Camino Frances Journal – Day 15

A glimpse into the journal I kept for all 38 days on the Camino Frances, including up to 10 photos (not necessarily the best pictures but more that they represent that day in some particular way). Today is day 15 – May 5^th. Atapuerca to Burgos

As much as I enjoyed Lana’s company yesterday, I’ve come to the decision that I much prefer walking solo during the day and then hanging out with people at dinner. I hadn’t quite figured out how to say that, though, so like a child, I dawdled at the albergue until pretty much everyone was gone. …

The sun was shining, the sky was blue, the air was crisp, the sheep were huddled together, and the grass was shiny with frost. Passed both a military zone and a giant wooden cross. …

Continued on following the yellow arrows which eventually took me past and around an airport, over railway tracks, and through an industrial zone. I had brought my ipod specifically for this portion of the Camino as I knew the 10km of pavement through the industrial zone would be mentally tough. With the music to distract me, it wasn’t awful but it wasn’t pleasant, either. I didn’t see any other pilgrim in that 10km stretch except at the start of it where I did see a bunch getting onto the public bus…

Reaching downtown Burgos was a relief but also it was stressful to be back in a city after so long in the countryside. On top of that, the Camino markings were hard to find – they were very discreet and many were in awkward places. Burgos is the worst so far for this. Got lost looking for the albergue – finally saw another pilgrim asking a local something and I had a hunch it was about the albergue so I just trailed behind her. Quickly turned out that my instincts were right! …

Registered, got sent to the 2^nd floor (no elevators – booo) and was assigned a top bunk (boooo). The albergue is pretty nice and purpose-made, though. Shelf bunks rather than standalone bunkbeds, plenty showers, sinks with mirrors, etc….

I arrived early afternoon so that meant I had to choose between the Burgos Museum I had learned about yesterday and the Cathedral – both closed about the same time which was frustrating. I chose the Cathedral. I was entitled to a Pilgrim’s discount – I could get used to this! The cathedral is monstrous: massive, lots of carvings, paintings, tapestries, statues, alabaster, gold, etc. Beautiful but some of it was “more of same”. There was also a museum and a cloister (stained glass rather than open). I wandered for about 90mins in there and that was me moving at a pretty good clip. The ostentatiousness of it got to me by the end. It was cool to see the connection to El Cid, though. Went up to the Castillo afterwards but ultimately, it was fairly pointless as there isn’t much of it left. The view overlooking the city was nice, though. I then wandered around downtown looking for a particular bank – got lost for 40 minutes trying to find it and in the end, I found it by accident. Ran into Canadian David and we went for a beer. Then ran into pilgrims that he knew – three American men and a South African couple – she was a dancer and he an actor and they met doing The King and I. …

I’ve decided that it’s getting to the point where it doesn’t really matter if dinner is any good or not – it is only about getting fuel for tomorrow.