We slept in this morning until 7.30, then splurged on breakfast (7 euros, yikes, but it was well worth it because it gave us food for snacks, too): croissant, ham, bread, orange juice, coffee.
On our way out of town (late! we left at 10.00) we stopped at the farmacía for antihistamenes, and more tape for my foot and toes. We walked past the cathedral and, as we went by a column nearby, a stork atop lost two feathers. Since they are considered to be lucky, I grabbed them up and stuck them in my backpack in the side pouch by the plastic I have rolled up for the times when we need to sit on the ground.
On the way out of Burgos, we passed this church that had this amazing stork condo. It was pretty funny to see.
We went past the law school at the former Hospital del Rey, an elegant 16th-century complex. Then the camino took us through construction for the University of Burgos — tons and tons of apartment buildings, classroom buildings. We went through a HUGE future housing development — the infrastructure (lights, roads, parking) were all in but as of now, no buildings are up. The camino did nothing that was on our maps — we were supposed to be over to the left somewhere on the other side of the railroad tracks but we were clearly heading to the right away from them. This was one of these times when there was no point consulting the maps; I shoved mine into my pants pocket and simply followed the yellow shell/blue background markers.
The route had us meander through/around more wheat fields (oh my poor watering eyes) when it would have been so easy to cut straight across, but nooo... we ended up under a bridge for a four-lane highway that led into a tunnel. On the first pillar was this sign:
Pilgrims — please excuse this small detour. May the searches of your infinite wanderings become reality. The Arlanzón river and we say to you: ¡Ultreya!
That sign nearly made me burst into tears because I had been mulling over something while walking through the detours. It truly seemed to be a message from God.
We stopped in Tardajos for lunch. The restaurant even advertised my favourite power lunch: two fried eggs, fries, bread. Add in a glass of red wine and I am good for walking. After lunch we went uphill. The day was getting quite hot.
The camino took us up between two ridges which lead us to the alteplano. Here we saw far-off views and it was windy, windy with racing clouds, really quite dramatic.
The alteplano gives the pilgrim BIG views. I was intrigued by the lone tree on an otherwise desolate landscape.
Another view from the alteplano before descending into Hornillos del Camino, a tiny town with one store almost across the street from the casa rural where we stayed and a crowded bar-restaurant (the only game in town so we had a 30-minute wait, along with a bunch of other pilgrims). We shared our table with a young German pair (not a couple, however).
The shower in our room is a hoot. The young owner of the casa rural is so pleased with it: it has massage nozzles, mirrors all over (oh dear), a radio with speakers and an overhead light. None of us was able to figure out how it all worked but we were glad for the good water pressure at the end of our walking.
