Burgos → Hornillos del Camino
Distance: 12.85 miles / 20.5km
Elevation: +350ft, -643ft
I woke up around 5:45am today before my alarm went off so I spent some time laying in bed. At around 6:20am, I got up and started getting ready for the day. I tried to pack everything up as quietly as I could since it was early and everyone else in the room was still sleeping. I think I did wake a few people up but I tried to be quick with packing and do as much outside of the room as I could.
At 7am, I had breakfast which was some kefir and a protein chocolate pudding I got from a grocery store the night before. Both were very good! The hostel also provided a basic breakfast at 7:30am, so I had a cookie. I got going for the day around 7:45am. I knew today was going to be a shorter walking day, so I was fine leaving a bit later today. The walk today was fairly boring, the first 3 miles or so were getting out of Burgos, so I walked through a park, walked past Burgos University, and then ended up on a path that led into the countryside.
For the first 5 or so miles, I was keeping up a really good pace, about an 18 minute or less mile. I met someone from Madrid who I just called “Madrid” and he called me “Chicago” every time we passed each other. I also met a man from Houston who I walked with for a little bit. At around the 7 mile mark, I came up on the first town of the day where I stopped and used the bathroom. I also stopped at the church in town and got a stamp for my pilgrim passport.
My pace slowed down a bit after this town and it was kind of a slog for the rest of the day. This may have been because the only stop I made today was at that cafe to use the bathroom, and my feet were really starting to feel tired. I listened to music for most of the walk today, and it’s become my mission this trip to clear out some of my downloaded/liked songs on Spotify - I put my playlist on shuffle, and have been removing songs I don’t really care for/don’t listen to anymore. I’m already down from around 1100 songs to 842.
At around noon, I arrived in Hornillos del Camino where I’m stopping for the day. I checked into the albergue where the hospitalero moved me from the 10 bed room I had originally booked, to a 4 bed room which was super nice. I unpacked some of my stuff and set up my bed and then took a shower and washed my clothes. The Albergue also has a super nice outdoor garden area so I sat there for some time.
Eventually, I went to the only bar/restaurant in town and got a tortilla for a snack and then went to the only grocery store in town and got a bocadillo (some meat and cheese on a baguette) for lunch. It ended up being quite large so I only ate half, and am planning on saving the rest for breakfast tomorrow.
Even though today was a shorter walking day, I hadn’t slept a ton last night and I was feeling tired, so I went and laid in bed for a while. I haven’t really been taking siestas, but I have taken some time to just lay in bed in the afternoon each day and I think the Spanish are onto something with the siestas. They’re really nice.
Once it had cooled down a bit out and the sun wasn’t as strong anymore, I went for a walk to explore the relatively small town. It pretty much runs down just one main street, but I walked down the street and explored some little side streets and found a cherry plum tree. I had had one of these earlier in the Camino, but didn’t know what type of fruit it was - Google was able to help me identify it. I’ve loved being able to find so much fresh fruit along the Camino, and the cherry plums were really good. They’re the size of a peach pit or a really big cherry tomato and they’re sweet with a pit in the middle.
After my walk, I sat on a bench in town and journaled for a while, and then went back towards my albergue. At around 8pm, I had dinner which was salad, a paella style dish (but with noodles and chicken instead of rice and seafood), and chocolate mousse for dessert. I chatted with a British man from Liverpool during dinner, and ended up giving him my spare pair of earplugs since he said his were really bad.
I got ready to sleep for the night, and then went to bed pretty early.
