therefore had to zigzag up the main road into the town instead of walking straight up the hill!

David powering towards Castrojeriz

We checked into a rather quaint albergue a five minute walk from the main plaza. The entrance hall had antique furniture, various old farming implements decorating the walls and polychromatic tiles on the floor. I found my bunk which was above a French woman who I smiled at and greeted pleasantly, only to be rebuffed by an angry scowl and the barked retort “I don’t understand anything you are saying to me!” in remarkably good English for one who didn’t understand I felt! She spent the rest of the day wandering around scowling and generally looking annoyed, so I left her to it, had a shower and handed in some laundry to the Hospitalero.

Castrojeriz

The three stooges - Matt, Me & Matthew!

Whilst I was in the bathroom Matt showed me numerous bites all over his back and tummy – they were in lines of double skin punctures – so characteristic of Bed Bug bites and he admitted he had noticed them after he had stayed in an albergue in Najera before he joined us. I was glad my bunk was across the room from his!

Ascending to the castle

After a rest, we went out for a walk around town. I had hoped to see inside the reputedly magnificent Gothic Hall-church of San Juan, but the locals were having a service there and made it clear when we inquired that it was not open. Instead we climbed the hill and examined the imposing ruins of the castle, whose ruins covered the entire span of Spanish history from Roman and Visigothic times through gun platforms constructed outside the castle for cannon in the Renaissance, until it’s final demise in the 18^th Century.

Inside the courtyard of the castle - the different stonework at the bottom

of the tower is Visigothic but parts may also even be Roman

By climbing to the top of the tower, where a modern metal platform had been erected, we were able to stand in the stiff, warm breeze and see the wide panorama  of the Meseta landscape around us and the Camino path stretching back to the monastery of St. Anthony and on up the Alto Mostelares – the hill we would climb the following day. Matthew even managed to spot a Peregrine Falcon hunting in the field below the castle with his binoculars and was very pleased with himself. At least it wasn’t yet another Red Kite!

Matthew examining the view

Descending, we had coffee in the Plaza Mayor and I bought a wooden tau cross to tie onto my rucksack as a souvenir. Maybe I should have used it in ceremonies to deal with Matt’s bed bug bites, but instead we went for dinner in a local hotel where we were served by a curiously glum looking waiter.

Plaza Mayor

Before bed we discussed plans get up early before dawn on our final day so that could walk on the Meseta under the stars and see the sunrise. Just before bed another pilgrim complained he had just see a bed bug crawling out of the antique settee we were sitting on and although I didn’t see it, I went to bed scratching and having nightmares about bed bug bites!!

Castrojeriz Castle with gun platform in foreground