Camino : Villafranca Montes de Oca to Burgos

Today was a little chilly and windy. The Albergue was in a very old castle, and it was closed on multiple sides for the night. It took me a long while to walk around and find the way out to get on the Camino.

Once I was on the path, I was hit with a steep climb as I was getting my bearings for the day. Also, during the process of getting ready to head out, I heard pilgrims getting a little bit testy with each other because somebody's alarm went off waking others up, a slightly inauspicious way to get started for the day.

However, after walking for a few minutes, the wind either reduced, or I warmed up enough to find my stride.

It was pitch dark and continued to be windy often on. I checked instinctively for my hat and discovered that it was gone. I had just climbed a very steep hill and I wondered where the hat fell or maybe I forgot it at the hostel.

It was my favorite hat, the Tilley Airflow, my wide brimmed hat that I had used for a year, including in the Papua New Guinea rainforest hike, and really enjoyed having it. I was a little sad that I would not have it for the rest of the trip, but I decided to let it go.

I queued up YouTube and by random selection, this song/chant came up. It was quite interesting that I was listening to an ancient chant from India performed by what sounded like a British person in London while I was walking on a trail in Spain which was sacred for Catholics.

The performance of this chant was very engrossing, and the different instruments, the audience participation, the constantly increasing tempo of the performance was spellbinding to me and I listened to it twice in a row thereby completing my first two miles with ease. All this chant has for lyrics is about three sentences.

It was quite dark and the prior night's rainfall had created quite a few puddles.

The intermittent shining Camino markers were really helpful as the next town was over eight miles away, so I had to walk over two hours in the dark.

After a while, I could make out the silhouettes of trees and see the trail.

As the dawn progressed, I could see the beautiful wildflowers and the various tree types.

It was almost three hours since I started walking and I was nearing San Juan de Ortega, a welcome prospect of coffee was in the offing!

The main church, Iglesia de San Juan de Ortega was in the main square of the town.

After some coffee and pastries, I was off again and enjoyed the path that passed through a dense forest.

I was approaching Agés by 9:30AM, having completed 15km of 38km.

The town had a sign showing I was 518km from the overall destination, which seemed daunting but the fact that I had already covered over 250km was gratifying.

Soon I was at Atapuerca, the next town, which had many archeological excavations and there was a Stonehenge like structure with huge rocks in a circular configuration.

A few minutes of walk near Atapuerca, a bicyclist pilgrim stopped by and asked me if I had lost my hat. A British pilgrim had discovered my hat and given it to him to bring it to me. I was so happy to see the hat again!

I celebrated the reunion with my hat with an additional coffee at the nearby Cantina.

I experienced that the pilgrims generally treat each other with respect, and also the locals treat pilgrims with a sense of awe. As I walked into this Cantina, the locals having coffee there greeted me and one of them was having a wine. I asked him what it was, and he said it was sweet Moscato. I proceeded to have a coffee and a Moscato together. Indeed, it was a very good dessert wine, and along with the coffee, it cost only €2.30, quite a bargain.

There were four ladies sitting next to me and they all were from Ireland. They were walking part of the Camino just for a week from Los Arcos. Another couple sitting nearby was from Sweden.

In all the days of my traveling, and in general for all my travels, when I tell people I am from San Francisco, their eyes light up and their faces break into a broad smile, and everybody speaks very fondly about San Francisco. That is always a great way to start a conversation.

As I walked by, I had lost my way and somehow ended up in a military area. When I saw the sign in Spanish prohibiting entry, I retraced my path back to the real Camino.

Coming up to the next hill with a cross atop, I knew that my time in the idyllic surroundings was soon coming to an end.

I was at Cardenuela Rio Pico and soon I would be at the industrial part of the town of Burgos.

Burgos is a pretty long town, starting from the eastern part which has the Burgos airport, it is a long 8 mile walk to the city center.

The walk crosses the highway a few times and the trusted yellow arrow always guides the peregrinos, i.e. pilgrims.

I walked past the Bridgestone factory, the one that produces 10 million tires annually.

Soon I was entering Burgos and was very tired but I still had a few more miles to cover.

A side of a building had the big sign for Camino Santiago which covered the entire side of the building.

I walked by the 14th century church of Santa Maria la Real y Antigua. It had a very beautiful front door.

The next church of note I passed by was the Parroquia San Lesmes Abad.

At long last, with aching feet, knees, shins, calves and back, I was finally at the gates of ancient Burgos where the huge sculptures of gigantones y gigantillos were displayed.

Inside the city walls, there were more murals I passed by before reaching the municipal Alburgue.

The Albergue was modern in an ancient looking multi story building and charged only 10 euros.

The Albergue was right opposite the Catedral de Burgos, the UNESCO World Heritage site.

The thirteenth century towers atop the main edifice were simply breathtakingly beautiful.

Burgos was one of the big cities in Spain with over 350k population and the square had many restaurants.

After having walked 38km, I was tired and took a shower and nap. I had a fun thing lined up for later in the night, dinner at Cobo Tradicion, a Michelin rated restaurant.

I walked 15 minutes to get to the restaurant and arrived at a beautifully decorated modern restaurant which served a set chef's menu. It was delightful in food and service, a perfect end to a grueling day of walking.