We began our walk at 7:30 from La Fabrica wearing jackets in the 44F temperature air and passed through the town of Tardajos (originally a Roman city, Augustóbriga)
Entrance of the town of Tardajos.A typical street on camino through Tardajos.Storks perched in the tower of Iglesia fe Nuestra Señora de la Asunción of Rabé de las CalzadosThe walk from Tardajos to Rabé de las Calzados.La Fuente bar always offers generous portions of tostadas.Linda outside of La Fuente de RabéThe village square of Rabé de las CalzadisWall art work in progress in Rabé.Wall art as we left RabéThe path on the way to the meseta.Arriving at the meseta with Burgos and the mountains behind us in the distance.Our first look at the meseta in all directions ahead of us.After walking for about a mile, the flatness of the meseta seemed to go on forever…… but, only 60 paces later, our first village on the meseta appeared out of nowhere!Once seeing this warning sign and viewing the steep slope ahead, a group of pilgrims seemed to be getting up their courage to continue.Linda taking on “Mule Killer Hill”.These hardy male pilgrims saw Linda, “just a girl”, charge on, so they proceeded to follow her down the steep hill.The camino on its way toward Hornillos del Camino.
We arrived at Hornillos del Camino at 10:30 and stopped at a small grocery store. We were disappointed to see that the former owner, whom we had developed a friendship over the past 5 caminos had retired. We bought some yogurt to unite with our local honey purchased in Lorca and some nuts for a snack as we had done before, but we were saddened by the absence of our friend.
At 11:30, we walked a few steps to Meeting Place to check in, only to find that the innkeeper had failed to hold a room for us after confirming it in February on their website. All double rooms were booked and the alternatives she offered were not acceptable.
With the help of the innkeeper, we were able to find a double room with ensuite bathroom a few steps further into the village and were able to book it instead. The Meeting Place innkeeper contacted Correos for us to insure that our backpacks are picked up at the new place tomorrow morning instead of where they left them today at Meeting Point. Hopefully our backpacks will be delivered to our reserved room in Hontanas tomorrow after being picked up at the new place.
Realizing we were fortunate to find an alternative place to stay in this small village, helped us to look beyond the screw-up and make the best of the situation.
The new place had limited facilities for washing and drying clothes and no paella pilgrim dinner, a feature of staying at Meeting Point. So we put off the clothes related chores to the next stop and we had our main meal at a nearby restaurant which only offered a lunch menu, but both changes will suffice until we get back on plan, tomorrow.
Many, maybe most pilgrims don’t book ahead, so they have fewer expectations for places to stay and eat. Our pilgrim experience has evolved to a more structured and pre-planned one for the most part, so arriving at a location at the end of a walk without a plan would be normal for most pilgrims and potentially unsettling for us.
But after seven, going on eight caminos, we still firmly believe that the “Camino provides”.
We almost never have breakfast before walking on the Camino. It’s a habit we reached early on to get ahead of the sun. Leaving in the dark, before most breakfast servers were awake made breakfast a non-option. Later on, it seemed that walking on an empty stomach, extending our fast from our last food the day before was a more healthy idea, so we stayed with it.
Many of the places we stay have offered a take-out breakfast the night before, but we declined (even though it was frequently included with the room price), thinking our later breakfast stop would also serve as a nice break after a couple hours of walking in the dark or in daylight.
Our breakfast routine took a holiday this morning, as you can see! With a mandatory delayed start until 8:52 and a very nice breakfast buffet offering … how could we resist?
Today’s plan is to catch the 8:52 bus to Burgos, skipping a walk of 23 miles (3 days walking, for us) and end up in Tardajos, just on the other side of Burgos. It was drizzling when we left the hotel to walk the 200 yards to the bus stop.
Linda was prepared as we waited for the bus to Burgos.
The half-hour bus ride got us to the Burgos bus station at 9:30, where we searched for and quickly found a guy with a big “i” on the back of his jacket.
He helpfully informed us there was a bus to Tardajos at 1:15 p.m. He also told us to be there at 1:00. He said we couldn’t buy a ticket in advance… we would pay the driver when we boarded. To add “exceptionalness” to his level of help, he pointed to the bay where the bus would be waiting, pronounced the name of the bus company and confirmed the color of the bus for us. These two untested, bus traveling pilgrims became instantly charged with confidence in being able to execute the “bus to Tardajos” task!
We now had 3 hours to kill in one of our favorite cities. What to do? What to do?We began by walking a half-block to an ATM to augment our EURO cash stash, which went so well, we gave each other a high five.
Over the span of 8 caminos, we have gotten to Burgos by bus, by taxi and by walking around the airport and through an industrial area on the way into the city. We have never walked in via the alternate Camino path along the Rió Arlanzón river. So we decided to use some of our “waiting time” to see what it was like by walking from the Catedral along the river about a mile and a half, then returning along the same path, imagining what it would be like walking into Burgos this way.
Statue of Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar (“El Cid”) near the beginning of our river walk.The latter part of the river walk is on a side walk or a path closer to the river, both well shaded.More river walkReturning to the Cathedral along the river walk.Almost back to the Catedral, we encountered this obstacle. Jim walked across first then waited to assist Linda across. He lost his balance and splashed some water onto the concrete surface before Linda pulled him out of the “drink”. Well, maybe we made the splash part up, but couldn’t resist after we examined the photo before posting.The final steps after our out-and-back river walk test.
Conclusion: The next time we walk jnto Burgos we will definitely take the river path.
We still had 90 minutes of wait time when we returned to the Catedral area.
We walked and reminisced around some of the areas where we have stayed on previous caminos, stopped at a small bar for a ColaCao and restroom break, took some photos of the exterior of our favorite Catedral, made a short visit to Iglesia de San Nicólas de Bari (St. Nicolas aka. Santa Claus) and then worked our way back to the bus station where we waited the final few minutes for our bus.
A square we have spent lots of time in and around on previous visits.We stayed in an apartment and ate in several different restaurants on this street.Bartender pouring the frothed milk for our Cola Cao.Catedral of BurgosAnother look at the Burgos Catedral. Linda is also facing Meson El Cid, a hotel we have stayed in three times with this view from our room.The interior of Iglesia de San Nícolas de BariCloser look at the retablo of Iglesia de San Nícolas de BariLeaving Castillo Plaza on the way to the bus stationLeaving the Burgos bus station via Amaya bus company.
The 20 minute bus ride to Tardajos was uneventful. We checked in to La Fabrica, took our waiting backpacks to our room and returned to the hostal restaurant for a 3:00 main meal.
The food was ok and the ambience was not the same as our previous visit on our first camino in 2014. We returned to our room, followed our normal routine and looked forward to our walk tomorrow and another day on the Camino Frances.
It was another cool, overcast morning as we left our hostal and walked through the streets of Belorado and into the surrounding farmland.
Walking by wall murals, a common sight throughout Belorado depicting, history, social issues and just about anything you can imagine… At the edge of town, we walked by a nice park and over an ancient bridge, still in use by cars and heavy trucks over the Río Trion.The camino initially paralleled a busy secondary road toward Burgos.The path gradually moved away from the highway into the alternating fields of nearly harvestable grains and recently planted sunflowers.The conditions were perfect for walking especially for octogenarian muscles and joints.
We stopped at a small bar in Tosantos for breakfast and began chatting with a young lady with a UNC cap. Her name was Ansley from Charlotte, NC. She was a graduate of UNC and was a teacher in Denver, CO.
The more we chatted, we learned that our granddaughter, Katelyn, who walked along this part of the camino last May and had recently moved to Denver, lives only a short distance from Ansley. We shared further information with Ansley who planned to contact Katelyn upon returning to Denver. Both Ansley and Katelyn enjoy the many hiking trails around Denver.
It’s a small world, especially on the Camino. We posed for a photo with Ansley before continuing with today’s walk.Shortly after Tosantos (pop. 53) we observed the Ermita Virgin de la Peña, built into the caves visable from the camino path. An 8th century statue of the child Jesus was hidden in this cave under a bell to protect it from invading Muslims.Another view of the expansive fields of alternating grains and sunflowers.This recently plowed and planted field will be filled with bright yellow sunflowers in August.Looking back at the scenery after walking through Espinosa del Camino (pop.36) and up the hill toward Villafranca…Our first look at Villafranca Montes de Oca as we begin our descent into the valley.What goes up must come down applies frequently on the Camino.Once in the valley we left the nice wide path to a narrow path through the weeds.The busy road into Villafranca runs very closely to us on Linda’s left.Coming out of the weeds/fields but staying clear of the traffic.Nearly sharing the road with some huge, fast moving trucks and other vehicles.After easing carefully along the narrow passage between vehicles and buildings in Villafranca Montes de Oca (pop. 147), we begin the walk past the church up to our hotel, San Antón Abad.The final climb to the entrance of San Antón Abad
As we approached the reception desk, a familiar receptionist greeted us with a big smile, welcoming us back, this being our 7th visit.
We quickly checked in, were escorted to our room and settled in for a brief rest followed by our daily routine.
Chicken for Linda, Cod for Jim,
We took a break at 2:30 to have our main meal in the hotel dining room, then finished our chores and prepared for tomorrow.
At the end of our walk to Cirueña, yesterday, Jim began to feel some pain in his achilles tendon. Then later on last night he continued to have some pain.
Thanks to a house-call made by Linda, our staff unlicensed medical practitioner, some KT tape and a 2 minute YouTube instructional video, a camino miracle was performed, allowing Jim to walk today without any pain in the achilles tendon region. Hopefully, by the time the bandage falls off due to wear and showers, the camino healing powers will have completed the miracle.
Leaving the paved road out of Cirueña and rejoining the camino dirt path.
The walk to Santo Domingo de la Calzada is almost a perfectly straight line through the grain fields. We have often walked all or most of it in the dark to avoid the late morning heat, but getting lost was not a problem, because the path was the only place to walk. In this morning’s cool 52F air, we left at 7:00 with full light and overcast skies. Perfect for walking.
Usually when walking on the weekend, hunters and their dogs can be seen off in the fields and an occasional shotgun blast can be heard in the distance.
Today, the only activity we observed were a couple of hot-air balloons that appeared briefly, in and among the low hanging clouds.
We had some company during our walk.Looking back at Cirueña …… then looking ahead toward Santo Domingo de la Calzada. Hot-air balloon barely visible in upper left hand corner.Losing ground with fellow pilgrims as we near Santo Domingo…Walking in the old part of Santo DomingoThese two pilgrims from Holland inquired about places open for breakfast on a Sunday morning. We shared some knowledge with them and they thanked us and offered to take our photo.Posing for our new Dutch pilgrim friends.Walking past the Catedral de Santo Domingo de la Calzada.
The Catedral was not open so we kept walking. Saint Dominic is buried here as well as relics associated with his sainthood.
Dominic cleared roads and built bridges throughout this area making the pilgrimage safer and easier for pilgrims during the 11th century. He also performed miracles that saved the life of a young, falsely accused pilgrim and brought chickens back to life in front of a local magistrate.
The huge tower beside the Catedral stands over 70 meters tall, making it the tallest structure in the Rioja region.Santo Domingo…. town center with the only bus stop on the right.
The distance from Cirueña to Belorado is over 17 miles. When we reached Santo Domingo de la Calzada, the remaining distance to Belorado was over 12 miles. After walking to Belorado on our first 4 caminos (2014, 2017, 2019 & 2022) we vowed not to walk that segment of the Camino Frances again. This was due to limited or no or unsatisfactory places to eat, stay overnight or get a break from the sun.
On our past three caminos we took a taxi from Santo Domingo to Belorado. Today, we figured out how to take a bus from Santo Domingo to Belorado. We took photos along the way from our seat behind the bus driver so you can see what we missed from our first 4 caminos.
On the bus as it left Santo Domingo into the countryside toward Belorado.The camino runs along the left side of the highwayPassing the “place of three lies”. Villamayor del Rio means – “Large city on a river”. The place is actually a ” Small hamlet on a creek”!!Passing pilgrims along the left side of the highway.Near the end of the 13 mile stretch from Santo Domingo to Belorado.Entering BeloradoThe bus stop in Belorado.La Huella in BeloradoOur room in Hostal La HuellaUnique placenent of closetModern ensuite bathroom
La Huella is among our favorite places to stay on the Camino, plus it has one of our favorite restaurants. We love the service, food quality and the artwork on the plates.
Mixed salad for Linda. Gazpacho for Jim.Lemon baked chicken for Linda. Pork cheeks for Jim.Homemade cheesecake with curant jelly topping for dessert.
Belorado seems to have a festival nearly every time we pass through, and today was no exception.
In 1116, King Alfonso I granted Belorado a charter to hold annual fairs, the first municipality in Spain to receive such, for the purpose of promoting its role as a trading hub and a resting place for pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago.
Today’s festival centered around various booths selling local arts and crafts and foods. Young children, mostly, wore period costumes of the middle ages.
Today was the celebration of the decree, which is celebrated as Feria Alfonsina on the first weekend of June.
We walked among the revelers, briefly, to get into the “spirit” then stopped by a church on the way back to La Huella.
Adjacent to La Huella is Iglesia de Santa Maria
the exterior of Iglesia Santa Mariathe sanctuary of Santa Maria A chapel devoted to Santiago in a transept of Santa Maria.
As you can see, today was a full and fun day on the Camino. We actually found time to do our routine chores, too. Time for this blogger to sign off.
Walking down the hill from our room to rejoin the camino.Walking out into the fields and vineyards as we left the paved road through Azofra.This is a medieval boundary marker from the 15th century.At the foot of this hill the camino began to run parallel to the Auto Via.After crossing this small road we moved away from the autovía and back into the fields.More pilgrims were out today, compared to previous days.Up to now, the walking was relatively flat, but up ahead, we could see ” trouble”.The path was about to become quite steep.We chatted with Karen from Holland on the way up the steep hillside. Here we are just about to the top.Karen offered to take our photo, and we accepted.
After reaching the top of the steep hill we said our goodbyes to Karen and stopped at the Rioja Alto golf course restaurant for cafe con leche and croissants, as there were no tostadas to be found.
After a longer than usual breakfast rest, we continued walking another mile to Cirueña. This will be our 8th visit to Casa Victoria.
This is the exterior of Casa Victoria. The owners live on the first level and rent out rooms on the 2nd and 3rd levels.Our double room on the 3rd floor. We’ve stayed in this room 7 of the 8 visits.Our room has an ensuite bathroom. The ceilings are quite low, creating a hazard for Jim, especially when getting up to use the restroom in the dark. Thus far, no major injuries have resulted.After checking in and getting off our feet in our room for some brief recovery time, we walked a few steps to the only restaurant in this village of 131 persons. We both had pizzas for this designated main meal.
We got showers, rinsed out clothing by hand and then hung them outside to dry in the warm afternoon sun.
Reading, napping, blogging and a game of Hand & Foot filled the remaining hours of another day on Camino 2026.
At 7:35 the temperature was a cold 49F with a breeze making it feel even colder. We found our way out of town, in spite of a shortage of camino markers.
This makeshift marker (yellow arrow?painted on the back of a road sign pole) confirmed we were on the right track as we walked along a secondary road out of town.The next marker took us away from the paved road into the vineyards.This section of grapevines were growing in large stones, rather than clay, similar to what we have observed in Provence, France.We continued to weave among the vineyards toward Ventoza.A new road through the vineyards confused us initially but patience prevailed after a short deviation, before we returned to the familiar path.A familiar section of the path running parallel to the autovia.Leaving the camino path toward Ventosa , which is no longer directly on the Camino. In recent years, art work by locals has been added to the path.More art work? along the path into Ventosa.More artworkA tourist spot on the left, featuring products made from honey (miel). We stopped for breakfast at the Buen Camino Bar on the right. The village of Ventosa is up the hill and to the left.
After breakfast and a 30 minute break we called a taxi to take us to Nájera, about 5 miles away. We are staying in Azofra tonight, a total distance of 14.5miles from Navarrate. So, we’re skipping the walk from Ventosa to Nájera to get our total miles for the day to less than 10.
We exited the taxi in Nájera and walked through the shops and along the camino out of town.We walked by the 11th century Iglesia de Santa Maria la Real…… then began the steep climb up the red rock hillside into which the church and other building are built.Linda nearing the top of the red rock hillside.Looking back at Nájera from the hilltopLooking forward and heading into the vineyards toward Asofra .Making way for a tractor used to cultivate and maintain the vineyards.Approaching Azofra (pop. 250)Calle Mayor (main street) of AzofraOur room in Pencion La Plaza, Azofra.
Correos delivered our backpacks later than usual, at 1:15, but rather than begin our chores, we walked from our room to the only eatery in the village for our main meal.
A main meal of huevos con jamón.
Full of fried potatoes, eggs and Iberian ham, we returned to our room and spent the rest of the day machine washing and drying all our clothes, napping, reading, blogging and otherwise enjoying our very nice room, perhaps the best, in our experience, on the Camino Frances.
Jimandi 