Walked mainly with B. today. K. still injured.

 

A cyclist on the way.

In a forest that we passed through.

 

San Juan de Ortega consists essentially of just this church, and a large former monastery now partially converted to a pilgrim accommodation, a restaurant, and a bar.  The restoration of the rest of the monastery looks like it will result in something beautiful. The project has apparently been underway for some time. It was mentioned in the book “Off the Road” by Jack Hitt, written in the 1990s.

The restaurant was taken over by a bus tour for dinner. We had met the bus tour earlier in the day. Nice people, from Ireland.  They have been doing this for 20 years , for a cause related to a disability condition. Some people on the tour have this condition themselves .

Since we decided not to have the albergue pilgrim menu, that left the bar as only other option. The bar turned  to have just two people on staff – a relaxed but distracted man at the bar, and an overworked lady doing all the cooking. During  a long wait in the bar just to order, we (B. and G.) met a young guy with a guitar on his back, who said he was going to walk to Burgos still that evening, which seemed astonishing because Burgos was a normal days walk away, and it was already evening. After a second eternity we received our food and in the meantime chatted with a nice couple from Ireland who I had met in a cafe in Logroño.