Well, our night of doing the pilgrim bit in Belgorado was really pretty horrible. 5 euros per person got us bunk beds in a dorm with 16 others, at least 2 of whom snored. Unfortunately the bathrooms were dreadful – no toilet seats or toilet paper, shower doors didn’t close properly and the whole place looked like it needed some money spent on it and a darn good clean. I would have been happy paying a few more euros per person for a few more basics. The restaurant was good though. I had pork loin, which was like kassler, Greg had hake.
Today we walked our longest distance so far – 25km from Belorado to St Juan de Ortega, which has a population of 20, with one auberge attached to the church, with a bar/restaurant next door. We were a bit worried that we wouldn’t get a bed at the only auberge and as it turned out we scraped in by the skin of our teeth, and we’re sleeping on mattresses on the dining room floor, but that’s okay with us. Better than walking, or in Greg’s case limping, to the next town which is 4km away. I shouldn’t have mentioned how good his feet have been, ‘cos this morning his right foot started giving him trouble. I think it’s tendonitis, so have rubbed it with Voltaren gel, strapped it up with wide tape, and he’s taken Voltaren tablets and now we’re hoping for the best.
We walked through several villages this morning, then did a lot of climbing this afternoon, mostly through forest. We hit a high point of around 1170 metres, and St Juan de Ortega is situated at 950 metres. Tomorrow we are walking to Burgos, the big smoke. Population around 170,000.
A not so good bit of the Camino - walking along side the N-120
How are you going? Foot problems, bad luck, can you still make it?
St Juan de Ortega – I think that is the one with the old priest who makes the garlic soup. He may have died , he was old back in 2004. Hope Greg’s feet get better soon. We spent two nights in Burgos in a hotel room with a bath. Blissful.
Buen amino
Barbara, the priest at St Juan de Ortega died in 2008, but his tradition of serving bread and garlic soup continues. We went to mass, then shared the soup in the dining room, and while we were having dinner the hospitalleros moved the tables and chairs aside and put mattresses on the floor for us to sleep on. Love to you both – it’s thanks to you and Bryan that we’re having this wonderful experience, we hadn’t even heard of the Camino de Santiago before you told us about it. Judy
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