Camino de Santiago Frances
INTROThe Camino de Santiago is a network of long distance pilgrimages throughout Europe, primarily Spain, leading to Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
Burgos Cathedral
I am currently on the Frances route which began in Saint Jean Pied de Port, France. This route is roughly 500 miles (800 kilometers). This is different from an other backpacking I’ve done; less wilderness, more showers/town food.
Day 11-13 took me from Belorado, Spain to San Anton Ruins, Spain.
OVERVIEWDAYS3
MILES/kilometers54.3/86.9
TOTAL ELEVATION GAINED3372 ft
TOTAL ELEVATION LOSS3256 ft
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Social aspect of the trail really taking off. Meeting lovely people while having a core group to hike with.
Easier terrain and less elevation means more miles per day.
Cute towns and magnificent cities.
San Anton Ruins. Period.
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Weather was hot and exposed in the Meseta section.
Poor sleep due to rude people in albergues continued.
Meseta views
In Depth
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Accommodation: Albergue de Peregrino
Distance: 18.6 miles/29.8 kilometers
Elevation Gain: 1737 ft
Elevation Loss: 1137 ft
After a decent night sleep in the albergue, we went across the street to the same restaurant from dinner the night prior for a large breakfast. In addition to breakfast, they also provided un bocadillo (sandwich) which I wrapped up for lunch.
As the group got hiking, Kim’s feet continued to propose a problem. She had an immense amount of blisters that we tried to doctor up the night prior and the morning of, but her feet were still hurting. I showed her the ways of how to pop a blister from all my previous trail surgeries and that was certainly an experience. Because of this, we set out at a slightly slower pace, but had all day so we were not feeling particularly pressured.
There were beautiful flowers along the trail as spring was truly coming forth. The group had lunch on the side of the trail in whatever shade we could find as the day was heating up. Luckily, there were several town stops in which Kim could put up her feet and we all could rehydrate.
Alex and I continued to head and went to grab bunks at our end destination for the group of five of us. While Kim, Jac, and Dmytrii went at a different pace to accommodate Kim‘s poor feet. Though Alex and I talked to the whole time and got there quickly, the reception desk was closed until 4:00pm – which was the time that the other group showed up anyway. We all got bunks and settled in for the night.
There was a small market open, so we decided to make dinner together at the albergue as there was a slightly functional kitchen. We made an enormous meal of pasta with a delicious homemade sauce – carb heaven. This albergue ended up being one of the more social ones of the entire trail. I ran into Angelica (Mexican) from my stay in Torres del Rio. in addition we met Kieran (UK) and a trio of funny Brazilian boys; Pedro, Taylor, and Andres. It was a lovely evening, sharing it with people from all over the world
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Accommodation: Casa de Beli
Distance: 19.5 miles/31.2 kilometers
Elevation Gain: 650 ft
Elevation Loss: 1068 ft
The social aspect from the night before was appreciated in the moment. But when my bunk mate crawled on the top bunk after midnight and dropped her phone between the bunkbed and the wall onto my face at 5:00am, my patience waned.
The group left early for a pretty long day that included stopping in the city of Burgos. Dmytrii had left before the group because he needed some time alone and we didn’t know if we would see him again.
The morning was completely spent walking on roads and mostly through suburbs to get into the city of Burgos. But once we arrived in Burgos actually into the proper city center, it was magnificent. The centerpiece was the Gothic era cathedral that was awe inspiring. I continue to walk around the outside because every angle showed something else spectacular. This would become a common thread in the larger cities of seeing these mammoth cathedrals.
After a disappointing lunch, but overall good time in Burgos, we headed off into the heat for more suburban walking. The last several miles of the day were just trudging to get to our next destination, which was Tardajos.
This was a lovely albergue that had a great patio and communal space despite not having a kitchen. The group mostly wanted snacks so we went to a supermarket in town that was open. I was able to have full conversations in order completely in Spanish, which gave me a bit more confidence that by the end of my time in Spain, I will be speaking more Spanish. Jac wanted a full meal, but the rest of us just have Girl dinner which was comprised of adult charcuterie.
The people that were also in our bunk room, alerted us that they would be getting up between 3:00-4:00am as they like to do 40km and need it all day to do so. This was not an exciting prospect.
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Accommodation: San Anton Ruins
Distance: 16.2 miles/25.9 kilometers
Elevation Gain: 985 ft
Elevation Loss: 1051 ft
The men from the night before were not lying and they definitely got up in the early hour. One would think that they could prepare most of their stuff from the morning in advance but no these 70+ year-old men decided to bump around at that time.
The day passed by pretty quickly. There were many fields and it was quite windy on the straight aways. It was windy enough that I was unable to listen to anything while hiking as I couldn’t hear and chatting with folks was also pointless.
We all met up and had lunch in Hontanas as I was desperately hungry. The remainder of the day flew by as it was easy inclines and open views from fields. And then we stumbled upon the San Anton ruins.
Some folks walk right past this site, but I would highly recommend everybody stop. They are eye catching ruins that actually has an albergue in it. After chatting with Susan and Joette, the volunteers for the timeframe that we were there, we decided to ditch our plans of going a few miles further and stay there for the night.
It is a small privately run albergue with only 12 beds. It is donation based and they provide dinner and breakfast. There is no electricity or Wi-Fi on premises. So it feels like you’re taking several steps back into time.
There ended up being about 17 of us for dinner which was full of interesting characters.
This is the day we also met Sebastian who would complete our group for a while and turn it into a group of six. He is Danish and came with a lot of jokes.
We all shared a beautiful communal dinner outside underneath the ruins which led to a lot of giggling as we relaxed for the evening. Some of us even decided to sleep outside as they had cots provided. Something special about sleeping under the stars of ruins from 1146.
GALLERY
