Day 19 – To Burgos

Atapuerca to Burgos – 20 Kms, 32,451 steps

Dawn saw a line of pilgrims exiting Atapuerca and heading uphill through the surrounding farm fields. I thought the rocky trails of the last few days were bad, but this one took the cake. It was awful. Usually, the bad paths have a smoother tire track or border that pilgrims have worn down but this had none of that. 110% of my attention was required to be sure where my feet were going; I barely noticed the scenery.

A couple from Texas that I met the night before over cocktails, Rob and Lauren, told me that Rob’s hiking boots had fallen apart in the previous week. So they’d ordered a new pair, to be delivered to them in Burgos. When we spotted these boots along the trail, I got a laugh when I asked Rob is they were his new pair, special delivery.

I caught up with Grace and Wendy in Obaneja, a small town with a roadside London-style, double-decker bus I remembered from 2019, painted as a billboard for the local albergue.

We made it to the outskirts of Burgos and took an optional route along the river, through a nice park, rather than walking for miles through an industrial area. The park was shaded and had separate pedestrian and bicycle paths, water fountains, and lots of nice benches.

A technical note: WiFi throughput at the places I’m staying in is often very poor and/or heavily-loaded. It can take several minutes to upload a photo, which means these posts can take a long time to compose and upload.

We made it to Burgos and went our separate ways. Wendy and Grace are done with their Camino, will have a rest day in Burgos tomorrow, bus to Madrid the next day, and then eventually go home to Australia. It was really nice to have such interesting “trail buddies” for a while and I wish them well,

My accomodation was a hotel on what turned out to be “restaurant row” in the old part of town. The hostess told me that the street actually predates the larger city. I was happy to have a wide choice of places at which to eat, at my doorstep.

I met Grace and Wendy for a farewell drink that evening and, near their hotel, we saw a large street mural being painted. What a feat!

Tomorrow, I head to Hornillos del Camino and into the famous Meseta plateau. The weather looks promising.