Friday, May 22, 2015

Burgos to Hornillos el Camino - May 22

Date posted: May 22 without pictures internet too slow.

Will post pictures when I get a better connection

Today was another very cold and windy day, with the threat of rain all morning. Fortunately, I like to walk quickly, at least when my body isn't complaining and this keeps me warm. I caught up with Franziska (the Swiss woman I walked with yesterday) and Chea, a woman from Texas, toward the end of the days walk. We are all staying in Alberge El Far in Hornillos el Camino.

Spent about a hour walking out of the Burgos suburbs, a good deal of it through parkland. The way today was pretty uneventful, through fields and across a diversion at a highway overpass construction sight. We passed the villages of Villabilla and then Rabe de las Calzadas, where I stopped for my bocadillo, and then a bit of a climb from 800 m up to the Alto Meseta, at 950 m and then down again to Hornillos, pop. 70. As you can imagine there is not much in this town.

The Meseta is the high agricultural plateau which runs between Burgos to Leon. Pretty boring walking, I am told. It will probably take me until May 29th to walk the Meseta and arrive in Leon at which point I will need to make my way to Zamora for my Hospitalera posting. I may just bus into Leon on that last day to skip the industrial lands and have a bit more time in the City.

Today's distance was 21.7 km adjusted for the climb. I could have kept walking but I wasn't sure if my feet wanted to walk the 10 km further to the next Albergue and my walking companions were definitely not into going further, so I decided to pack it in here. The Albergue is a private one, a converted house with two dorm rooms of 5 bunks each. The bathrooms are nicely done, but poorly designed and 2 are just not sufficient for 20 people. There is one bath/toilet on the main floor and on the second floor a bathroom with a toilet (not enclosed) and 2 showers, which makes it awkward for 2 people if one wants to use the toilet in privacy. Seems the prices are creeping up - this Albergue is 9 EUR and dinner, which is served in the Albergue, is another 9 EUR. We will see what the dinner is like.

The best part of the Albergue is they have a sheltered garden with some lounge chairs. The Spanish sun is hot when you are out of the wind, so we enjoyed an hour of relaxation in the sun with a cervesa (beer) while we waited for the showers to free up.

Tomorrow is another 20 km walk through the Meseta.

1 comment:

  1. Your blog is eagerly awaited each day! You must be getting tired of those big white buns for breakfast ... I can remember hope happy I was when I figured out how to order an omelette Fancaise con queso et salat! That became my staple but probably hard to get before 2 pm!

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