San Juan de Ortega - Burgos, 26 kms

Are We There Yet?

The sunsets lately have sometimes been amazing and other times unusual. Last night was one of the latter ones.

I thought it was different and in no small way also stunning. This virus is bringing out the very best of sunsets!

Today was fortunately a shorter day of walking as we walked quite far yesterday and I needed to get into the garden today among other things. It was all over and dusted in about two hours, but those hours were peaceful and very pleasant walking. The sun was shining and it was about 14 by the time we finished at 10:30.

It was 16 an hour later when I drove out to pick up one last tin of paint and find garden plants for my parents. Sort of a personal record, only getting into a car 4 times in the last 6 weeks. Did not anticipate that!

The field flowers are showing now. In about a week they will be spectacular and I'll try to post a few photos of them.

Other flower ‘walls’ are showing themselves now. Makes the walking a joy.


Back on the virtual camino, things are getting interesting as we anticipate our arrival into Burgos, one of the truly wonderful cities on the Spanish portion of the Way of St. James.

As I believe I said earlier, in 2013 we had hoped to walk just 20 kms and then bus 18 kms into town due to Annemarie's situation, but on a Sunday the bus service from the small villages was basically non-existent. So without any other choice we walked the 38 kms, the longest stage of our camino. Annemarie was very brave with her broken toe and many blisters.

When I started out in 2018 it was below zero, there was ice on the roads and a skiff of fresh snow as well.



Frankly it was a bit bleak, but beautiful in a bleak sort of way. Ages in the distance.

Ages is a place I'd often thought to stay, but somehow it has always seemed to elude me.

It's a very cool medieval village with some real character.
2013.

2018.

We passed quickly through...

But Ken has a memory so I'll also post a photo of the town from 2013.

Rain again, on and off, mostly on, over the Montes de Oca. Long 12 km stretch without much of a rest except a moment to eat a banana and put on my wet but still warm sweater. Coffee with cognac in San Juan de Ortega and a tuna empañada. 

And began the somewhat awkward climb up to Matagrande at 1,082m. A bit of a desolate, but beautiful place that I've always managed to visit without others around, except of course Annemarie in 2013: ) A place of reflection, even when it's windy and cold.



2013.

2018....brrrrr!

Burgos looking so close, but still some 23 kms away.



A rare selfie on this virtual camino. On the last amigo's Zoom call, Ken asked what I was wearing when it was so cold. I had planned for 3 season walking, not really expecting that I'd experience the cold and snow that I did. I had adequate gear in layers. Thankfully Annemarie left me her purple buff when she left. It saved me as the weather deteriorated, and I used mine as a toque.

A group of French pilgrims who I'd come to know somewhat in 2018. They walk a section each year.





It's such a long way into Burgos. In 2013 we made an effort to take the alternate way into the city that I'd read about, but we got redirected after the airport and ended up walking through the industrial area.

2018.

Ken said that he missed the turn for the river route and walked the crappy industrial zone route. Neil said that he walked in alone after Sarah's injured feet forced her to take a taxi with others. Neil had his epiphany moment as he walked into the city alone. It happens that way, and he promises to share it with me next time we are face to face in person...hopefully sharing a beer! It's our turn to visit them in Oz, so I'm going to hold you to that mate! Hopefully we can travel again post covid-19 fairly soon.

Ken's Burgos thoughts;
This albergue is huge, like the city--it was a long 10 km walk from the industrial suburbs (missed the turn for the bypass, it wasn’t marked, but that was okay because we both needed coffee and a bocadillo by 12:30)--anyway, my feet are tired. More walking now, to find correo, maybe a gear shop to get a neck wallet (I can’t get into the money belt easily and I’ve had enough--also don’t like keeping my passport in my outside pocket). [It had already been damaged by the rain while crossing the Pyrenees. Lesson learned: ziplock bags!]

At one point we stopped to repair Annemarie's feet. 38 kms is a decent walk with a pack on your back for anyone, much of it on road surfaces.

In 2018 I figured out the alternate route into the city centre. It went on and on, but it was much nicer than the industrial slog.







While we expect to walk tomorrow, the blog will address the rest day we took here in 2013. A really interesting city!

Villafranca Monte - San Juan de Ortega, 12 kms

Groundhog Day

We enjoyed another beautiful sunset last night, or rather I did. We were chatting on line with our neighbours when it all happened. I did warn all concerned that it looked like an unusual sunset was in the cards as a strip of horizon had opened in the cloud cover. Sure enough things did develop and excusing myself I took my camera I headed for the door.

Returning to the conversation I suggested that I may have to briefly repeat my disappearing act to catch the afterglow. And I did, disappearing again, but only briefly. The sun was well down, but there was a ghosting of the sun against the clouds that was pretty unusual. Perhaps a reflected light? Ariel jumped up to have a look from their house. In the meantime as they hadn’t walked all day Lis decided that this might be their opportunity, so they quickly headed off into the twilight while we who had already walked descended into the depths of Netflix, lol. We discovered a new reality program all about a place in Alaska and  will see how that develops. 

Today we were up and away in the cool of the morning. I didn't wear quite enough clothing so I was feeling the morning west wind as I trucked along in my shorts, t-shirt and ultra light windbreaker. The walk was really nice though with a sun glow on the water, though it was largely grey and cloudy all  morning.

We noticed so many more vehicles on the roads today. Perhaps we missed the announcement that the pandemic is over? I wonder where everyone is going? One young lady was in such a hurry to go nowhere that she didn't bother to stop for us at a crosswalk we were crossing. The police report they are giving huge tickets to speeders on our local highways because with less traffic they feel that they can drive faster. Not today though. There were way more cars out there.

We hit the 500 km mark today since we amped up our walking 6 weeks ago. Not bad for a stay at home camino. There are, however, a few downsides to walking so many kilometres close to home. We regularly pass this sign at the university and these movies seem to have been playing for ever!

Clearly there is a Groundhog Day element creeping into our lives with all the repetition. For my parent's sake, this is the name of a movie where the key player was caught in a cycle of exact repetition, day after day.

Meantime, somewhere in Spain our intrepid peregrinos trudge onwards, ever onwards. The weather has changed radically. In 2013 we experienced heavy rain on a day that starts off with a decent climb. I took very few photos that day fearing for the survival of my camera.

In 2018 it also rained and the high temp that day was a cool 4 with my first snow as I approached the 1,200m level.

I wrote;

There was clear evidence that I was right to stay in bed longer. It must have rained heavily before I arrived as the boot prints became deeper as I went. Clearly at some point folks weren’t trying very hard to miss the mud any more. When I crossed over it was raining less and I could better select my footing, but the early folks must have found it tough going. It led me to ask myself why it always seems to rain heavily on this particular crossing. It rained here in 2013 and I remember quite the muddy mess then as well. I figure that it’s the orographic lift as the clouds cross the Meseta, now just a day ahead. 


It was snowing as I crested the pass behind me. In my rearview mirror some of the folks I'd met along the way.

There's this spot along this section that I have no memory of in 2013. Any one of our group remember any of this?



I have no recall of this being there in 2013. Mind you, I was drowning in the heavy rain!

Unusually busy section in 2018. I caught up to this group, but many days I never saw this many people all day.

San Juan de Ortega shows itself in 2013.





A relatively simple church from 1462.





In 2013 we bumped into Barney and Noreen who invited us to join them inside for a very welcome hot drink in the only small bar in town, of course just beside the church. He showed us his totem, a fond memory.

As I write this post something has suddenly become very clear to me. In 2018 I also had a very special and memorable experience in this exact same tiny bar! I met a fellow, Pierre from Quebec and he told me the story of his mother's Alzheimer's journey and his own fears for himself. We talked for a while and then he headed off for Ages while I remained in San Juan for the night. That night he read our blog and made a very substantial donation to our cause. Sadly I missed locating him again the rest of the camino, but when I returned home we exchanged emails and I was finally able to thank him for his very kind support. That night I posted this in my Camino For Alzheimer Awareness blog.

I stepped into the bar for a late lunch and sat beside Pierre who is from Montreal and a fellow from Brisbane whose name I missed. We discussed walking and I guess Pierre had heard about our walk for Alzheimer’s and was interested because his 89 year old mother has the disease. She was diagnosed about 5-7 years ago and Pierre and his brother have provided as much care as they can. She has been taking the same drug that Kathy is and it has slowed progression for now. One of Pierre’s more interesting comments paralleled an area that Kathy and Annemarie discussed during our walk together, and that’s living in the present moment. His mother remembers things from the past, but her short term memory has been effected so she lives for today and for the moment. Sadly Pierre and his brother had to place their mother into care this past year as there were concerns that she wouldn’t take her meds and some relief that help would be close at hand if needed. There was of course some guilt in the decision, but they know it’s the correct one. At times his mother questions why she’s there, but they gently tell her that she’s lived there for a very long time and that settles her nicely. Pierre is concerned that at 49 he is forgetting short term things as well. His doctors have assessed him and assure him that he doesn’t have have early onset Alzheimer’s as he’s having no problems remembering any work related details. So he knows that he has to work on accepting their assessment and move forward. But it must be difficult for him knowing his mother’s situation. It would of course work in the back of your mind. Thanks Pierre for letting me share your story. I hope I got it right! 

Buen Camino!