Granon to Burgos

Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will. -Mahatma Gandhi

Day 12 – Granon to Villafranca – 17.0 Miles

May 29

E: Cristina, owner of the Casa Rural Donde Cristina in Granon (pronounced Gran-yawn in Spanish, there’s a squiggly line over the first n and an accent mark after the o) brought over a huge bowl of cherries she just picked. She’s very sweet and appreciated us…and my slight OCD 😉 … I organized the game cabinet, straightened out the community book shelf, laid out her yesterday’s guest’s clean sheets and towels from the washer to dry (so I could wash our clothes too), emptied the previous guest’s load of clean dishes and started the dish washer when we left. When we were coming back from our evening walk, she came out of her own home (just a short block from the B&B) with two, just out of the oven, flan desserts. We felt well cared for.

Side note: We get all of our water from village public fountains or out of the sinks in the restaurants or lodging, as all the small towns have wells and the water is amazingly good. The public fountains are even labeled, telling you if it’s potable, natural or treated. We always choose the natural, unchlorinated spigots.

I do not like to be negative but we have been experiencing a lot more concrete and black top then four years ago Camino 🥺👎. It makes it very difficult on your legs and feet. But with the winter and rain here, it is probably much easier to maintain and does not wash out the paths.

We are still amazed at the variety of people we meet. Today’s acquaintances were from Quebec, Canada; Namibia (southern Africa), Australia, more Irish and additional pilgrims from the UK and USA.

Along the Camino, people live concentrated within a center of town. Outside of the town and in between the municipalities we experience expansive agriculture and nature. In the US there are businesses and homes spread out between one town to the next with no real distinct separation between the towns and agriculture.

Today we randomly stopped, around noon, in a very small town for food. We ended up having lunch with a couple from Georgia, USA, not the country. We met them on day one of our Camino. They live very close to the start of the Appalachian Trail at Springer Mountain. Gary has thru-hiked the AT (close to 2,200 miles) meaning he hiked all the miles in one hike without stopping or coming home. It took him just over 4 mos. Great ice breaker with those that live on the AT. Our lunch was also cool because we four were the only ones at that cafe’. Another Camino small world story.

I had a tough day today. 17 miles was a bit too much for my knees. We ended up stopping multiple times (every couple miles) for me to stretch, put my feet up, and talk myself into keeping going 🙃 I enjoy the experience most moments and days, but today was just ‘one of those days’…. everyone gets at least one. It took us almost 10 hours (Sorry and thank you Gary, you are very patient!!) I was glad it was over. Gary was fine. He walked to the store after a shower and rest. He met some people at a hotel bar and enjoyed an evening out…until it became quite loud with thunder! After arriving back at our stop for the night in Villafranca Montes de Oca the rains came and a single, VERY bright flash of lighting immediately followed by an unforgettable crack of thunder. Phew! That was close. He arrived dry, just in time!

Speaking of rain. We have been joking about the forecast. Just like a sign we’ve seen ” Free Cervesa, tomorrow!” It has been predicted to rain the following day for over 5 days but we have yet to get wet. “Rain coming tomorrow” we keep saying jokingly…but tonight it arrived. Cross your fingers no rain upon us in the AM. If so, we still walk. 

Day 13 – Villafranca to Cardenuela de Rio Pico – 15.2 miles

May 30, 2023

We had a great forest walk after leaving Villafranca… although it was up, up, up at times, the hike filled our senses. Birds singing (more cuckoo cuckoo birds), the morning sun shone through the trees, the plants and ground smelled like rain and the ground was softer under our feet.

We stopped at pilgrim rest stop in the woods: Descanso Para Peregrinos. There is a donation table with fruit, Danish, coffee, water. The gentleman was multilingual. He had remixes of American dance music playing. He said we should move to Spain because the one rule in Spain is – “You do not live to work, you work to live.” He said we should live in more Southern part of Spain because the women in Burgos in northern Spain, starting in November, they don’t have babies, they have penguins it’s so cold.

He said he has been there for nine years, although we have missed him the last couple times we have come through. He also said he can tell a lot by people’s body language and thanked me for my positive attitude and smile. Right after I took the picture of Gary, two bikers came by and about 6 more pilgrims. 

Day 14 – Cardenuela to Burgos – 9 miles

May 31

E: Dinner last night at our Albergue Via Minera was fun. I forgot to take a picture during the meal. 😦  We only had 12 people at dinner but a diverse crowd, which is usual on the Camino. There were a few from the US, including a just graduated from high school student and his mom, a dad and his son who just graduated from college, a Korean woman, two from Spain and a Dutch woman. English and a lot of single international words and jesters make communication surprisingly easy.

We check periodically to see if there are any Geocaches in the areas we stay or walk through. If you are unfamiliar with Geocaching: simply put, a treasure hunt for a small container, hidden in a public place, using your phone’s GPS, all over the world. Coordinates are posted online, you log into http://www.Geocaching.com and can search for the locations of these little containers. You sign a log in the find and online. Gary has over 1,600 finds. At least one in all 50 states in the US and 14 different countries throughout the world during our travels. We go for unusual places and hard to get finds, not high numbers of easy to find caches. We found three so far here on the Camino, there are hundreds if you really wanted to stop a lot!

There is a “secret” (not really but it seems that way) left turn before Burgos Airport that takes you off the main roads, off blacktop and concrete and you avoid the newer sections of this over 170,000 people city. The greener, softer ground and visually pleasing path we took is easy to miss the turn if you are not looking at your book or App. The yellow arrows pointed straight and we made a left. We saw 2 dump trucks and a large tractor on the way around the airport at the beginning of our day but did not walk beside or come anywhere near a single car for the last 7 miles into Burgos. Just as expected (we have done this route twice before) the Rio Pico park walk was awesome. We walked through the entire park shortly after leaving this morning until we crossed a bridge into the older section of Burgos where the Cathedral and a fun Plaza are located.

We met a Spanish couple, our age, while in the public park once in Burgos. They were telling us about a 185 km/115 mile walk on the small Spanish island of Menorca in the Mediterranean, south of Barcelona. Cami de Cavalls. It walks the perimeter of the island! It’s very intriguing to Gary and I! Walk along the ocean on a small island? I’m in!

Almost all the dogs in most towns over here are loose in parks and very well-behaved. Most of the owners are quite nearby and if they say one word, motion or whistle, the dog goes immediately back to the owner. Not just a couple dogs, all the pups that have been loose that we have seen so far. No designated dog parks, just patient and well-trained owners.

Google Translate is wonderful. We spoke with a gentleman from Brazil who was speaking Spanish to us – he lives in Burgos now. He began to call us as we were on a lower level in the park than he was and he was trying to explain how to get to the Cathedral. Apparently, the path we were on could not access the bridge to the Cathedral further up the path without going through the river!  He pulled out his phone and proceeded to use Google Translate to tell us that he is going in that direction and would walk us there. We “chatted” back and forth via our phones. People here go out of their way to be sure you are on the Camino and going the correct direction. Even if they have to take you there themselves. Our Brazilian gentleman was very helpful and a pleasure to speak with.

As soon as we arrived to the Plaza Rey San Fernando, the ancient, mostly Gothic architecture of Burgos’ Caterdral de Santa Maria was yet again breathtaking. Surrounded by medieval streets, this structure took 346 years to complete, beginning in 1221 and completed in 1567. It is currently the 3rd largest in Spain. As are many of the locations we go through on the Camino, there is a wealth of interesting history, over hundreds of years and worth the research if this interests you. Here is a link to an article on the history of the cathedral. Burgos Cathedral

Before checking into The Abba Hotel, we stopped for a Menu del Dia, the menu of the day, see pics. Gary was talked into the Burgos appetizer by the waitress, Mancille del Burgos, Black Pudding. Although the ingredients do not sound wicked appealing, we both liked it! An Australian woman joined our table and she said it brought back memories of her mum, who used to make it.

After we checked in, washed clothes, rested, worked on the journal and made a few plans for our walk tomorrow we headed back to by a few things at the market and pharmacy. we ended up back at the same restaurant for a slice of chocolate cake. We bought two chocolate Napolitanos (chocolate filled croissants) for breakfast tomorrow. Before we finished dinner, our Australian lunch buddy joined us again. She is just starting her Camino here in Burgos and will be staying in the next two towns we are stopping at as well. We took a few pics of the Cathedral as it was technically closed to tourists for a mass. We will post the journal and I will soak in a tub to round out the night!

Thank you again for following along. Be well our familia (family) and Amigos (friends)!

“Of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt.” – John Muir