The Camino is a time for reflection. It’s a time for introspection, and for paying
attention to the small details that escape us when we’re focused on our hectic
daily routine. It’s also a time to develop
a sense of thankfulness for the “little blessings” in life. Today’s hike was an experience in all of the
above.
Paco, Karin, and I started our walk at 5:45 am. Europe is in the middle of a heat wave, and
the first task ahead of us was to climb 500 meters up a mountain and make our
way back down, to the village of San Juan de Ortega. We started in the dark with headlamps
lighting our way.
Thankfully, it was cool and misty with a low fog layer. We walked through pine forests, with mist
from the fog glistening through the headlamps.
As dawn appeared, we reach the Monumento de los Caídos,
a memorial that marks the shallow graves of 300 local citizens executed at the
start of the Spanish Civil War in 1936. This
monument was particularly moving for Paco, whose family supported the Spanish Republic when the Civil War broke out.
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| Paco at the Spanish Civil War Memorial |
We continued climbing for hours.
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| Karin and Paco on Mountain Path at Daybreak |
We reached the
village of San Juan de Ortega at 8:30 am, having walked over 14 kilometers in search of our morning
cup of coffee. As we’ve experienced
before, the town was not quite ready for pilgrims looking for coffee. Thankfully, one café was just opening and
enjoyed a quick refreshment before moving onward.
We took a longer rest break at the village of Atapuerca,
about 6 kilometers further along the road.
This town was named a Unesco World Heritage Site in 2000. The surrounding prehistoric caves are the
source of the earliest human remains found in Europe and date back over 1.2
million years.
At this point, we had to walk up another mountain, 200
meters this time, and the terrain was rocky and steep. Paco was very excited to make it to the cross
at the top.
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| Paco at Cruz de Matagrande |
We descended the mountain and were walking along chalky
white hilly roads. According to our guidebook, there were two alternate routes
to our next objective: the older Camino path, or a more recent path that was
slightly shorter and recommended by the author.
Caveat: the new path was not well marked. We chose what we thought was the new path.
The sun was bright and hot. There was no shade. Anywhere. We walked as we thought the guidebook
instructed, confirmed by the internet app our friend Karin had downloaded. We walked down the hill toward the town in the
distance, passing many Camino markers along the way.
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| View from the Mountain top |
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| Village in the Distance |
We turned right and continued a few kilometers along the
road toward the village. The sign at our
arrival caught us off-guard: we had walked to Villafria, 3.5 kilometers north
of our objective, and significantly east of where we had hoped to land. We were crushed.
It was 1:30 in the afternoon. The sun was relentless. The temperature in the sun was 91.4 and
humid. We stopped for a Coke in the café and came up with a new plan: we would
continue walking an additional 7.7 kilometers to Burgos. We were actually on an older, alternate Camino path
which was a little shorter than our preferred route. The remainder of the walk would be hot and
sunny, but we’d be at our destination a day earlier than originally planned.
And so we walked. In
the sun. Through the industrial
outskirts of Burgos. And we walked. And it got hotter. And we walked more.
And then we arrived!
It was 100.4 degrees in the square as we checked into our hotel around 4
pm. Having made it to Burgos in one day, we decided to stay for two nights and
enjoy the city for another day.
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| Burgos Cathedral behind small town square |
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| Burgos Gate at Night |
We walked 41.8 kilometers in one day. My fitbit said we walked 53,000 steps upon
arrival, 58,000 steps when we went to bed. We made it!
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