Leaving Santo Domingo de la Calzada we were still wearing our warm clothes. Four days later when arriving in Burgos, we were in shorts and t-shirts. Judging from the weather forecast I think we can safely pack away our warm clothes from here on out. We have a suitcase that moves along with us which we see every week or so, making it easier to resupply and select clothing.
Here is the map which we keep updated with where we are.
Santo Domingo de la Calzada to Villamayor del Rio
A beautiful walk through rolling hills and grain fields. I think the vineyards are behind us for now.
The pension we stayed in was off of the Camino by half a mile or so (Quintanilla del Monte en Rioja). Walking off the Camino any significant distance at the end of the day seems endless…
This was a family house with the family downstairs and 4-5 guest rooms above. The family was super friendly and accommodating. The price for dinner was high (24 Euros for dinner?), perhaps because the food was so good, or perhaps because pilgrims are a captive audience (and didn’t want to walk the extra mile round trip to the little town nearby). We chose to just have a couple sandwiches (cheese and tomato — we are tired of Spanish jamón) and then sit by the fire (perhaps the last fire of the trip?)
We met an older Irishman who was biking the Camino with a group of younger Spanish bikers. He had come in by way of the road (rather than the trails) an hour ahead of the others. He had had an accident just a few weeks ago at home where he had potentially cracked a bone in his hip, but had chosen to make this ride anyway.
We have met a number of people that have had a major life event shortly before starting the Camino.
Villamayor del Rio to Villafranca Montes de Oca
This was our first day in shorts and short sleeves. Our fellow pilgrims from Asia continue to be covered from head to toe, often with face coverings and some with umbrellas. Beauty standards differ throughout the world.
It was another beautiful day. The weather typically comes from the west or northwest, so we are often walking into the direction of the breeze or sometimes a strong headwind. We talked with a young man from Holland on the way into Villafranca who was walking the Camino at a much faster daily rate than us, like 20 miles a day. We are constantly amazed at the English fluency of many Europeans.
Our accommodation had a nice hotel on one end, and a dormitory style albergue on the other end. We were in the hotel end with a nice view of the neighboring hillside, and got a good night’s rest.
We tried to find someplace to eat for a late lunch, but nothing in the bars looked appetizing, and we didn’t want to wait or have a big pilgrim meal at 7 pm, so we just ate our snacks (bread, cheese, apples, and nuts) for dinner. The timing of meals, and the lack of variety at meals is something that requires some patience and some planning.
Villafranca Montes de Oca to Agés
So far, we have been either starting our walking at 9:00 am, which is late for most pilgrims. However most pilgrims are walking further each day and want an earlier start. By staying in private rooms and walking shorter days, our days start more leisurely. Also, it’s been cold, so we have wanted to walk mid-day when it’s warmer. That is about to change.
Today we had a modest climb out of Villafranca, through a forest. This will be some of the last forest walking for awhile as we approach the Meseta of Spain, on the far side of Burgos. The Meseta is relatively flat and mostly grain fields for about 200 kilometers.
We stopped at a bar to split a smoothie and talked with young man from Brisbane Australia who had quit his job and decided to walk to Camino to think and figure out what to do next.
There are no fixed services through much of this hike, so there is a food truck with an exuberant host who greets everyone in their native language, including Korean. The watermelon was a welcome treat.
Agés is a small village with few food options. The one highly recommended place was not open on Wednesdays, so we ate at one of the two not-so-well rated bars. This place was run by an older couple, where the grumpy husband served while the grumpy wife cooked. The food was not bad, but I was a little put off by being charged two Euros for tap water. Oh well, they are trying to make a living. But the other place in town had even worse ratings due to even grumpier owners…
Agés to Burgos
We combined two short stages into one longer stage so we could spend three nights, two days in Burgos. This was a long day for us, about 14 miles, and the hottest day so far.
We walked through the little town of Atapuercas, which is famous for the nearby active archaeological site which continues to produce important artifacts related to the origins of hominids. In 1992, they discovered pre-Neanderthal remains. There is a museum on this subject in Burgos that we will visit during our rest day.
We walked over a rocky hill and down through a little village that included a stone picnic table at a rest stop. Later we took an alternative path skirting the Burgos airport and bypassing the industrial outskirts of the city, and ate lunch in a bar where they made unexpectedly large and state bocadillos (sandwiches) of tomatoes and cheese.
Along the way we met another pilgrim who a year ago had a heart valve replacement surgery. In recovery she felt called to walk a Camino, even though she had never heard of the Camino. She was feeling that she might miss the turnoff for the alternative route, so we walked with her until we made the turn.
We then had about 4 miles of walking along the river, through wild lands and parks to arrive in Burgos. We stopped along the way to cool our feet in the water. The water was so cold it numbed our feet and made the last few miles more comfortable. The cottonwood trees were losing their fluff, with stuck to our sweaty faces and felt like we were walking through cobwebs.
During the latter half of the day’s walk, we were inundated with “popular fluff”, the seed dispersal process for female popular trees. At times it looked like it was snowing. It collected on the grass at the edges of the path. At times large dust bunnies rolled along, driven by the breeze. We also inhaled a bit of it, and it stuck to our sweaty faces. Not fun.
Burgos
We spent three nights and two full day in Burgos. The Cathedral is massive. The tour was overwhelming with baroque art and architecture. There is so much there that a likely Leonardo da Vinci collaboration painting doesn’t even get a mention on the audio tour. These photos just can’t capture the size, scale, and detail of what we saw. Come see for yourself if you can. Here are some attempts to show the scale from the outside.
and some selected photos from the tour:
The city lies alongside the river Arlanzón, and there are parks alongside the river. Combined with the Cathedral, the old section of town and the castle ruins on the hill above, it is a beautiful city.
Burgos is also the home of a museum of the Evolution of Man. This includes items found in the nearby archaeological site of Atapuerca. Here are a few items from the museum. Theses excellent specimens are about 400,000 years old, and the model is the estimate of what a Neanderthal man looked like. The stone tool is one of the premier finds at the site.
We are about 1/3rd of the way to Santiago de Compostela. Next up, about 11 more days of walking until we meet our suitcase (and the computer) in León!
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