Dave's Travel Blog

Burgos Cathedral

We have been in Spain for three weeks, the last two walking the Camino de Santiago. This is a nearly 500 mile walk across northern Spain. We are walking the French route (Camino Frances), which starts in St. Jean Pied de Port, France and ends in Santiago de Compostela in far northwestern Spain.

We have completed 12 days and nearly 200 miles of walking. We are reasonably confident that we will make it to the end, but much uncertainty lies ahead in the next three weeks. My feet are a wreck with blisters and callouses, but I patch them nightly and keep going.

Today’s walk started in Ages, Spain and ended in Burgos, one of the larger cities on the Camino. The day started with an unexpected climb over a rough and rocky path, with the remaining 70% of the walk over major roads. Certainly one of the less interesting days so far.

Still, we found a great hamburger place next to the Burgos Cathedral and then we toured the Cathedral afterwards. It was one of the best cathedrals I’ve ever visited and most of the pics from the gallery below are from there.

Tomorrow’s walk is to Hornillos de Camino…about a 13 mile walk. It’s a fairly small town with few accommodations that you can book online. We are hoping we won’t be sleeping outside tomorrow.

Tomorrow also starts our walk across the Maseta part of Spain. This is a huge central plain that most Camino walkers skip because it is desolate. It’s a 5 or 6 day walk across the Maseta to get to Leon, where we will have our first rest day since we started.

Some pics from today:

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I’ve been trying to update the blog after each day, but sometimes that is difficult. The last two days we are getting acclimated to the fact rhythm of the Camino. Yesterday’s walk from Santo Domingo to Belorado was not very memorable as the scenery was not nearly as nice as the Rioja region. We are now in the Castillo y Leon region which has nice areas, but I don’t recall seeing any vineyards. In fact, most of yesterday’s walk was near a major highway and it was the first time I used my AirPods to drown out the traffic sound.

Belorado was an Ok town and we had lots of beer, wine and tapas at our hotel and at a nearby restaurant. We had an early night, however, because we did not have an accommodation reservation for the next day. We needed to get up early and take our chances that we would find something and we realized it meant that we would have to walk 30 kilometers or more.

We started our walk from Belorado to San Juan around 6:30 AM. Today we stopped at several small food places along the way and I ate at all of them. It turned out that today’s walk was the best I felt since we started. I had the Holy Spirit pushing me up a relatively hilly walk the entire way. I think I could have walked 40 km today. We blew by San Juan de Ortega and arrived in the town of Ages where we were able to find some beds at the Fages Albergue. We walked close to 30km today. We are sharing a room with two sisters from Boston…Ann and Kate and a somewhat reclusive young guy. Drinking some beers and waiting for dinner at 7. On to the fairly large town of Burgos tomorrow. Things are looking good.

Some pics from the last two days:

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Today we weren’t sure what to expect given the 18 miles of walking we did yesterday and with my brother sick last night and me dealing with several blister issues.

Thankfully, my brother woke up feeling better and I was able to Compeed patch four trouble areas on my feet. The walk from Nájera to Santo Domingo de le Calzada was a fairly steady, but not too steep climb for the first 60% of the 13 mile hike. We stopped in Azofra and had a coffee and croissant then again at the Rioja Alta Golf Club for a light lunch. The town was a little strange as it looked like a failed attempt at a housing community. Seemed to be abandoned apartment buildings all over the place and not one person in sight. Almost out of an episode of the Last of Us.

The majority of the walk past by Rioja wineries and Spain wine country is amazingly scenic. Some of the wide open spaces we saw today were jaw dropping. Pictures can’t properly capture the moment. The visit to the Santo Domingo cathedral was a town highlight. Some pics in the gallery below.

Lastly, we had dinner at a Michelin restaurant tonight, Restaurante Los Caballeros. I would say that it was good, but not great…especially for the cost. Some pics from today:

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Leaving Logrono, Spain

After spending a relatively easy two days walking a little over 20 kilometers each day, we were a little nervous about today’s walk…an almost 30 kilometer walk from Logrono to Najera.  The walk started poorly as Ruth left her AirPods at the hotel and I left my walking sticks at a local coffee shop.  Thankfully, we were both a few hundred yards away from each location when we realized what we had done. 

The day didn’t get any better as my brother woke up sick and managed to walk the entire 18+ miles…even faster than me. He just wanted to get it over. My feet and blisters hurt so bad at times that it was mentally draining. Ruth didn’t seem to have a problem at all.

About 50 minutes before we approached Navarette, a Spanish guy, Alex, approached me and asked me if he could walk with me so that he could practice English. He walked the entire way to Navarette with me…and gave me the history of the Camino. At least it helped pass the time and took my mind off my feet.

We checked into our hostel, had a few beers and I went right back out walking, like an idiot, to visit the Santa Maria la Real monastery. Then went right back out to go to a pharmacy for blister bandages and neosporin.

Tomorrow’s walk is only a little over 20 kilometers. I’m hoping for a better day. My brother may need to bus or cab it to the next town.

The walk itself had some periods of nice scenery, but not the best day on the Camino. Some pics:

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We departed Torres del Rio around 7:30 this morning and arrived in Lorgrono around noon…a 13 mile walk. We had a great stay in Torres del Rio and the dip in the 60 degree pool helped with my aches and pains.

The walk today was fairly easy with 60 degree temps with small areas of slight rain. We stopped in Viana and had coffee and some snacks and visited a local church.

We left the Spanish Navarre region and entered the La Rioja region right before we walked into the city of Logroño. Logrono is the largest city we have been in since Pamplona. To celibrate, we walked to the street Calle del Laurel, where all the best tapas bars are located. We stopped at four of five tapas places and had about a 5 or 6 glasses of wine each. Most notable was the grilled mushroom and shrimp stacks at Bar Angel and a calamari sandwich at a place I can’t remember the name. Tapas in Spain is amazing and I can live on it for the rest of my life if I had to.

I took a walk in the early evening to find some ibuprofen and stumbled upon the church of Santa Maria la Redonda.  This is the church that was closed when we first arrived in town.  Unbeknownst to me, they have a small Michaelangelo oil painting behind the main altar.  I paid a euro to activate the light and took a photo which I included in the gallery below.  It would have been a disappointment if I missed this.  I also visited a much less ornate church on my way back to the hotel.  The incense in the church was amazing and someone was giving confession in Spanish which resonated all through the church.  I believe it was the San Bartolomé church.  Both within a 5 minute walk of the hotel.

Lots of walking in store for us tomorrow…18 miles. Need to get some rest and make sure we don’t go back out for more wine.

As usual, some pics from today:

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