I made a promise that when we reached a day that really had little to report that I would keep th he blog short. Today was such a day! The highlight of the day was essentially paralleling a very as straight road for a little more than eight miles. There were a couple villages, we took a rest stop at one that had chickens swarming our outdoor table waiting for scraps, but all and all, a pretty unremarkable day. We just finished our pilgrim’ supper in the village of Villalcazar de Sirga, and are headed to bed.

pas

Pilgrim milestone achieved today – COMPLETION OF OUR FIRST 200 MILES! Arrived at our destination, Castrojeriz at 1:00 pm,, and our GPS registered that we had walked exactly 200 miles! Today was a rather short 12.3 miles through the Meseta. When we left Hornillos del Camino we once again had a long climb with an elevation change of 570 feet. Once on top of the mountain we still had over 5 miles to our first stop, Hontanas. The most unique element of this first 6.2 miles was how far we could see on this seemingly endless vista – you literally walked and walked and nothing seemed to get much closer. Finally, our of nowhere, the high plains dipped and exposed a storybook village, Hontanas. Great stop for breakfast, after a 2 1/2 hour trek. Upon leaving Hontanas, we had approximately 6 more miles to complete the day, with only one possible stop to break up the walk. But what a stop it was! Three and a half miles down the road, we saw the Ruins of Convento de San Anton. Remnants of an impressive 12th century monastery, located on what formerly was the garden of King Pedro I of Castile. The monastery of San Anton was used as a hospital, caring specifically for the sick who walked the Camino de Santiago. The monastery was also under royal protection at the time, and thus the purpose of the royal crests still present in the front of the church. There is a very rustic and spartan alburgue on site, that functions without electricity. It was not yet open, because the nights are still too cold, but we were lucky enough to talk to the caretaker, who happened to drive up and let us tour the facility. Despite its limited amenities, we ‘ll agreed it would have been fascinating to spend a night there! From there it was a fairly short hike to the eastern edge of Castrojeriz. Little did we know that this small town of 900 was nearly 3/4 of a mile long AND all uphill. We had lunch in the Plaza Mayor and checked into a charming rural hotel.

q

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.

After an early morning cab ride to San Juan Ortega, we began our walk back to Burgos about 7:45am. The weather was very nippy, as we trekked through peaceful forests toward the village of Ages, 2.3 miles. What a terrific little stop, as we are breakfast in a quaint old alburgue cafe that may be the nicest venue we have seen in the entire camino. We were further delighted to see several of our better known and liked pilgrims from earlier days. Great time ‘catching up’. We then walked through the town of Atapuerca, about 1.6 miles later, supposedly the site of some of the earliest known humans in western Europe. We then walked steeply up hill for 2.7 miles, en route to Villalval. The most expansive views we have seen since the Pyrennes! At the crest of the mountain was a 30 foot high cross. Very emotional site as we climbed the last 50 rocky feet. From there we worked our way down the mountain with incredible views of Burgos, still 10 miles away. We walked through a couple small towns in the valleys east of Burgos and stopped for a drink at another alburgue cafe. When we crossed the interstate and later walked next the outskirts of the very windy Burgos airport we knew our ‘rural walk’ was over. Problem was – we still had 7 miles to our hotel! Still, enjoyed the change of pace as we completed our walk at the Burgos Cathedral. Words can not adequately describe this building and the parks and plazas that surround it – hopefully our pictures will!