A great walk from San Juan de Ortega

We had planned right from the start of this trip that today, unless it was teeming with rain, we would walk from San Juan de Ortega into Burgos, the walk we would have done last year except we got a taxi to the hospital instead. It is the third time we have walked into Burgos, in 2013 and 2018 we tried to walk an alternate route along the river into the city, thus avoiding the long boring walk through the industrial area. And twice we failed to find the turnoff…so we really wanted to succeed this time and have a last chance of getting it right! And finally we did!!

Rachel and Richard were also keen, and we got a taxi back and set off walking from there at 9am. When almost at San Juan the taxi was hailed by a man, obviously in distress - he was a walker, but his wife was in trouble, and he needed a taxi to take her to the hospital…they were having trouble communicating, and we realised he was French and his Spanish was bad, so Amr stepped in as translator and the taxi driver confirmed that he would drop us off, and come back in 5 minutes to pick them up….what luck for everyone!

San Juan was lovely in the morning light, totally quiet, as everyone staying there last night had already left, and the next wave wouldn’t arrive till afternoon. It was cold, but cloudless and perfect walking weather. I had forgotten how beautiful this section was, and we hadn’t seen it in spring with all the green fields and bright green new spring leaves.

We walked comfortably, at a leisurely pace, taking breaks when we felt like it, and having a wonderful time. And studying the Book closely, and Rachel’s maps on her iPhone, we took the right turns, and entered Burgos by the river route…hallelujah! It was a long walk - about 26kms, but Amr’s watch says 28 - and there was a long stretch around the airport, and when we got to the river part, there was still a couple of hours of walking - but we were by then feeling triumphant and knew the end was in sight. And maybe it is after our warm up walking in France, we feel fabulous!!

Then after a bit of abluting and downtime, we set off into the town for a small wander before meeting R and R in the cathedral square and went with them to the 7.30 mass in a very fancy chapel in the cathedral…it was a pilgrim mass and we all got a cathedral postcard blessing. As we left the promised storm broke, but we had umbrellas and quickly made our way to a nearby restaurant and had good dinner, then back to hotel where Amr spotted the woman who had been so kind to him last when he was there for a week, and she remembered him and great excitement, and we all had a drink in the bar - 2 ColaCao with baileys, 1 baileys on ice, one red wine, one espresso all for €8…(maybe she was giving Amr a special price…? (The breakfast man remembered him too, quite a celebrity round here!). Anyway, a fab night, and tomorrow we set off on the official camino to Hornillos del Camino, about 21 kms…Read more