Today was a relatively short Camino walking day (12.6 miles), but it felt MUCH longer. How can I walk 20 miles one day and feel REALLY good and then walk less than 13 miles the next day and feel like I'm dragging my butt? The difference has to be that the last 5 miles of our walk today was through the industrialized outskirts of Burgos and then through the modern commercial section of the city, rather than through wheat fields on quiet country roads. Amazing how exhausting trying to maneuver through bustling city streets can be!
Another part of our frustration today was that there was a more peaceful way into the city, bypassing all the industrialization, if we had had the correct set of maps with us. The company with whom we had booked our lodging and luggage transfer sent us the 2018 edition of John Brierly's Camino guidebook. Becky and I had earlier editions of the guidebook from when we walked a portion of the Camino in 2016 and we each decided to bring that earlier, marked up edition with us so we could tear out the pages for each day and not feel bad about throwing the book away at the end of the trip. We erroneously thought the only change would be to the recommended albergues and pensions, and not to the actual route itself. How wrong we were! We missed the turnoff for Brierly's recommended route along the river Arianzon and, by the time we realized our mistake, we were in the thick of the industrialized suburb of Villafria. None of us felt like turning around and walking back another 1.5 miles.
When we did finally reach the old town area of Burgos, we felt like we were back on our familiar Camino. Spent the afternoon doing laundry and then visited the Museum of Human Evolution, which was fascinating. Remember the discovery of the 900,000 year old human remains at Atapuerca? This museum provided information about that discovery and a whole lot more.
As of now, we only have 22 more stages, 23 more days and 309 more miles until we reach Santiago. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we continue our Camino journey.
Atapuerca man wearing Jerry's hat
Top of the Sierra Atapuerca (3543 feet)
Small church in the town of Obaneja. The statue of Mary seemed to
shine with an inner light.
Although part of our path was like this today...
It wasn't nearly as grueling as this path
And this is how we felt when we reached our hotel in Burgos
With another pilgrim outside the Catedrale de Santa Maria in Burgos
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