Now walking on the maseta

This morning we left Burgos at 8 am, and have now started walking on the maseta- such a different world, and so beautiful. It was a 21.5 km walk along very easy gradient, though totally exposed ...the thunderstorm that was predicted for Burgos at 1 pm certainly hasn’t come here - it is cloudless and brilliant sunshine. We are in a small town Hornillos del Camino, in a very lovely casa rural, in an attic room - up to which the busy and delightful host, Samuel, carried both our bags! We have a sloping ceiling and a skylight...very cute, but I must be careful not to hit my head getting out of bed! We are both ecstatic because the wifi is GOOD!

Now, to report from yesterday afternoon...we went to have our kindle time in the park, and out of the blue raindrops fell...we ignored at first, but it did become serious for about 15 minutes, so we took shelter in a delightful bar, where we had a glass of Rioja in Paul approved glasses!! Then, knowing the next day we started walking again, we went for dinner at 7 pm, the earliest available time! Not a spectacular meal, but we were sitting next to an English couple, who had interesting accents - he was Geordie and she was from Yorkshire....they have been living in Spain for the last 7 years, but we were amazed that they didn’t seem to have the basic elements of Spanish...asked for “vin rouge” (maybe thought it was “European”) or just spoke to the waiter in English...and difficulty explaining what size beer he wanted!! I think walking the Camino was a foreign concept to them! Pleasant enough otherwise!

So we left beautiful Burgos, and not an unpleasant walk out of the city in the westerly direction, the industrial area seems to be mainly in the east, past the university and out into the countryside again, which gradually turned into the open undulating spaces of the Maseta. It was pretty relentlessly sunny, with occasional breeze, but we did find an oasis to have lunch - a group of shady trees where there is a well from which you can pump up very cold water....just what you need at that point. With tables and seats. Perfect. We had bought more cheese at Burgos and had apples and dates still.

So we had strength for the last 5 kms or so to Hornillos del Camino. We had a very gentle rise, and saw it down the hill several kms away. Will try to add photos as this wifi may cope! Tomorrow another 20 kms to Castrojeriz.Read more