After Burgos

We haven’t had a chance to post the last few days, so I’ll try to catch up now. After leaving Burgos we had a short walk to Rabe de las Calzadas, which was a good way to get our legs Camino ready again. However, the main reason for our stay here was that we had difficulty booking lodging within our desired walking distance of about 10 to 13 miles per day. We are also having trouble booking out past today on the way to Leon. We’ll probably have to walk either longer or shorter days. That’s not ideal.

Even though some of the smaller towns we have lodged in don’t offer much in the way of a variety of restaurants or bars or stores, each one is chock full of medieval walls and churches, public plazas and fountains and narrow crooked streets that add tons of charm.

• 

• 

We are making slow but steady progress across Spain. We have traveled more than 200 miles of our journey so far, close to the halfway point which is Leon. As I mentioned, we are now on the high plateau called the Meseta. Much of the terrain is golden fields that have recently been harvested, the smell of freshly turned soil in the air. The gravel paths are mostly treeless and sometimes windswept, lined by irrigation ditches, with red and purple berries, tiny bright wild flowers and thick thorny bushes reaching up from the moist earth.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Last night we stayed in the ancient pilgrim city of Castrojeriz which climbs from the road up the side of a rocky hill. High above the village are the ruins of a 9th century castle, with spectacular views of the surrounding countryside. The climb to the castle is on a steep, single track dirt path, but the effort is worth it!

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Upon leaving Castrojeriz early this morning, we immediately climbed nearly 500 feet in a very short time. The ascent was strenuous, but again the view from the top was rewarding. It was a crisp 41 degrees when we left the city in the morning but I had to shed my long sleeve shirt by the time I reached the top! The days hike was long, the scenery rarely changing. It gave us plenty of time to think and reflect. Some graffiti on one of the roads signs read ”Be here, now”.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

This was one of our longest hiking days. My Garmin Solar Instinct sums it up well: