Day 13: San Juan de Ortega - Burgos

What a sleep! A real mattress with real sheets, heavenly. And good prep for a longer 27km today. This day felt relatively easy on the legs, which has certainly not always been the case.

I started the walk chatting to Anne-Cecile and Ines and it was great to get to know them a bit more. Ines, as teenagers do, is a little slow in the mornings so we had a sleep in and began the walk at a sunny 8:30am, fully rested. The charity association really is impressive, and I felt quite sorry for Anne-Cecile as Ines can be quite challenging, and she really has to be on 24/7. She was a nurse during Covid as well, so extra brownie points, and very strong in her faith.

After a few hours it was time to give them some space and walk on, enjoying the walk before we hit the outskirts of Burgos. As the second largest city on the Camino after Pamplona, Burgos has a big industrial area which was pretty punishing to walk through. The old town itself however is stunning, with a lovely park by the river and a gigantic cathedral in the square. It is of course stunning inside.

We had a beer in the afternoon and, after trying my best to answer questiomd about what confession was and how it works, everyone decided to come to mass at the Cathedral which was really nice. They were a bit shy, so sat in the back pew, which kind of made it feel like my Camino family coming to support me which was funny but also really wholesome. This included Maik, Tina, Benjamin, Ruben and Brook. We met Greg and Rosie for dinner afterwards at a lovely tapas bar with unreal food.Read more