Burgos, Castile and León, Spain and Canary IslandsDistance by the guide book - 20km
Total distance for the day - 24km
Flights climbed - 8
We were sitting outside the cafe in Atapuerca at lunchtime yesterday and Sheila was trying the blood pudding, Morcilla in Spanish, which is apparently a favourite among Spanish people.
She told me it was delicious. I had a small taste and yes, I agree, if you don’t think about the blood, it’s pretty tasty. Sheila had to have an iron transfusion before we left home, because her body is not absorbing iron well. The morcilla is apparently a great iron source. There was a young Spanish girl sitting near us. She and Sheila were having an animated discussion about foods that are a good iron source. She was telling Sheila that the lentils they serve are very good as well. So Sheila ordered the lentils with chorizo for dinner and rather than stress the poor, hassled waiter out with a different choice I ordered it too. It didn’t look too appetising when it came out, a bowl of brown sludge with a few pieces of chorizo thrown in. Surprisingly it was absolutely delicious. I’m not sure if it’s the iron heavy food consumed yesterday but Sheila had a burst of energy this morning and was galloping on ahead of me.
We started the day on an absolute goat track coming out of Atapuerca. It was so rocky, you could barely see the path for the rocks. It wasn’t pleasant, a good ankle breaking track. We made the mistake of not stopping in the first little village that we came to this morning. It was after only about 6kms, we were feeling good and decided to walk on to the next village which was only 2 kms away. Sadly when we got there nothing was open! We ended up walking about 13kms before we got to take a break.
Today on the walk into Burgos there was a choice of following the Camino path which goes through the industrial area for a number of kilometres into Burgos or there was an alternative path along the river into Burgos.
Most people opt for the river walk but finding it is tricky and a lot miss the turn off and end up walking through the industrial area. Sheila and I almost missed it! In fact we did miss it but realised our mistake just in time. We ended up skirting a farmer’s field around the edge of Burgos airport in order to get back onto the right track. I had a map to follow that was saying we were going in the right direction but I had a Doubting Thomas beside me for quite some time. She was finally convinced when we saw the track and some other walkers in the distance. It was funny that later in Burgos we ran into a couple who were following us up until the point that we jumped the ditch and walked off into the farmers field. They wished they’d followed us further because the industrial area wasn’t a very nice walk apparently. The river walk was lovely. It’s a huge park that runs all the way along the river into the centre of Burgos. There were many locals out enjoying the path and taking their daily constitutional.
We’re taking a much needed rest day tomorrow so we’ve booked ourselves into an Airbnb for the two nights we’ll be here. It’s a strange setup really. Eva owns the apartment. She has a vintage dress shop downstairs. She obviously lives here and just vacates the place when she gets a booking. Her things are all around, down to dirty clothes in the laundry hamper! I don’t think I could have strangers moving in to my place for a few days and going through all my cupboards. It’s in a great location though. We have a view of the cathedral outside our window. The bit we’ve seen of Burgos so far looks really interesting so we’re glad we’ve got a day to spend a bit more time exploring it tomorrow.
We’ve been really missing vegetables! Meals just don’t come with anything other than potato or bread. We’d been promising ourselves a veggie cook up when we reached Burgos and had a kitchen. We invited Nicole, our new Dutch friend, over and we cooked up a load of veggies for dinner. Eva didn’t make it easy for us. She’s obviously not a cook so kitchen supplies were limited and the knives could barely cut butter but dinner was delicious! We’ve had our supply of veggies now probably until our next rest day!
Rain was in the forecast today. We’d hoped that we could make it to Burgos before it started to fall. We were so lucky. We’d no sooner walked into our Airbnb and it started to rain. The temperature has dropped drastically and it’s really quite chilly again. I had to get my puffer jacket out again.
Marl
2023-05-10
Lucky your navigation skills are good, Lan, enjoy your day off tomorrow girls!
Jenny
2023-05-10
Beautiful photos once again! Enjoy your well earned day off…maybe reward your precious feet with a foot spa too!
Joc
2023-05-10
I understand the craving for some veg. Dinner looks good! Enjoy your sleep in.
Margot
2023-05-10
It’s weird how you can walk past fields of vegetables but they never appear on your plate. I thought all the patatas fritas (hot chips usually) were what they served tourists but a Spanish girl told me they’re a national dish.
Ange K
2023-05-10
As always thank you for sharing. I get the whole weirdness of just walking out of one's house and letting strangers stay! On the other hand you are really seeing how other's live 🙂 I would struggle with the lack of vegetables too ... I wonder if the locals eat many and just think tourists don't 🙃
Karen
2023-05-11
The edges look great and you both look well and happy. I found in America they serve everything with chips. To gat vege you had to go upmarket, but that was years ago. Verges are “it” for me and I would miss them too. Stay safe. Love Karen
Lisa K
2023-05-11
Eight flights of steps = a big day on those rocky slopes. Glad Sheila had the blood sausage and the lentils - great sources of iron - cause it obviously helped with her energy levels next day. Nice you tried it all too Leanne and enjoyed it.
Sonja
2023-05-11
I am so enjoying your travel log Leanne. Cheers Sonja.
Jodie
2023-05-11
Me a vegetarian would definitely be stuck for food- ha ha. Enjoy you doing so well.
Suzanne
2023-05-11
You are having some interesting experiences and meeting new people. Hope the Air BnB turns out to be OK.
Beth
2023-05-11
You just can't beat a simple plate of well-cooked (prepared beautifully, I mean) fresh vegetables at any time, but particularly when you're travelling, I find. Enjoy, Leanne. Love Beth x
Chris D
2023-05-11
Enjoy some well earned relaxation L&S. So lovely that you're making new friends along the way.
Liz Davis
2023-05-15
Glad you followed your instincts and went via that farmer's field for the more picturesque walk. Enjoy the rest days.
Tomasina
2023-05-16
I'm sure you enjoyed your rest day ,happy trekking. xoxo