We knew it was going to be a warm day, so we set off early, leaving a 7:15am, with just enough dawn light to walk with. I decided to walk with sandels rather than boots, to see it it helped my foot problems.
It was cold walking, but after about 5 km we found a bakery for breakfast and cafe americano (coffee) at Atapuerca. We fired up the laptop connected to our wireless broadband and booked a hotel for Burgos for 2 nights, hoping that a days rest might cure my foot problems. Off we went for a climb over another 1050 metre hill (we had started at 900 metres), for a great view of Burgos in the distance. We stopped for lunch in Orbaneja eating our Bagette that we had bought that morning (finding out that it was yesterdays bake), having it with Pate (Judy) and leche condensa (condensed milk) for me.
We then entered the suburbs of Burgos, for what was a hot, long exhausting walk through the industrial areas of Burgos. We eventually got closer to the city centre to find a bike race about to start in Burgos. The Vuelta Ciclista a Burgos, the roads were closed off, and we almost got caught within the track.
At 5:30pm we finally made it to our hotel – after starting at 7:15am. A nice sleep in tomorrow and rest day.
Greg booking a hotel room on the netbook in a park
Burgos in the distance
Good to hear from you, have a nice rest.
I watched the bike race today and looked out for you both !!! I remember the approach into Burgos being extremely tough. We got to the stage where we would stagger from street bench to street bench and collapse, rest 10 minutes and stagger to the next bench. We stayed at the first hotel we came too (I think it was called The American – statue of El Cid nearby)
Look out for a refugio in Ruitelan, run by 2 gay guys, includes an excellent dinner and breakfast in the tariff.
Buen Camino
Barbara, if ever there was a section of the Camino that justified taking a bus, it’s that looong stretch into Burgos. It was certainly a test of strength and many virtues. We were quite relieved that a section of the road was closed off to traffic for the bike race, otherwise it probably would have been worse as we were walking through it at around 5pm on a Friday afternoon.
interesting
interesting …you are a couple of fit buggers that’s for sure! good luck with the rest of your walk.
Hi there Julie and Jason, you’re right, we are fit. Although we have a few big climbs to do in a few days which might test us a bit. We met a Swiss couple on the second day of our trip and they had already walked 1200km from their home in Switzerland! The wife just shrugged and said ‘We are very fit now’. No kidding! Love to you both and Owen, Judy & Peter.