Dave's Travel Blog

Yesterday’s stay in Hornillos was nice and we had a great time at dinner with some of the friends we have made, but the sleeping situation with 12 people in a room was not great. Not as bad as the aubergue we stayed in when we first started, but there was no air circulation at all.

I have not been 100% the last few days…coughing and mild flu symptoms. This morning, though, it took me a while to get going. Having to walk 10 kilometers before we could find a place with food didn’t help.

Then we hit a stretch of mud from yesterday’s rain storms and it sucked more of the life out of me. Thankfully, the last part of the hike into the town of Castrojeriz was spectacularly beautiful with wildflowers everywhere. The place we are staying is also top notch with a quiet room for three.

Some pics from today:

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The photo above reminds me of the Wizard of Oz…follow the yellow brick road. This is the day we enter the Spanish Meseta. We left Burgos around 7:30 am after having a fairly decent hotel breakfast. Sine Burgos is so big, it took us almost an hour of walking before we left the city.

Today was a nice walk with great scenery as we entered the Maseta, a high Spanish plain that we will be walking across for the next week as we make our way toward Leon. will will be staying two days in Leon and it will be the first time we use one of our two planned rest days.

Today’s walk was relatively easy except for the beginning and end. Right knee pain to start and to end. The entrance into the town we are staying in tonight, Hornillos de Camino, included a very steep decent about two kilometers from the town. My right knee was screaming. On flat ground and hills, I am perfectly fine. We were able to find accommodations easily at the Meeting House. We are usually ahead of the walking pack and it makes finding a place easier.

We got a loaf of bread today from a tiny bakery in a tiny town along the way.  The whole purchase reminded me of the “Soup Nazi” episode from Seinfeld.  The lady proprietor was very strict with the entire process, including the way she wanted to be paid.  She did not want to be handed the money directly.  The money had to be placed in a small wicker tray or “no bread for you!”

We have a hotel reservation for tomorrow, so there is no rush to get to our next destination  

Some pics from today:

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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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