Burgos

Well, we made it to Burgos, Came close to calling a cab for the last 4 miles. My foot is acting up in the ankle/shin region. Yesterday was hard on it, particularly coming down from the Nettles Mountains. I was sore last night and stiff this morning. Had breakfast at the bar we ate dinner last night so I could get some anti-inflammitories going. Took off walking and everything was going swimmingly until we had another hill to climb up and come down off of. The rest of the day was slow walking with lots of rest stops. But we’re here and in a great hotel on an interesting little street full of bars (restaurants, remember) in the old town, close to the cathedral. We had a tough time finding the hotel. It’s one of those skinny streets and has a very small entrance off of a big square. They are doing some work on the entrance, and it was partially obscured by scaffolding. When you get past the entrance it’s an old narrow street full of restaurants with tiny tables outside and full of people. Like walking into it’s own world from the more normal city streets we walked through.

We took an alternate route into Burgos, because the official route is known for several miles of industrial setting. The alternate route ran along a river going into town and was very pleasant, if not well marked. Could just see the top of the cathedral in the distance, but wow, it is big and ornate.

The hill I mentioned earlier had an interesting feature. On top, there is a large cross in the middle of a pile of stones. Tradition is that Camino pilgrims bring a stone from their home with them. The stone represents the sins they have committed and they rid themselves of the stone and the sin here. I had heard of this place before we left for the Camino, but we were originally planing on taking the El Norte Camino route so I had no stone. I was able to find a rock nearby to pose for the picture, not that I had any sins to forgive.Read more