Author: 2cdssrs

Walked Today: 5.2 mi / Camino2022: 155 mi

We turned off the alarms for this morning and slept only an extra 45 minutes! With the shortage of bathroom space, we figured we’d have an easier time getting ready if we let most of the more than 30 other pilgrims go first. Our plan worked… we had the bathroom all to ourselves and left at 7:30.

We walked just over 5 miles, dictated by our reservations made two days ago. The Camino is still busy and we’re glad we made some more bookings in advance. The walk was less interesting than most.

We remember this section of the Camino, because about half way there is rise in the mostly flat terrain and at the crest, we could see the steeple of the church in Boadillo del Camino. But regardless of how much we actually advanced toward it, visually we didn’t appear to be making any progress. This has happened now for all 4 Camino’s and we can’t explain it.

The first records of Boadillo del Camino’s existence occur in AD905! The church and Rollo were built in the 15-16th centuries when the town became more affluent.

This is our first time to stay in Boadillo del Camino (pop. 70). We usually passed through early in the morning, in a hurry to make it to Formista or Población de Campos before it got too hot …and the only thing open was the bar at another albergue, where we would have breakfast and moved on.

Today we checked-in early, at 10:45, got showers, paid 7.50€ for laundry service, and ventured out while waiting for lunchtime at our Casa Rural Boadillo en el Camino.

We had one of our great Camino moments today. While wandering aimlessly around Boadillo, looking for a market, we were approached by a resident who asked if we spoke Spanish. He was clearly disappointed with our response, but motioned for another young man to come over who could speak English.

Mario Mediavilla, a young 80-year-old, said he had completed three Camino’s, the first in 1992 on a horse! He also said he knew English because he has a “rich” uncle who owns several liquor stores in NYC. He also pointed up the street to his new house.

After chatting for a few minutes longer, Mario asked if we would like to see his “museum”. We both responded simultaneously with “Si!” and we followed him up to the end of his street and to what appeared to be a garage door, with a chain, but no lock.

Mario opened the door and the first thing we saw was a cheese press, which he explained he used to make goat cheese. But all around us were relics, mostly farm implements, many over 100 years and older. Many were labeled like in an antique store.

He opened another door down to another lower level filled with all kinds of weighing scales, again many well over a hundred years old…also in one corner were a couple dozen aging cheese wheels… 90 days to maturity.

We continued into another room which was a garage occupied by a Mercedes Kompressor. The garage walls were neatly filled with displays of farm implements, skis, children’s antique toys, horse tack, etc. Jim asked Mario which saddle he rode in his first Camino and he proudly pointed to it.

At the end of our tour, Mario asked us to sign his guestbook. He said he so far had over 1000 entries! He also showed us and read to us, what appeared to be a prayer which we copied.

We then thanked Mario for sharing his wonderful “museum” and worked our way out of the building. As we walked down the street, Mario ushered us into a large barn (tractor engine running outside) and called out to his brother, who we’re sure felt left out from the English tour. His brother then guided us through the barn through a door in the rear, an we went outside to a large pen or corral for 15-20 goats… several who were close to delivery.

Mario pointed out one goat that was the unusual “brother” of four that were born to a dam this past season. We thanked Mario’s brother (name never revealed) and walked away in amazement at what we had just experienced.

PRAYER TRANSLATION:

Lord, teach me how to be a builder of your peace.

If I can encourage those who are dejected, if I can give strength to my neighbor, if I can cheer him up with my song, tell me how to do it, Lord.

If I can help those who suffer, if I can relieve any burden, if I can spread more joy, tell me how to do it, Lord.

If I can lift those who fell, if I can relieve sorrows and sufferings, if I can share life and path,

Tell me how to do it, Lord!

We returned to our casa and had a large lunch, probably enough for supper, too. We settled into our nice room, a palace, compared to yesterday and read, napped and blogged for the remaining afternoon.

After our full lunch, we decided to not have another meal and instead had a snack dessert and retired for the evening after a memorable day on the Camino Frances.

Walked Today: 7.3 mi / Camino2022: 150mi

We thought we’d let you walk up the mountain with Linda this morning. Follow the photos below in left-to-right order… her perspective looking ahead and looking back on her way up.

The hermitage of San Nicholas de Puentefitero dates back to the 12th and 13th centuries. Its membership in the Order of the Knights of San Juan, later known as the Order of Malta, is documented and linked to the presence of the nearby Fitero Bridge over the Pisuerga River, an infrastructure of great importance that linked the kingdoms of Castilla y León and, today, to the provinces of Burgos and Palencia. The Knights of San Juan would have taken care to keep the bridge in good condition, facilitating the passage of pilgrims and also offering them their hospitality.

A famous traditional pilgrim shelter, it was restored by and is supported by the Italian Pilgrims Association.

We checked in to La Mochilla albergue soon after arriving in Itero de la Vega at 10:45. The albergue is a very old, make-shift collection of rooms with possibly 30 beds ( dormitory style) and two private rooms (w/o bathroom) of which we have one. There are two bathrooms with sinks, 1 working shower and ourdoor patio for socializing and meals, a basic kitchen for doing your own meal and a kitchen for albergue prepared breakfast, lunch and dinner. Soon after occupying our room we had no key so Jim asked the owner for one and he came back with two containers of keys to try to find one that fit our door. He said (we think) that a prior occupant of our room apparently took the key with him as the owner began trying keys in the two boxes. Jim offered to look for him so he could get back to processing the line of other pilgrims waiting to rent beds for the night.

After trying all the keys in our door without a fit, we abandoned the effort and accepted that our room tonight is not “technically” private. (Jim considered asking for a discount but decided against it). This may not be the most primitive albergue we’ve stayed in, but it’s close… at 35€.

We met two delightful sisters from New Zealand who checked-in shortly before us. We had chats with them during breakfast and later for lunch in a nearby bar in Itero de la Vega.

Dinner tonight was with 8 other pilgrims. We had interesting conversations, mostly in English, even though 5 were from Spain. The other pilgrims were from Norway, Switzerland and Philadelphia. It was enjoyable and lasted until our new, normal bedtime, 8:45 p.m.

Walked- Today: 6.6 mi/ Camino2022: 143mi

It was a chilly 52F when we left Hornillos at 6:50. We walked over two miles on a gradual incline until getting back to the “ table top”. We stopped all the way up to check the progress of another “flaming” sunrise.

then another mile, before going back down into a steeper but smaller bowl as we passed San Bol, off the trail on the left, a very primitive albergue (no electricity or running water) and then returned to the top.

The approach to Hontanas is interesting. After walking several miles or so on top of the meseta, one gets impatient, if not tired, and wonders, “ where’s Hontanas”?

Our previous Camino breakfast stop, an albergue (with no name to be found) was open, so we got a table and went inside to a dark building. Apparently they lost power a few minutes before we arrived and were doing their best to serve hungry, thirsty pilgrims that kept coming down the road into the village.

We had croissants, orange juice and pastry and plain coffee with milk and decided to call it a day. We called for a taxi and rode the final 5 miles into Castrojeris.

Castrojeris is one of Jim’s favorites. He began using trekking poles in 2014 and his first set broke on the meseta on the way to Hontanas. We figured he would have to wait until Leon to buy a replacement set. By chance, while in Castrojeris the next day, he saw some poles hanging in the window of a hardware store in the village square but the shop was closed. He made a fairly long walk from our albergue on the edge of town back to the store when it reopened in late afternoon. Luckily the poles were still there and he purchased the set for 39€ and used them for the rest of our walk in 2014. When we got back home, we found that comparable poles cost nearly $150. He has continued to use the same set through 2022, so far, over 1500 miles of Camino. Today the store was closed but Jim looked in the window at what was on display, with fond memories of that joyous day.

The Camino is getting really crowded the last several days. We think a new wave of pilgrims started September 1 and are now catching up and passing us. The net effect is extra stress on places to stay coupled by pandemic related closures. This became apparent to us as we tried to book places to stay in the coming week. Today we found out that the place we planned to stay tomortow night is permanently closed and no other alternatives were available to reserve.

So after having our main meal in our Hotel Iacobus (which, by the way, is very nice and comfortable) restaurant at 4:00, we got to work and planned our walks for the next 2 weeks and booked rooms for each night to eliminate the concern if not having a place to stay.

Walked Today: 6.5 mi /Camino2022: 136 mi

We left Meson del Cid at 7:00 via taxi to Tardajos, skipping the walk through the suburbs and along the expressway. It was a chilly 49F. Every morning for the past week has been high 40’s to low 50’s, excellent for walking.

Our breakfast stop was at Albergue La Casa de Beli, where we stayed in 2019. After finding our way through the maze of Tardajos streets, we continued on pavement for a mile to Rabe des Las Calzadas before beginning the gradual 2 mile climb up onto the Meseta.

For 2 miles after Rabe…., we walked on a gradual incline on our way up to the meseta. The meseta in northern Spain stretches some 120 miles from Burgos to Astorga. It is very flat, with few trees for shade. The Camino between the different towns/villages on the meseta has scarce services and water. Many of the towns along the meseta are in valleys or “bowls” several hundred feet below the meseta. Thus, the walk is typically flat terrain between villages, descending down to the village then climbing back up to the meseta to move on to the next village.

When we reached the meseta all we could see ahead of us and left and right was flat plain and blue sky.

We walked on the meseta for about a mile, then saw a”bowl” descending down to Hornillos del Camino then back up to the meseta.

We had a great dinner with over 30 pilgrims chowing down. A meeting place specialty is paella.

At the pilgrim dinner we were seated with some delightful Canadians from Montréal and Manitoba. We laughed a lot and shared lots of Camino stories. It was a fun evening.

Walked Today: 5.2 mi/ Camino2022: 129 mi

This morning we began by taking a taxi from our hotel door to the hamlet San Juan de Ortega, named for an understudy of Santo Domingo de la Calzada. He also built roads and bridges in and around Burgos to help improve the pilgrim experience in the 12th century. San Juan probably built this church, too.

The taxi enabled us to skip a 7 mile stretch of the Camino that we walked in 2014 and 2017, but skipped in 2019 and today to avoid some difficult terrain without any services, and a logging road infested with aggressive, biting flies!

We stopped for breakfast at an albergue where we stayed in 2014, stopped for breakfast in 2017 and saw it was closed in 2019. It has a new owner, who has upgraded it from its former state to a very desirable property, and renamed it Fagus. Jim shared some photos we had from our 2014 stay and the owner seemed to enjoy them.

We finished our breakfast and left for Atapuerca, the next small pueblo. About a half-mile later, Jim remembered he had not paid for our breakfast. So we reversed ourselves and returned to Fagus to pay our bill of 7€. The owner was perplexed when he saw us return, but when we explained, began taking the blame for forgetting to collect payment. Actually, he and Jim were both distracted by looking at the old photos. But he very appreciative that we came back.

Atapuerca, site of several limestone caves near Burgos in northern Spain, is known for the abundant human (genus Homo) remains discovered there beginning in 1976. The site called Sima del Elefante (“Pit of the Elephant”) contains the earliest evidence of humans in western Europe—fragments of a jawbone and teeth date to 1.1-1.2 million years ago.

We passed the entrance to the site and walked into the small village, stopped at a bar and called a taxi to take us the next 12 miles into Burgos.

We arrived at our hotel at 11:00… much too early for the 2:00 check-in time. We passed the time ambling around the Plaza Santa Maria, just enjoying this fascinating, very old city, with origins reaching back over 2 thousand years. We didn’t do the Catedral tours, as in prior visits, feeling more like temporary residents rather than tourists. We found a outside bar off the plaza and ordered hot chocolate to break the chill from the cool breeze with our still damp clothes from our morning stroll of 5 plus miles… and relaxed…. until grabbing some lunch to occupy the remaining wait.

The rest of the day was spent just enjoying our comfortable room, making preparations and reservations for upcoming days and recharging our € supply via a nearby ATM.

Walked Today: 7.3 mi/Camino2022: 124 mi

We had a nice pilgrim dinner in the Abad dining room with about 25-30 pilgrims attending between 7:00-9:00. A French couple sat at the table beside us and provided a test for Jim as we discussed a number of Camino and non-Camino topics. We think Jim got a C+.