Today's section included ten miles of forest hiking through the frightening wilds of the Oca Mountains! Well, they were frightening for pilgrims passing through in the Middle Ages. Gangs of robbers hid out here - and worse - making the full day trek treacherously scary. Songs were written about the Oca. Death songs. But not today. Just the birds!
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| Oca Mountains. |
I walked mostly in a long string of solo women hikers through the defense woods. I could hear the clack m of hiking poles far behind me and now and then glimpse a backpack ahead of me. Then out of the woods came Louie from Belgium, fresh from his morning "break."
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| Fern and oak. |
Louie began his hike in Belgium almost two months ago. He wears a felt woodsman cap with a felt scallop shell sewn to the upturned brim. His round glasses and grey beard give him the look of Sean Connery in Name of the Rose. I told him this and he cracked up. He's a retired agricultural professor so we have a lot to talk about.
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| On and on, up and up, through the Oca hills. |
We came into the town of San Juan de Ortega and stopped to have a snack. I peeked inside the Iglesia San Juan de Ortega and was blown away. Because of the Jubilee Year of Mercy, the Holy Door was standing open do I walked through it, then back out to wave Louie inside, then back through again. A nicely dressed docent gave me a hard stare. Oops. No extra holies for me!
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| The Holy Door is open. |
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| Saint John de Ortega is in this simple stone coffin. |
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| The fancy death cask is strictly ornamental. |
There are so many legends surrounding San Juan but the one that everyone is paying attention to is his ship's sinking in a Mediterranean crossing returning from Jerusalem pilgrimage. As the ship of hundreds of pilgrims began to take on water in a fierce storm, San Juan prayed to San Nicolas of Greece, asking for salvation. The pilgrims survived the terrible sinking, washing up on shore barely alive. San Juan was so thankful that he travelled to this place, the most dangerous crossing on land for pilgrims to Santiago, with the intent of making a road through the frightening forest and employing guardians, warrior monks of the Holy Orders - Knights - to escort up to 18,000 pilgrims a year to his hospital here. I knelt to pray to the good saint and a women in a head scarf knelt next to me. She prayed in Arabic! When I finished I waited for her at the Holy Door. She spoke great English and explained she was a professor of Islamic Studies in Madrid. She prayed to San Juan for those crossing the Mediterranean this year, fleeing war. I kinda cried a little. She hoisted her pack like the rest of us, and continued on her way.
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| Meet your ancestors! |
I was lost in thought for miles then looked up and saw the sign to Atapuera! The greatest paleolithic sites in Europe are in these hills and I was straining to see where the digs were. I wasn't disappointed! Paleo scientists from all over the world are working this landscapes, which has yielded 90% of all human fossils discovered in Europe! Woohoo!
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| Standing stones mark a paleolithic village site. |
The town is tiny. Only two albergue and they were sure to fill up fast. A very handsome Japanese hiker jogged up beside me and that I was very fast and would beat everyone into town. I said no, that I just enjoy starting very early in the morning. But we were the first! We hiked to the top of the hill, over looking a broad wetland and could see the enclosed building in the distance that has been erected over the most important dig site. And there, in sight if the Atapuera digs was an albergue built into an barn ( circa 1650!) so of course we had to check-in!
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| La Hutte Barn Albergue |
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| By 1pm it was full! |
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