Rain Makes for Heavy Boots - Day 13 (April 26)

It is Fred's fault. He just said that he didn't think he needed to bring his rain pants because they were just added weight. So.... it rained all day!

Initially the rain added a dimension of variance to our journey but by the end of the day, it had become quite tedious. The wet clay on the path, in particular, added much weight to our boots and made walking somewhat slippery and treacherous at times.

Pasture on the Path

Still the first part of the day was quite nice with a walk through a pasture area. I kept looking for cows but only found evidence of their passing on the road. From there we stopped at a village for breakfast where we had fried eggs and bacon - the first since starting on the camino. Tasted wonderful and prepared us, at least in part, for what lie ahead.

And what lied ahead was a fairly steep climb up a hill over rocks, wet now from the rain. The rocks were also scattered about on the countryside making us think that sheep should be roaming there. Again, the evidence was there but no sheep to be seen. Reaching the top we were greeted by an iron cross with rocks surrounding the base. Along the side was tangled barbed wire fencing with boots, shoes and socks strewn about and signs indicating it was a military area.

Iron Cross

Just as we were starting to head down the hill (there is never an up without a down), there was an interesting multi-circular rock formation that seemed prehistoric in nature. And just around the corner, there they were - a flock of sheep complete with the proverbial black sheep and a shepherd with his sheep dogs keeping watch over them.

A short distance down the road, we stopped for lunch in Cardenuela where we met up with Adina again. She shared with us about how she had started the journey with two other women from Maine but she had gone on ahead as she didn't have as much time as they. As she stopped in churches along the way, she was lighting a candle for people she knew who were having struggles in their lives, giving what she felt was more purpose to her sojourn. Entering into Atapuerca, we learned it is a UNESCO World Heritage site as it is the site of the earliest human remains ever discovered in Europe dating back to 900,000 years ago!!

Misleading Arrows

From this point on, things started to go downhill and not in the literal sense. The clay road became more soaked with rain, our boots became heavier and our muscles became more tired. And the cuckoo birds continued to mock us. We had a short break from the mud when the path moved from dirt to highway but then we were contending with cars trying to run us over (not really). Shortly before Burgos we had a choice - to stay on the highway or take the "scenic" way into town. We made the wrong choice as the scenic way simply meant more wet clay and a not so scenic walk past the airport and through the industrial section of town. Our first disappointment in Brierley's guide.

In addition the walk into Burgos was very long and when we finally thought we were nearly there, a sign said it was two more kilometres! Plus our arrows that have so carefully lead us to our destination let us down as we reached a point where there were two arrows in one location, each pointing a different direction. Another mistake - we chose the wrong arrow as we learned later. We ended up not only going further but going through a questionable section of town. By now I was dehydrated (who would think that was possible with so much wet around us) and my leg muscles were getting cramps. We finally reached the hotel where we had decided to stay, the Norte Y Londres, not only feeling like pathetic peregrinos but looking like ones as well.

Tapas

The hot shower felt so very good and refreshed us enough to walk to the Cathedral and check out some plazas. We discovered Jean Sebastian talking with some other peregrinos and as we were heading back to our hotel to I heard my name being called. It was Julie from Montana and her parents Bill & Jean from Portland. We had last seen them in Zubiri, just the third day into our journey so were very pleasantly surprised to see them again. Julie was heading back home the next day but Bill and Jean are continuing on. Before we said our goodbyes, Julie showed us were to get tapas (pincots) which we thoroughly enjoyed before we called it a day. Burgos is a really neat city and we are eager to explore it more tomorrow.

Lesson for the Day: Don't leave your rain pants behind!

 

 

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