There were elements of today that reminded me of our first day on the PCT five years ago. We had about 13 miles to walk. It was supposed to be very hot. There is little to no shade. The remedy? Start early before the sun has a chance to roast you. The problem? The albergue we were in locked the doors until 6:00am. We would have liked to start at about 5:00am, but we were locked in until 6:00am.
We got up at 5:15am and very quietly stuffed our sleeping bags and packed our packs, trying not to disturb the 24 other people on our floor. We could hear the rustling sounds of others doing the same as us, and no matter how hard you try to be quiet, any sound at that time of the morning is a bother to those that are still trying to sleep.
We walked down to the lobby at 5:50am, used the bathroom for a final time, then headed out the door into the dark at 6:05am. Once outside, we saw the source of much of the party noise that had infiltrated the albergue most of the night. Across the cobblestone street was a park. There were still about 30 young people there partying and raising a ruckus.
It was warm, even in the dark at 6:05am, about 60º. The high was predicted to reach 88º today, too hot for comfortable hiking. We turned right out the door and started up the street. Sally had read that getting out of Burgos can be a bit confusing as the route twists and turns through the old streets, and she was right. I was using Guthook’s trail guide on my iPhone to guide us. This reduced the route finding problem to zero. We found our way through the town, across the parks and out into the surrounding fields of sunflowers and grain crops without a hitch. The symbol for the Camino de Santiago is a sea shell and there are brass ones imbedded in the sidewalks, Iron ones molded into the wrought iron railings and stenciled paintings on building and signs. Yet, as I navigated through the twists and turns with my GPS we looked for these markers and rarely saw them. It might have been the dark that obscured them, or they just are not that prevalent. Whichever, we were soon walking gravel roads through farmland.
We were not alone, although we did not expect to be. We had 6 people in view in front of us and a dozen or so coming up from behind. Due to the threat of hot afternoon temperatures we moved steadily, only stopping two or three times to grab some water and get a nibble to eat. At times the trail wove between the freeway overpasses and on/off ramps. Other times we were on gravel farming roads. We moved about 2.5 miles an hour, looking over our shoulder to see the approaching dawn and the coming of the sun.
Just after sunrise a Spanish family of 7 caught up with us, mom, dad, daughter (Alba-age 16), two sons (one named Raul-age 12) and a cousin (age 18). All were excited to practice their English on us, so they slowed down and walked with us a couple hours. Alba had excellent English skills and we were able to talk with her. The cousin was 18 and entering university in the fall. His English was also quite good. Raul was just entering middle school. Their middle school math and history is English immersion, yet he was quite capable of communicating. Mom and Dad were about as good at English as Sally and I are at Spanish. The miles went by quickly as we stuttered and struggled to hold a conversation. Yet, it was all in good fun with a lot of laughter at the frustration of the inability to communicate even the simplest ideas.
Sally and I slowed as we began an uphill section and they soon moved ahead. They were stopping in the same town as us for the night, Hornillos. We had a little bit of a climb, just a couple hundred feet over a distance of a couple miles, followed by a quick drop down to Hornillos.
We stopped at the top of the drop to get a bite to eat. It was now nearing 11:00pm, the heat was starting, but with downhill all the way to the town we felt food was more important than speed, so we stopped for some raisin and nut bread we had purchased the day before and some cheese. While stopped the people that left Burgos after we did started catching up and we were soon surrounded by 20-25 people. I met Peter at this time, with his son Andrew and we enjoyed talking the 2 miles down into Hornillos.
We stopped at the first albergue in town. Here we found our family checking in. We took a private room for 45 euro rather than taking two beds at 10 euro each. We had covered 13 miles in 5 and a half hours and a quiet place to rest seemed important.
Our room had a private bath with shower. Sally lay down on the bed to rest and I hit the shower with my shirt and underwear on, washing clothes and body at the same time. Once out, I worked on this blog. Sally showered, then climbed into bed and slept until about 3:30pm-a much needed rest. While she slept I walked the length of the town (one street, about 1/4 mile long), bought a Diet Coke, and settled in the common room downstairs and met Sandy and Regina. These college roommates of years gone by are walking the Camino. Regina is retired, Sandy not yet. I enjoyed about an hour of comparing lives and adventures before waking Sally. We headed out for dinner about 4:15pm, first buying some eggs to hard boil for the morning, then walking up and down the main street (only street) of town. We settled on dinner at the first place, sharing a salad, fries and a steak. As we were waiting at the counter to order, Regina and Sandy walked in and joined us at our outside table. They had beers while we ate and another hour of the day passed too quickly. They headed up the street to a “Moroccan” place (there are only three places in town) while we headed back to the albergue.
Once inside we began boiling our eggs for tomorrow’s breakfast in the communal kitchen and sat in the communal living room when the father of the Spanish family came in and sat down. For the next 2 hours we again practiced our respective languages on each other, trying to get to know each other, trying to learn more of the others language and making plans for tomorrow. The rest of the family filtered in and we soon had a communal bilingual gab fest where Alba did a great job interpreting as both sides struggled to understand each other. They kept inviting us to eat dinner with them, but we had already eaten and tried to explain that to them, but eating dinner before eight o’clock is so far beyond their culture they could not understand. When the 18 year old cousin finally understood he exclaimed, “Good God!! Dinner at 5:30!!” Regina and Sandy had entered the room and conversation a few minutes earlier and we all roared with laughter. When we excused ourselves to get to bed early again came the startled cry, “Good God!! So early!!” It repeated once more when we told him we would be rising at 4:30 to beat the heat expected tomorrow (90°).
What a great start to the adventure. Great walking and scenery. Wonderful people enroute. Comfortable lodgings and good food.
On the trail with directional sign behind. They are everywhere along the route.
Chuck shows the starting point for us, Burgos. Sally points to the end, Santiago de Compostela.
Our albergue is the first building on the right
Hornillos is a one street town, one house deep on either side. Albergues and cafes are their only industry.
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