Day 13 Santo Domingo de la Calzada to Belorado (24 kms)
Asked for 7.30 breakfast but actually started at 7.20 which was a bonus. Genial owner comes to say goodbye and we get a kiss each from our hostess as we leave. Very cool morning…may have to get the fleeces out for early starts soon. Storks are very active here in the nesting season with nests on chimneys, church steeples, old stone wall parapets and anywhere a flat spot can be found.
As we make our way up the first hill, we are overtaken by a woman replicating the style of Cliff Young. She is on a mission!
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| Sunflowers |
Country side is mostly broad acre farming. Wheat harvest has finished and farmers are busy with the plough, sunflowers are still nodding their heads in waiting and the potato harvest is well underway. We get a cheery wave from a man on his John Deere tractor as we take a short cut across the field he is ploughing.
To the north we see a rugged mountain range, possibly limestone with white cliffs.
Most of today’s walking is on minor roads or tracks running adjacent to the main N120 highway which is undergoing extensive duplication and resurfacing work. Our first break is in Granon where some young people kindly give up their seats on a park bench to the elderly newcomers. Elevenses is in Castildelgado where we park on a bench outside a building…a man comes and unlocks the door and people come at regular intervals and leave after a while clutching small pieces of paper…we are probably outside the doctor’s surgery! Don’t know how he feels about having a billy boiled almost on his doorstep, but his patients are quite cheery as they pass by.
Sun warms us as the morning goes on and we shed out jumpers and later on have to get out the sunscreen. We pass through Viloria de Rioja, the village when Santo Domingo
We meet Yolanda who is Polish but lives in Norway Rio , but both are non-potable. In Villamayor del Rio , a lady has a little stall selling icecreams, drinks and a few snacks. We don’t see her until after we have had a drink break on another park bench, this time definitely outside a doctor’s surgery…it has a notice on the door. He is also closed for business and his doorstep escapes the billy ritual!
During the day we cross into the province of Castilla y Leon
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| Downhill to the doctor! |
The walking is pleasant but Belorado proves quite elusive as it is tucked away in a hollow and you are almost in the town before you see it. Hence the last 5 kms seem to go on forever. However we arrive just before , making it a reasonably easy day. A crumbling sandstone outcrop looks very much like a Spanish sphinx – who needs Egypt
Our accommodation is right before us as we come into the town proper – a charming young lady is our host and makes us most welcome. We get the choice of “one bed or two”…maybe there is an advantage in arriving early at these places! Have a beer and a coke before our ‘nanna nap’ and then shower and take a tour of the town. We get our Credentiales stamped at the Information Centre which is beautifully set up with photos of the district. The town square is really a circle around a bandstand and encircled by restaurants, cafes, bars, etc. We find the supermarket for a couple of things and then sit in Restaurante Bulezar (recommended by our host) with a coffee waiting for the restaurant to open at for dinner. Menu de Peregrinos is more than adequate for €8.50.
A cool walk home and bed, after John returns to pick up the shopping left in the restaurante.
Day 14 Belorado to San Juan de Ortega (25kms)
Another cool morning. Our hosts make a mean coffee and lots of ham and cheese on toasted baguettes…just what the doctor ordered for a hard walk! Senor compliments John on his Spanish language, so his feet don’t hit the ground for the first 2 kms!! Days are shortening and at , when we start walking, it is barely light. However there is no dawn as we know it – first it’s dark and then it’s light! Across a wooden footbridge and a slight climb away from Belorado, we follow a dirt track to the village of Tosantos
We find the panderia where we manage a couple of baguettes, and ultimately the supermarket, which is hardly ‘super’ but more a mini-mini-mart in a little room off to the side of…you guessed it…a Bar!! However, they have Powerade and enough bits for our lunch, including a container of what we hoped was mixed salad – turned out to be better than that…actually a mixed salad of tuna and veggies!
A steep climb takes us out of Villafranca (350m in 2.5-3kms) and we wend our way through the Montes de Oca, mainly oaks and pine plantations, in the shade and along a barely used country road, and we reach a picnic ground just before the top of the climb and take the opportunity to boil the billy and have a nice rest. Here we meet Chantelle, a truckie from Canada
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| San Juan de Ortega |
To the top of the climb, Alto de la Pedraja (1150m) after lunch where there is a memorial to those from the district who died in the Spanish Civil War in 1936. What is not mentioned in the cross-section on our map is the next descent/ascent, which is -100m/+100m, back to 1140m, a lovely surprise as you can imagine! The next 8kms into San Juan de Ortega is ever so slightly downhill and easy walking. In the early days, warnings of wolves and bandidos made this one of the more dangerous stretches of the Camino through more oaks and pines, however we complete the journey without incident and see the bell tower of the church peeking above the trees.
Our accommodation, Casa Rural, one of a chain of hotels set up by the tourism commission, is right on the trail but no-one is home, just a very confused French couple who speak absolutely no Spanish. At least we could understand that the note on the door says we must register at ‘Recepcion’ at the Bar in the village, the only commercial outfit in the village apart from our hotel and the Albergue de Peregrinos. We leave the French in charge of our bags and walk the 100m to the Bar. On arrival, we are told we need to phone ‘Manuel’, but when we say we have no phone, Manuel appears from somewhere out the back!! The hotel is apparently closed except for bedrooms – no breakfast or dinner as advertised. I go back to the French and “explain” what is happening. Manuel, John and the key to our room arrive. En route, John asks about dinner…”in the Bar at ”…and brekky – “ in the Bar, or a ‘picnic.’” Hmmm!! The French couple go to follow us into the building but are sent away to await their turn to go to the Bar and Manuel repeats the process…not exactly Fawlty Towers
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| Dinner in ¨The Bar¨ |
We have a drink at the Bar with Chantelle, Leonard, Jan and Amanda before heading to our room for a rest and a shower. Dinner is in the Bar ‘dining room’ – we order from the one copy of the menu which is thrown from table to table as Manuel, man of many talents, takes our orders. We duck as the tablecloth is flapped over our heads and lands on the table. We are sitting with the aforementioned French couple and attempt to swap tables so they can sit with other French, and we can sit with other English speakers. “No! No! No!” Manuel will not allow it!! Another lady comes in to join her friends and again, “No!” Regardless of language, we all have a good laugh at the ridiculosity of the situation but Manuel soldiers on undeterred! At the completion of our dinner, we have a plastic bag of goodies put in front of us by Manuel…”Desayunos”…Breakfast!! Contains an orange juice, water, muffin, pastry fingers and crackers.
We return to the hotel and decide to have a coffee from ‘Manuel’s’ coffee machine in the lounge area…€0.50 per cup. I put a €2 coin in the slot, push the button for one ‘café con leche,’ get the coffee and 4 €0.50 coins in change…Go Manuel!!!!
Day 15 San Juan de Ortega – Burgos
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| 800,000years ago |
We eat our picnic breakfast in our room, John boiled the billy for a cuppa, and we are able to set out at for what we assumed would be a long day…little did we know! Quite cold, with mist down over the nearby hills, we take the road leading away from the village into forest and then opening out across what we think is called a ‘shepherd’s gate’…we would call it a cattle grid. Here, on the meadow, we find the first cattle we have seen for many days. We walk with Chantelle and Leonard to Atapuerca where they stop for breakfast and we have a break on a park bench and our first snack of the day. There is an active archaeological dig around Atapuerca and we see evidence of this in some standing stones, with plaques, indicating they have been dated 800,000 years old. It is getting colder with a nippy little wind coming up so Elaine changes into her most attractive pink and purple striped thermal top for the first
time this trip.
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| Stone circles in the mist |
We descend to a minor road and find a spot out of the wind for another rest.
Chantelle has told us about a French group called ‘Friends of St James’ who assist walkers with disabilities complete sections of the Camino, some walking only 10kms a day, others walking complete sections. Each challenged walker has a companion. They have a van in which they transport those not walking and support those who are. Today we meet some of these walkers…a man wearing a reflective vest who tows his daypack on a luggage trolley which has small pram-type wheels…a lady who has had 2 knee and 1 shoulder replacements…another man, disability unknown, wearing reflective stripes on his clothing. We have not seen any wheelchairs, but some folk are pushed along the more accessible sections.
We follow the minor road through the next two villages before leaving the road route (which goes directly into Burgos
A shower does wonders for both the body and soul, and we take a stroll around the immediate area of the hotel and the Cathedral, enjoying the usual mayhem that is Spain
Day 16 Rest Day Burgos
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| Boys´ stuff! |
Back to the hotel for internet/diary/blog, which we can’t send until we get access to another computer. Both our boots are starting to be a bit sad – one of John’s has actually come apart at the heel…mine are not so bad but on the way. On the way to the mini-mart we find a sports shop with hiking shoes and boots, so we go in to see what they have and how much they are. End up buying a pair of shoes for me from a man who’s only English is ‘Goretex’ and ‘Vibram.’ We get on well, he reduces the shoes from €99.90 to €90.00 and wishes us ‘Happy holidays’ (we think) as we leave. Need to buy some lunch supplies because apparently there are no opportunities during the next 2 days.
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| Burgos Cathedral |
Elaine has Castellano soup (made from a vegetable of some sort, no idea what, in a tomato based stock with sprinkled cheese), the white wine is not something we will have again, but the water was fine!
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