We have to leave Burgos. Cool town. But, the route calls.
Today is a “short” day. Just 13.7 miles. And it is almost all flat, at least the first 5ish miles. Then a slight uphill for a couple miles with a steep downhill into Hornillos.
We were ready to go at 7:00am, a little later than usual, but . . .
It was really cold this morning. 37°. In Spain? In mid May? We dropped Sally and Becky’s pack at the restaurant, then worked our way out of Burgos and into a freeway interchange before finally getting to the open fields.
We met two retired ladies from Australia, Carol and Chris and walked and chatted with them for a while.
It warmed up quickly and was soon in the mid 60’s, the high for the day. Fleeces and puffy came off. Even the wind wasn’t cold.
We stopped in Tardejos for a coke and Totillas de Patata. Tom, Nicki and Lori caught up with us. We left the cafe before they did. Just across the highway plus a block we saw people coming out of a bakery with round loaves of bread. I had to have one. I popped in and bought one, plus a chocolate dipped pastry that was out of the world (OTW). The round loaf was delicious and I tore chuncks off as I walked along, stuffing them into my mouth. I had half the loaf eaten and knew I would consume the second half if I didn’t put it in my pack. I was about to stop when Tom, Nicki and Lori caught up. They graciously consumed the other half, saving me from certain self destruction.
Before we left town there was a small chapel on the left side of the trail. Since I had not gotten my credential stamped in Burgos we stopped in to get a stamp. A kind elderly woman (probably as old as, like, God forbid! 69) was blessing us pilgrims and hanging a plastic golden image of the Virgin Mary around our necks. It was a kind and heartfelt jesters.
The route continued at a slight uphill slant for the next three miles until we reached the point at which the road we were following dropped steeply into the valley that contains Hornillos del Camino, our objective for the night.
We dropped into Hornillas after taking photos from the top of the descent with Jay and Lori.
Becky was already in town and at the albergue before we started our descent off the hill. We found the albergue, about the fifth door on the left after entering town.
The poor woman running the place was moving at top speed to handle people eating and drinking in her bar and leading people to their rooms. She said it was Sunday, her day off so she wasn’t cooking any food, but she was serving packaged or pre-made food. It did not look like a day off.
She lead us up to our room. Becky was in bed resting. I laid down and instantly fell asleep for 45 minutes. I didn’t feel that tired, but must have been. I showered after my nap, then stepped to the outside back patio to sit in the sun and write my blog. I only made it about 5 minutes before Tom the retired Chicago cop and Lucky Luke of Germany came over to chat. That ended my writing session, but it was fun to chat with them.
I retreated to our room to write some more, then moved downstairs to cook the broccoli and cauliflower we had shipped in Sally’s pack. Becky and Sally walked to the store for a few supplies and we had dinner.
The rest of the evening was rest, writing and to sleep by 9:15pm. Good day!
Burgos in the morning on our way out.
Statues pepper the route, all tributes to the Perigrino
Us o. The Camino in 2019
Picture in same place - 2023. 4 years really show.
Found a fabulous round load of bread in the first town. I ate half of it and would have eaten it all and made myself sick, but Tom, Nicki and Lori arrived and ate the other half and saved me from myself.
Nicki, Lori, me, Sally and Tom checking out the route ahead
Stop in a small chapel to get my credential stamped. Kind woman blessed each of us and gave us a small necklace.
At the edge of the steep drop off into Hornillos. Town is visible in the background.
Lots of religious symbolism along the route.
Down to Hornillos
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