The Way | Jenny and Stephen's Travel Adventure

Posts tagged ‘The Way’

Camino – Frómista (Day 17)

Date: Thu 23rd May
Distance: 65 km
Temperature: Morning Cold/Afternoon Warm
Mood: Excellent
Left: Burgos 9:15am
Arrived: Frómista 6:15 pm
Santiago de Compostela: 435 km
Highlight: View from Alto Mostelates

A late start to the day due to a totally different packing regime of bike panniers vs backpacks. Hopefully we will get more efficient at it. The day started off as a typical cold, dull overcast morning, but by late afternoon we recorded temperatures above 24 on our bike computers!

WHO SAID THE MESETA WAS FLAT! Unfortunately Jenny had been sold on the bike stage due to the Meseta being flat! Well it wasn’t! Throw in a 65km ride with very steep inclines and severely rutted earth tracks and it becomes a very long day. The longest so far. And we have another 60km planned for tomorrow! A quick bit of research on the next leg shows that there shouldn’t be anymore surprises, but who knows! Lucky for us we weren’t doing this ride 3 days ago as there is no way we would have made the distance due to the amount of mud there would have been with the rain earlier in the week.

Anyways, the scenery was magnificent, particularly at the top of Alto Mostelates, the highest peak we rode/walked. Due to the cold start to spring and plenty of rain, the Meseta so far is still very green. The ride down the other side was bone jarring on the uneven earth track with ruts and rocks. One of us was heard to say they thought their poo was being shaken out of them. Expect another load of washing tonight!

We probably bit off more than we could chew and this ride would have suited Deb and Mark on their fancy monster truck bikes! (We could definitely see them over here doing the Camino on bikes, probably do it 2 weeks!)

Scored another Motel with a bath and bumped into our Irish friends for dinner who have finished their walk for this year. They will tackle yet another stage next year. They broke out in song after dinner and sung us Waltz sing Matilda. Good note to finish off the day!

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Camino – Burgos (Day 16)

Date: Wed 22nd May
Distance: 0km
Temperature: Cold but Sunny
Mood: Great, itching to get back on the Camino
Santiago de Compostela: 501km
Highlight: Meeting an elderly Spanish gentleman/Monastery of Las Huelgas

Our official day off! We had an itinerary planned for the day but only had a 50% success rate due to the Spanish siesta! Everything is closed during the afternoon with the hours varying anywhere from 1:00pm until around 5:00pm. This plays complete havoc on trying to get around to see stuff and then when you do get there before closing, they have decided to close earlier! Very frustrating!

We were blessed with the sun shinning most of the day, but still cold! We took the bikes out on an excursion to test drive them. All working well, just need better engines! The riding over the next few days will definitely be a good thing for the feet and give the blisters a chance to heal ready for some more abuse for the final couple of hundred kilometres.

We also needed to attend to some logistics as we need to ship our backpacks along the way along with items not needed whilst we are riding. We have also taken a chance on not carrying our sleeping bags based on using Hotel type accommodation, but we still need to secure accommodation in a number of towns! We will need to cross our fingers in getting our kit at the other end in time as we will be there on the weekend, which means no deliveries on those days. Hoping it gets there before we head off on the final walking stage, as we an’t going anywhere without it!

We are still pigging out on all the delights that Burgos has to offer (and there are plenty!), so need to start burning some of this back off!

Our day included a visit of Cassa del Cordón (now a bank). A bit of shopping (needed more memory cards for camera, can you believe that!). Back to the Cathedral for some more photos with a blue sky! The Royal Monastery of Las Huelgas. Strictly no photos allowed and we had to join a tour group spoken entirely in Spanish! But a worth while visit. And finally, The Monastery of Miraflores. Unfortunately it had closed early, but a nice bike ride and were blessed by meeting a very educated senior local who spoke very good English and kept us entertained.

Now just need a decent dinner and good night sleep all in preparation for a 65km bike ride tomorrow following the Camino trail! Hope to catch up with some familiar faces along the way.

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Camino – Burgos (Day 15)

Date: Tue 21st May
Distance: 0km
Temperature: Cold
Mood: Great
Santiago de Compostela: 501km

Today was a complete chill out day. Sleep-in? Our now built-in alarm clocks had us awake soon after 6am. Still, we had a relaxing morning before heading off to the Burgos Cathedral. Wow, this makes the Paris Notre Dame Cathedral look small in comparison. Later in the day we caught up with our Aussie friends, Graham, Cheryl and Carly who we have constantly being bumping into since Bayonne Train Station on the way to St-Jean-Pier-De-Port. They had completed the last stretch into Burgos that afternoon (not like some people!). We made arrangements to catch up over dinner as this would possibly be the last we see of them before we fast forward the Meseta on bikes.

Tomorrow is our scheduled rest day and we are in no hurry to push off just yet. We are enjoying the small break and plan to test out the bikes with some more sightseeing.

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Camino – Burgos (Day 14)

Date: Mon 20th May
Distance: 30.5km
Temperature: Cold
Mood: Great
Left: Belorado 7:45am
Arrived: Atapuerca 5:00pm
Arrived: Burgos 6:00pm (Taxi)
Santiago de Compostela: 501km

Turned in early last night after an entertaining meal with a couple of Irishmen from a large group of 14 who are over here as part of their walking group. Slept solidly through to 6:00am (can’t say that everyone did that night!). Big day ahead so need a decent breakfast. Nothing open in town so will have to settle for the Albergue 4€ (each) breakfast. Although cheap, isn’t as good value as a typical local bar with freshly squeezed OJ and fresh Croissants with a Cafe con leche for around 5€ total!

We set off in high spirits! Cold, but no rain in sight (yet). Accommodation was our only challenge as the villages from around the 24-30km had very limited accommodation. As a result, most were already booking ahead! We decided to let the Camino decide for us!

The first 1/2 of the walk had numerous picturesque villages, the the second 1/2 was a scenic walk for over 12km before the village San Juan de Oterga that most were planning on staying at. Our plan A was to walk a further 3-4km to Agés and find either a private room at an Albergue or a room at a Hotel or Casa Rural (sort of a B&B).

Whilst the weather continued to be cold and overcast we enjoyed the day much more than the previous. We stocked up on supplies at a village called Villafranca Montes de Oca due to the long stint ahead. We walked through to San Juan before finally stopping for a picnic lunch and a hot chocolate whilst resting the weary feet.

The sun finally poked its head out as we entered Agés. After walking through the village with no hotels in sight some locals came to the rescue as so often they do and directed us to an Albergue with private rooms. Unfortunately they were “completo” (full), except for the attic space where we could sleep on the floor with 10 others. Forget it!

Plan B – it’s only another 2.5km to the next village of Atapuerca. With the sun shinning and our spirits still high (just our poor bodies showing signs of fatigue) we marched on down the road to Atapuerca and weaved our way through some back streets for the advertised Casa Rural. The hostess didn’t look too happy to see us land on her doorstep and with only Spanish we made out that there was no accommodation available in town!

Plan C – Now after 5pm, the next town looked too far off for our feet to carry us. We tried to ask the Casa Rural hostess if she could call us a Taxi. So she wrote down the number for us. Very helpful! We then regrouped, rang our Hotel in Burgos booked for the following 2 nights and asked if they also had a room available for tonight as well. Once confirmed, asked if they could arrange us a Taxi and was politely given the number again! Rang the Taxi company, told them where we were and 20min later were on our way to Burgos in a Mercedes! Secured our room… Happy wife happy life! Phew! Could have ended in tears!

Now there is no downside to skipping less than 20km of walking into Burgos the following day as this last 20km was going to be pretty ordinary scenery as most would be the outskirts of Burgos and it can be hard to navigate your way in as we found with Pamplona! We now have a full extra day in Burgos. The bikes have already been delivered ready for our cycle across the Meseta and our parcel from Paris was waiting for us. (Lots of small miracles as far as we’re concerned!)

Did anyone tell us how spectacular Burgos was going to be? It’s like Spain’s equivalent of Paris! Grabbed the first thing that took our fancy for dinner! Really healthy eating, but hey we are on holidays and we just walked over 30kms again!

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Camino – Belorado (Day 13)

Date: Sun 19th May
Distance: 23 km
Temperature: Very Cold/wet
Mood: Good
Left: Santa Domingo 8:15am
Arrived: Belerado 1:30pm
Santiago de Compostela: 551 km

Awoke refreshed, checked out, found a local bar for a quick bite and hit the road at a leisurely 8:15am.

Each day the temperature seems to be getting colder and higher odds for rain. We wear our wet weather gear for both extra warmth and in preparation for any rain.

Today again wasn’t the best day for photographing the local scenery due to a light drizzle, however we could have been walking through Gippsland with the green rural rolling hills. We were treated with 4 lovely small villages to break up the day. We had aimed at stopping for a coffee or hot chocolate at the first village, but so had everyone else. Whilst the local bar was making a roaring trade, we weren’t keen on waiting to be served so on we marched to the next village. Here we were able to get a seat at the bar and order hot chocolates only to hear familiar Aussie voices from a nearby table. To our surprise we found a couple of our Aussie friends (first met back in Orrison) just leaving.

After our hot chocolate pick me up, we headed off and were keen to get to Belorado so we could find some reasonable accommodation as we knew there were already a lot on the road with limited accommodation available.

With the village just in our sights, the heavens opened and gave us a good drenching as we scuttled towards our final destination. We enquired at a decent looking hotel only to be told they were fully booked, so we took our chances with a private Albergue around the corner that offered private rooms. We were greeted by a local with unfortunate teeth and no English and after a little hand gesturing he was keen to show us his private rooms. Thankfully they got the tick of approval and although it was a shared bathroom, it wasn’t too shabby, especially as we were paying 30€ for the night!

Not much to see around town so headed for one of the rare bars that are open during siesta and ordered some more hot chocolates. So much for loosing any rolls! Now just have to choose we’re to eat tonight!
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