Day 13: Agés to Burgos (Wendy)

Oddly enough, today was a much better day, even though we were cold and drenched to the bone by the time we reached our hostel in Burgos, 15 minutes too early to check in at 2:00. It rained on and off the entire day, sometimes with a strong wind bonus. The rain meant there was little chance to stop and rest and we arrived in Burgos not having eaten lunch and Bob’s feet had not been lovingly massaged at regular intervals. Nor had he been able to switch into his Keens, which have been working better for his feet than his Altra trail runners recently.

Wendy, that sounds like an awful day, you might be thinking. But there are two key components that made this a great day. First, my back wasn’t bothering me much at all, after Bob swathed my lower back in KT tape this morning. And I had several hours without stabbing pain in my knees, which meant the euphoria from the endorphins could kick in. Lovely.


Second, we followed the pack of South Korean peregrinos (there are many here since the airing of a popular Korean show whose main characters apparently find love while walking the Camino) off the main path and around the south side of the Burgos airport. This let us leave the paved road and walk along deserted gravel roads for many miles. We then entered an urban wilderness and finally a riverside park with a broad pedestrian path that is unlike anything I’ve seen before. We literally walked for two hours or more through this peaceful park where we saw more geese and magpies than people.



We learned from some friends staying at our same hostel (the non-Mormons from Draper, Utah we may have mentioned before) that had we stayed on the main Camino we would have been treated to hours of an industrial “park” instead.



Less pain, more nature. Even with everything we own absolutely soaked, it was still a good walk. 


We took everything to a laundromat and had a snack and cerveza while we waited. So now we’re all set to do the same thing tomorrow as we head into the Meseta. Rain forecast for the next three days. Luckily, we’ e booked private rooms through this time, so we’ll have some space to spread out and recuperate each evening.





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