As planned, we boarded a bus at 9:00 to Burgos. The bus stop was a mere half mile walk from our hostal. This skipped some 20 miles of walking that we have decided not to do on our last three Caminos, including today. It’s not extremely difficult, the services along the way are minuscule and it includes walking through a highly industrial section leading into the city. First time pilgrims definitely should experience it, as we did our first 4 times.
our bus leaving Villafranca, destination, Burgos.our empty bus after depositing us at Burgos station.
We stopped at our hotel to determine room availability. The desk clerk was in full non-commit mode, indicating the normal checkin time was 4:00pm!!
So, we had breakfast, then began what turned out to be a 5 1/2 hour wait to eventually get into our room.
Burgos is a beautiful old city and a building watching and people watching paradise, and we know our way around pretty well as it’s a must stop, usually multiple days, for our Caminos.
Breakfast at the hotel cafe… catedral in background.The Santa María arch leading into the Plaza de Rey San Fernando and the Catedral de Santa María de Burgos.The Catedral de Santa María After a lot of walking around, we found this comfortable park bench in the shade and settled in for some people watching.Another short stroll among the folks to check on our room again.Giving up on the room, we walked up this street where we stayed in 2024 to find a favorite restaurant.We were already actively pursuing our goat cheese salad, before Linda reminded Jim to take a photo! The La Casona house wine (Rioja tempranilla red) was wonderfully bold, fruity and a perfect paring for our tasty salad.
At 3:15 we walked back to our hotel, finally getting access to our room and settled in for the rest of the day.
sitting area of our studio apartment.Private bathroom and kitchen area of the studio apartment. First order after checkin was washing our clothes and finding places to hang for drying overnight.
Walking out of Belorado this morning at 8:00 and 39F!We enjoyed scenery like this all along our walk.
After two miles we stopped at a makeshift bar for breakfast. It served as a good rest spot in case our traditional stop wasn’t open. It was marginal, but you do with what you have.
We walked another mile and found our traditional stop at Villambista, closed as suspected. Another couple pilgrims had just arrived and knocked on the door. The owner stuck her head out the window on the second floor and asked if we wanted coffee, to which Linda said, “ColaCao”!
The owner came downstairs and opened the door for us and while she was preparing our drink, Linda made it a restroom break also, Jim paid and we sat down outdoors and the owner closed the door again.
Having our Colacao and rest at Villambrista after all.
At the 5 mile mark we decided to go the full distance… our recovering bodied were tired but not hurting. We hoped the final push may help rebuild our lost muscle strength of our rest days.
Leaving the hamlet of Espinosa del Camino we began the long pull uphill.After clearing the hilltop, we got our first look at Villafranca Montes del Oca and some more colorful fields with the Oca mountains in the background.The last section of path before entering Villafranca…We got to our destination and waited outside of the adjacent bar until checkin at 1:00.our botique hostal for the night. Granddaughters Katelyn and Blake stayed here last May on their first Camino.
After checking in, we crashed until returning to the bar next door for our main meal of the day, then returned to the room to recoup and do the days chores, then heading to bed early.
Walking, yes, WALKING out of Cirueña this morning, it was quite chilly (38F).We rejoined the Camino and began the mostly straight path through the luscious green fields on the way to Santa Domingo de la Calzada.After 2 miles we got our first sighting of Santa Domingo.., the path still sttaight ahead.Pretty wild flowers, like these, adorned our walk along the way.The Camino took us into the old city toward the Catedral.the front of Catedral
Santo Domingo de la Calzada (pop.6695) takes its name from Saint Dominic, born in nearby Viloria de la Rioja. He cared for and developed sections of the Camino in this area in the 11th century including building bridges and clearing the road. Myths and legends abound about the saint, such as when he was clearing the forest he fell asleep and angels picked up his scythe and miraculously continued clearing! The most famous legend associated with Santo Domingo is “the hanged innocent.”
On the way to Santiago, a German couple and their son, Hugonell, spent the night in the hostel in Santo Domingo. A young maid tries to seduce the handsome boy, but he rejects her. The maid feels insulted and hides a silver cup in the boy’s coat. The next morning she accuses him of theft. The young man is seized by the police and, although he proclaims his innocence before the judge, he is hanged. Before the stunned parents continue their journey, they return to the place of execution. Suddenly they hear their son’s voice. “I am not dead, Saint Domingo is holding me by the legs, I am fine”. The parents immediately go to see the judge, who has just sat down at the table, and report the incredible incident. The judge, enraged by the persistent riffraff, shouts angrily: “Your son is as surely dead as this cock and hen are dead in my plate!”. Then the cock and hen begin to flutter. The cock crows, the hen clucks and they rise and fly away. The speechless judge rushes to the place of execution with his men and sure enough, the boy is alive. They cut him down and let the relieved family move on. The maid, however, is convicted of her dastardly deed and executed in his place.
This legend dates back to the 13th century and is found in a number of sources. In remembrance of this story, live chickens are kept in the Catedral that are said to be the descendants of the resurrected fowl in the story. A piece of the gallows is displayed on Santo Domingo’s tomb, located in the Catedral.
The chickens are housed in this display with a piece of the gallows mounted above.Statue of Saint Dominic de la Calzada over his tomb in the Catedral.The Catedral Tower is not attached to the Catedral. The original was struck by lightning and burned. The current tower is the tallest in La Rioja.
From the Catedral we took a taxi to avoid walking the next 14 miles to Belorado. We checked in at 12:00 and enjoyed a very large comfortable room, and a fancy, spacious bathroom and shower.
Our “quad” roomgreat showerThe picturesque view from our room.
A restful afternoon was spent doing chores, napping and blogging. We took a main meal break at 3:00 and enjoyed one of our favorite culinary experiences on the Camino.
La Huella del CaminoGreen bean soup for LindaEndalada Mixta for JimSharing a nice, full bodied, fruity Rioja wineLemon baked chicken for LindaPork cheeks for Jim… yum!Homemade Cheesecake with raspberry sauce for dessert
Linda and Jim were both 95% ready to go this morning, so we prepared our backpacks for transport , look at each other and said we’d have breakfast then head out,
At midway through breakfast, we we looking at each other an said, lets take one more day to hopefully get to 100%
So wecalled a taxi, repeated our scenario of yesterday and skipped 5.0 more miles of walking arriving in Cirueña at 12:30 and checked in for the day.
We’re feeling good about tomorrow’s walk and hoping for good sleep tonight.
We took advantage of this day off by sleeping in and resting until the latest checkout time of 10:30, when a taxi picked us up. He delivered us to Azofra, which skipped the 7.2 miles we had planned to walk to get here.
Our room was prepaid and waiting for us. We had checked in electronically a few days ago, so we stopped at a familiar bar and enjoyed a normal breakfast of cafe con leche and tostadas, before walking a few hundred steps to Casa Rural La Plaza… our home for the day and evening. As we keyed in our entry code at the front door, the Correos bag transport carrier arrived so we held the door open for him as he brought our backpacks inside.
Linda was already feeling the benefits of yesterday’s day off and looking forward to another recovery day and evening in Azofra.
Fortunately, our accommodation reserved for today couldn’t be a more perfect setting for chilling out for the day.
Our double room with private bath.roomy, beautifully decorated, functional ensuite bathroom.our Casa Rural in building on the left, Bar Sevilla at far end of photo,
The bar is only a few steps from our room and is open for full meals or less 12:00-4:00 and 6:30-9:00, which is unusually convenient for the Camino. We stayed here in 2024 and were so impressed, we couldn’t resist including it in our 2025 itinerary. (a real value at 62€). And the wifi signal is strong and consistent.
Leaving our room on the way to lunch/dinner at the foot of the hill.We both had fresh vegetables in different formsWe went for comfort food / protein for second course and ate only what we wanted… tummies have shrunk, but appetite coming back.
We’ve had a restful day, definitely feeling better and maybe ready to begin walking. We’ll see how we sleep tonight and decide what to do in the morning.
So, we had a restful Monday night, slept in this morning and took a taxi to Navarrete, our targeted destination. The walk to Navarette would have been 7.5 miles!
We got checked-in almost immediately and settled into our new digs.
We walked to a nearby restaurant and ordered a main meal, realizing we were not that hungry. While Jim is definitely in the late stages of this bug, Linda has got theoretically at least two to three days to reach the same point.
Beef cheeks marinated in red wine for Jim and roasted chicken for Linda. The cheeks never had a chance, only a few fries were consumed by both. A few bites of chicken was all Linda felt like having. We both ate good portions of an ensalada rusa.
We both are still weak, probably able to push ahead if we wanted to, but we don’t have anything to prove and rest and time seem to be on our side.
On the way back to our room we noticed the Iglesia de la Asunción was open! So we walked up the hill and stepped inside.
Iglesia de la Asunción of NavaretteSantiago greeted us as we entered…… and then we gasped at what some call the most impressive golden retablo in all of Spain. (we opted not to turn on the lights and disturb some praying parishioners) But, even in low lights it was truly impressive as we remembered from several Caminos earlier.
We think Jim may have gone through the worst systems faster, unknowingly, by continuing to walk while feeling weak. So by giving Linda time off, she may need an extra day to work through the cough and weakness.
We were encouraged by Jim’s rapid recovery in muscle aches and strength by mid-afternoon today versus the same time yesterday. It was Linda’s idea to walk up the hill, indicating she’s doing better, but she’s definitely not where she wants to be yet.
So by late afternoon, we decided we would give ourselves another day of rest. The timing is great because our hotel checkout time is 11a.m. vs 8:00 for most albergue’s. This means we’ll spend less time waiting and more time resting between checkout-checkin.
Linda is resting well and not hurting, but for stomach muscle soreness from the coughing Monday afternoon and evening. Again, the same soreness Jim experienced two days ago. So another day to rest and not push makes sense and comes at little or no cost… only if you are in a race or trying to prove something. And that is not where we are at!
So, we’ll replace a morning walk of 7.2 miles tomorrow (Wednesday) with another sleep-in before taking a taxi late morning to our next destination, Asofra to focus on recovery instead of logging more miles.
Jimandi 