Day 15 ~ May 3rd

Surprise, surprise! Walked out of our hotel in Burgos to a cold, windy and rainy day. Had to retreat to hotel to put on rain gear. Good news / bad news: rain stopped within first hour, but it generally remained cool and windy all day. It took us a little over an hour to get out of Burgos, and there were several worthwhile sights as we exited the west side of town. We were particularly fortunate to visit Centro La Milagrosa, a small, rather remote 17th century chapel at the start of a gravel road. We had our passports stamped by a very special lady who blessed us and our trip and gave us a ‘Marie’ metal to wear around our necks to keep us safe on the Camino. Our first stop was 6.7 miles away in the surprisingly large but not particularly active village of Tardajos. We had a quick lunch, bought Vickie a knee brace, and hit the road for the second half of our relatively short 12.5 mile hike. We had been blessed with the first half of our day being absolutely flat, but once we exited the town of Rabe de las Calzadas, we began a continuous 2.5 mile climb up 400 feet to a small plateau on a mountain, followed by a steep downhill trek for 1.5 miles into our destination for the day, Hornillos del Camino. We survived the first day of the infamous ‘Meseta’ – a 111 mile stretch of the Camino that runs endlessly through plains of wheat, with very few trees for shade. It is said that the Camino has three segments. The first segment is called the PHYSICAL phase, where pilgrims have to endure long days of steep inclines and declines that are physically taxing to bodies not used to such a continuous and demanding routine. The second segment is often referred to as the MENTAL phase, because while your bodies have adapted to the rigor of hiking, the absence of anything to see, straight paths, no shade, taxes the mental toughness of the pilgrim. I have heard it compared to “walking on a treadmill 7 hours a day for 8 days!! This segment is entire!y encompassed in the Meseta, between Burgos and Leon. The final segment starts in Leon and ends at the Cathedral in Santiago, and is appropriately referred to as the SPIRITUAL phase.