This is another 15 mile day which is about our daily average and there are more rolling hills which keeps it interesting. We leave before sunrise using our headlamps. It is quite cool at 52 degrees but with the exertion and humidity we get sweaty quite quickly.
Another large rocky prominence shows the remains of an ancient hermitage. At the edge of another town, you can see the reflection of our headlamp on the rock.No street lights to guide us out of town.So many of these towns have these old Roman arched bridges. Makes us wonder why these bridges are still in use when our modern bridges in the US are crumbling and falling.A continuation of the street art of Belorado.The bigger dog is Oscar who is walking the Camino with his human.Another little town and another little church.Still a long way to go.A lot of forest tracks which makes for very nice walking.It was nice until this, a steep downhill and then up the other side. The cyclist had carry their bikes up this route.The hills are getting hard for Jim again.Sandy waited nervously for 25 minutes for him to reach her and several pilgrims reassured her he was ok. It is amazing how Pilgrims get to know each other watch out for them. This reminds us of last years Camino del Norte, so much mud and puddles to navigate through.The last unending miles to our destination were like this, looks like an old logging road.But then we came onto this Camino Amigo who was giving away watermelon and bananas. He also had a radio playing and sang and danced to the song ” I Can’t Get No Satisfaction” and for us.He also carves and paints.The first strip of Jim’s underwear going up.Whoops, a typo.And on and on.Finally, the end of the road where we had a cold beer, pizza and a salad with Baxter and other friends.The church in San Juan de Ortega.
San Juan de Ortega has a population of around 20 people so there are not many choices of where to eat or sleep. Jim had two meals here and Sandy just had the above mentioned pizza, salad and beer.
Leaving this tiny town at 07:10, starting our watches and putting on headlights.
Video of headlamp use.Sweet little town of Arionzón.Our breakfast at the hotel consisted of a sack which we left behind so we stopped at 08:00 for coffee, fresh squeezed orange juice and a nice dense carrot cake.Stonehenge????Sandy’s animal pix.Only one big mountain today, more like a molehill but it had rough terrain.The downhill trek.We could see Burgos about 6 miles off in the distance. Notice that the hay fields have all been harvested.Massive stacks of hay with huge bales. Too large for one person to lift.alone.Another church.We crossed this highway and then had to walk along the Burgos airport for miles. Too boring for any pictures.Finally getting into the outskirts of the city.A lot of these pilgrim sculptures all painted and decorated differently. Baxter walked with us most of this day. He was a Southern Baptist Minister with a lot of interesting stories.We finally arrived near the city center at this riverside park.Jim had the great idea that we sit down under those umbrellas and have a beer and a bite.Our first view of the Burgos Cathedral, very impressive from the outside. More on the Cathedral in the next blog.A very interesting but somewhat grotesque sculpture of a pilgrim.Our fancy modern hotel in Burgos. We rate the hotels as to whether they have a bathtub, minibar and blow dryer. The blow dryer is to dry wet clothes as the weather gets worse.
At this point we have walked about 142 miles in 9 days of walking with one rest day. We still have around 310 miles to go. We have also gained 11,900 feet of altitude. We are taking a rest day in this large city of Burgos.
I actually know what you are saying sin Google translate. And, si somos.
This has been a very emotional journey for Jim as he experienced it with Emily and now with Sandy. They both had such significant but very different experiences.
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