Conversations on the Way
Sunday, September 11th
Santo Domingo to Belorado
Weather: hot and sunny.
Last night as arranged I met Dom from the Netherlands, and we had a chat over a beer. Tragically his wife died earlier this year and he is doing the Camino to give himself space and time to sort his life out.
This is just one of many many stories that are being told quite openly. It’s both humbling and quite strange for me to be involved in this type of conversation. This isn’t the place to go into the deep whys and wherefores, but it really does put a whole different complexion on a long distance walk.
Back to the walk today and given the forecast was for hot and sunny we made an early start 7am. A group of us watched the sun come up in the east and the moon go down in the west. A stunning site, the photos can’t do it justice.
We stopped for breakfast en route after our early start: coffees and in my case a gluten-free tortilla. The others of course had wonderful pastries!
The countryside has changed today from vineyards and olive groves to arable land. You can see in the photos that the corn has already been cut.
Next was a whole section of the walk into Belorado that was beside the main road - noisy and pretty boring!
However having arrived in Belorado at lunchtime I met a couple of guys from California who I’d bumped into before so we had a beer and a salad together.
Tomorrow is another long day of 30.4km (19 miles) and unfortunately the weather looks as though it’s going to be pretty hot again…
Monday, September 12th
Belorado to Atapuerca
Weather: cloudy and overcast from most of the day.
We have had a long day today of 31km (19 miles). The weather has been on our side though, not as warm as expected and overcast, so quite good conditions for walking in. The scenery today has changed again, we started through rural countryside and then into a long section through oak and pine woods.
Tonight we are in the town of Atapuerca, one of Europe's most important archaeological sites. It was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2000, and a Site of Outstanding Universal Value, also by UNESCO, in 2015.
The archaeological site is one of the most important in Europe, because it has traces of hominid life in the area from a million years ago. The Sima de los Huesos is a cave where bones of over 32 bodies of people of all different ages and both genders have been discovered, and is one of the best known examples of a colony from that era.
(By the way, all of that was from Wikipedia, I didn’t just happen to know it!)
So as you can tell we are in a very ancient and important town in the middle of the rural area of North Western Spain.
Today I also caught up with Ross from Hawaii again, I mentioned him in my blog a couple of days ago. I had the opportunity of walking with him today so we able to have quite a long chat. It appears that he has had a pretty torrid last 10 years and has decided that the pilgrimage is something that he just needed to do. Yet another story on the Way.
Tomorrow the walk is only 20km (12 miles), a bit of a rest day for us.
Tuesday, September 13th
Atacuperca to Burgos
Weather: overcast and windy
To day we only had 20k (12miles) to do soo under no pressure, although frustrated by the breakfast being served at 7.30 rather than 7am!
Still, we got away by 8.00 and only had 50 metres of climb, as we were already starting at 950 metres, than over the hill and down through rolling countryside to Burgos.
We had a head wind for the whole of the day and it’s still blowing in Burgos as I write this. High gusts are blowing tables and chairs over!
I walked for some time with Stacia from LA and then with more guys from other areas of the US. Had a long conversation with a guy from Michigan last night about the work I used to do. Not sure he really understood - it’s all different in the States!
Ok, now off for a look round the cathedral here with some others I met on the Way and I need to find some food as well. I’m finishing writing this sitting outside a laundrette waiting for my washing. Not done that for probably 40 years or so but that’s how it is when you’re a pilgrim!
Tomorrow another fairly easy day of 21k (13miles).
