Today we could have taken a much shorter route to get from Pajares to Llanos de Someron (Chanos) where we are staying tonight – 5 km as opposed to 15.4 km. We took the long way (hiking backward on the Camino) so we could see some of the spectacular mountain views we missed the previous day when we took a taxi. A couple of peregrinas showed us their photos and we knew we’d missed the best part of this Camino. We didn’t want to miss the opportunity of going back to see at least some of it.

Not long after we left our albergue in Pajares a friendly Spanish woman approached us wanting to chat. We got into quite a long conversation even though she knew no English and I know very little Spanish. She seemed to think it wasn’t wise for us to hike back to Puerto de Pajares, a very steep uphill climb. Eventually she shrugged her shoulders when she realized how determined we were and wished us a “Buen Camino.”

She was right about it being a hard hike. The trails were very rough and steep, but we were well rewarded the whole way by the gorgeous scenery. The weather was good, there was a breeze that kept the pesky black flies away most of the time, and there were plenty of cattle, horses, and one mule to chat with on the route. 

We only met one pilgrim walking the Camino in the right direction. We had met him the previous day in Buiza and he was surprised that we old folks got ahead of him. Of course we confessed to have taken a taxi.

We are here tonight at a beautiful, new Albergue Cascoxu with Tania, the Russian expat who lives in Berlin whom we met back in Buiza. Our hospitalero was expecting more peregrinos tonight but, unfortunately, they didn’t show up. The three of us enjoyed a delicious home cooked meal together. The pumpkin cream soup was the best!