San Juan de Ortega - 29 may

La Henera

Kathy left quite early and I stayed in the room until about 9am.   I went downstairs for a hot drink but the Cola Cao was tepid - not enjoyable. I booked a taxi for 11am and sat in the cafe updating this blog.
The Caminofacil taxi collected me on time, together with bags and packs to be taken to places along the way.  I arranged with the driver to pick me up at 8am and take me to the hospital in Burgos.
We arrived in San Juan at about 11.45, too early to check in so I sat in the bar, out of the wind and chatted to the young man behind the bar. The table I sat at faced the door and many pilgrims asked me for a stamp in their credenciales,  or to use the toilet!
I decided to wait for Kathy before checking in and when she arrived we went behind the old church tonthe beautiful new La Henera 'hotel'.  It has 10 double rooms (one for disbled people) and is fully accessible.
There is nothing at San Juan and once you have visited the church there is nothing to do but sit outside the bar and chat to pilgrims, a nice way to relax. There is a population of 20 people here and it seems that when an old house starts to fall down, you stake it up and build anew one next to it!

Dinner is served in the tiny bar in sittings so we got there early and sat with 2 German pilgrims. Dinner is 'platos combinados' and there are photos of the 3 plates of food on the back of the menu, no changes or substitution allowed.
After dinner we went back to  our room where the heating had warmed the room and bathroom. Mass is only held three nights a week so we had an early night.