Another lovely day and trail. I am, however, missing the cool breezes that we had for the first 10 days. It was definitely getting pretty warm by the time we finished walking just after 1:00pm.  A few pilgrims we passed just before Hornillos looked like the proverbial lost soul in the middle of the desert, slowly summoning up the strength to take the next step. One man said that he wasn’t sure he was going to stop in Hornillos. I pray he did.

I’ll show you the altitude graph below but this is one of the easiest stages.  The long, gentle descent from Burgos to Rabe de las Calzadas is nearly noticed but happily accepted. Then, the slow ascent to the first meseta will get you sweating on a warm day but it wasn’t bad.  The furthest edge of that meseta provides a stunning views down to Hornillos with the path of pilgrims laid out in front of us. Noe, that steep descent from the edge is only part of today’s walk that made my 67 year old legs tremble a bit.  Fortunately, it is not a huge change in altitude, only about a 100m down. Both Melanie and i wondered if a zip line could have been available. 

I should talk a bit of the walk out of historical and lovely Burgos.  Someone had recently posted on a Camino page in Facebook that there were no signs or arrows leading pilgrims out of Burgos.  Our experience was very different. The arrows and signs are plentiful but can easily be missed in the busy city if you don’t pay attention.  We never took a wrong turn although we did check a map on a couple of places just to double check.  Also, looking back at the beautiful sunrise colors, we were always cheated by a large building or trees being in the way. That’s okay though as the full moon was setting in front of us and looked a lot bigger than normal.

After a breakfast in the only bar / cafe in Burgos, we said a very heartfelt thanks and goodbye to the bartender.  He earned it as well as our tip.  From the afternoon of 5 October until the morning of the 7th, we ate every meal there as well as hanging out there while our clothes were being washed in the laundromat three doors away.  Situated right across from the main albergue, it was a great place to meet many pilgrims and find out their stories.  We had great fun in there.  

We walked a bit today and had our breakfast #2 with a Dutch couple, Jose and Johan. They walk a lot of long distance trails but this is their first Camino.  Johan mildly rebuked me for usually staying in cheap hotels, pensiónes, or private rooms in albergues.  He said that we are missing the spirit of the Camino. He is right in a way.  We are missing the coughing, sneezing, snoring, farting, burping, flushing, bag rustling, loud talking, very early departures, etc. which make up the “Camino spirit”.  I’m okay without that spirit.  Honestly, we have stayed in many albergues and hostels through the years.  I get it.  You meet more people and you have a stronger common bond even if that connection is built a common suffering.  We connect with pilgrims in other ways.

Shortly after leaving the cafe where we had breakfast #2 in Tardajos, I remembered that we were supposed to withdrawal euros in Burgos and I forgot. I also wasn’t keen to see if there was an ATM machine in Tardajos because we were almost already through the small village. Melanie took it upon herself to ask a random old man in the street if there was a bank ATM in town. In rapid Spanish, and I’m guessing, he said that there are three bank in town and he gave directions to each one. That started to scramble my mind. We just said thanks and walked a few steps toward the next village.  Suddenly, I figured out the last thing he said which was the next few towns don’t have any bank ATMs. Oh, we better go look.  It turns out that my preferred bank is right next to the bar we walked out of. With my Google maps expertise though, it took me five minutes to find the bank.  After that, all was good.

Today, in addition to the Dutch couple, we met our dynamo friend from Mallaca, Malasia as well as Chilean Peppi in the breakfast #1 bar. It Hornillos, we finally sat down with French Alexia who was telling us of her exploits so far on the Camino as well as various walks in France. At dinner, we teamed up with Yael, an Israeli woman, to invade a table that American Guillermo was sitting at.  Melanie explained that we were looking to arrange a date for Yael. By the way, as soon as Yael said she was Israeli , she quickly added “I I know it is unpopular right to say that right now. Melanie quickly announced, “don’t worry, my husband Michael, is from the US and they are really unpopular now.”

Once again, my proofreader is fast asleep …

Peace y’all.  Goodnight George, Leo and Stella.