David's Camino, 2005

Walking the Camino de Santiago de Compostela -

the Chemin de Saint Jacques

Part 2 - Puenta la Reina to Burgos

We bought our scallop shells at the tourist office: now we would be clearly identifiable as pilgrims walking to Santiago! We had met up with A & C in Puenta la Reina as planned. We were ready to set off on the next stage of the journey. We had a bit less than 700 kilometres to go and while we had the time constraint of hotel reservations in Santiago and airline bookings to London at the end, we were not under any great pressure. All we had to do was average 19 kilometres a day and we would arrive on time.

We decided to try to get an early start in the mornings and to finish our day's walk around lunch time if possible. That way we would avoid walking in the hottest part of the day and we would have plenty of time to settle into the albergue, shower, wash our clothes and have a very relaxing couple of hours siesta. It also meant that we should never have a problem getting a bed. When the afternoon started to cool down, we still had plenty of time for some sightseeing around town. Compared to many of the pilgrims who were walking up to twice our planned distance, we should have a relaxed time. Provided, of course, that we had no major physical problems.

Day 13 - Puenta la Reina to Estella - 22km - Total 196km

We were on the road after breakfast at a little after seven o'clock. The route started off wide and smooth but then we hit the first of a series of detours to avoid work on a new motorway. The detours took us up steep, rough, rocky tracks as we walked through Mañeru to Cirauqui where we stopped for a break. As the days went on, this would become the pattern - up early, breakfast, walk for a couple of hours, stop for coffee, then walk a couple more hours to lunch.

Walking towards Cirauqui

After Cirauqui, we had been looking forward to walking on what was considered to some of the best preserved Roman road and Roman bridge in Spain but the motorway work meant that we missed it. Perhaps the super highway of 2,000 years ago has now been destroyed to provide a modern super highway for motor cars. After more steep ups and downs, we arrived in Lorca. It had been a slow and hard morning's walk. A private house at the edge of the village had a few tables outside and offered boccadillos for lunch. Our tortilla et pimento boccadillas - omelette and roast capsicum baguettes - were absolutely delicious and went down well with the bottle of red wine. It was now quite hot with temperatures in the low 30's and when we reached Villatuerta, we stopped for a short break in the cool shade of the entrance to the 14th century Iglesia de la Asunción.

A hot and tired pilgrim

When we arrived in Estella we went to the refugio operated by the local association for the disabled instead of the municipal one. The association uses the refugio as a training operation for its clients and we felt that this was worthy of support. After settling in, we spent a couple of hours sightseeing in this very pleasant town, one of the nicest towns we had been in so far. The medieval Codex Calixtinus guide to the pilgrimage, states "Estella, where bread is good, wine excellent, meat and fish are abundant, and which overflows with all delights." Well, we certainly found plenty of good meat, bread and wine and it was delightful wandering along the old streets.

Day 14 - Estella to Los Arcos - 21km - Total 217km

It is interesting how people behave in hostels. The refugio in Estella had two large dormitories and as we were the first to check in so we had a choice of beds. We chose to go into the second room. Everyone else claimed a bed in the first room which soon became quite crowded. We had what amounted to a large private room to ourselves. There were a number of very loud snorers in the first room but we slept quietly, undisturbed by their noise.

Last night, I suffered from diarrhoea. I don't know why; none of the rest of the group have suffered. This morning, I felt better but was quite tired and washed out.

About a kilometre out of Estella we arrived in Irache. We were too early to visit the large monastery but the local winery was the scene of a lot of attention. One wall of the winery contains a pilgrims' fountain with two taps - one for water and the second for wine. Nearly everyone was stopping to try the wine but at half past seven in the morning after a rough night, I stuck to the water. As was to be expected, the wine was not of a high quality. It would be interesting to know how much wine was dispensed by the bodega over the course the year, particularly as we noticed people arriving at the fountain by car and proceeding to fill several large containers with the free wine.

After a long climb out of Irache, we walked through pleasant undulating country. We knew that we must be getting close to Los Arcos but we could see no sign of a town. As we walked around the end of a hill, we found that we almost in the town. The refugio-albergue was quite pleasant but the rooms were small and it was very crowded. We shared our room with a recently retired public servant from Barcelona who was careful to point out to us that he was a Catalan and not Spanish. He had finished work on a Friday afternoon and immediately caught the train to St. Jean-Pied-de-Port to start his pilgrimage. It was to be a time to relax and think about his plans for the rest of his life. He had been walking with a Catalan couple but was finding the long distances they wanted to walk to be too tiring so he was going to slow down and take things easier.

The others went to the special pilgrims mass in the nearby Iglesia de Santa Maria de la Asunción while I spent the time sightseeing.

Day 15 - Los Arcos to Viana - 19km - Total 236km

It was a pleasant day today. There were lots of undulations but we were walking through attractive farming country. Initially, there were lots of fields of barley but as the country became drier, we started to see more olives and grapes. By half past eight, we were in Torres de Rio where we stopped for coffee. Walking the Camino was starting to feel just like a long cycle tour. Each day follows a pattern. In our case, it was get up early, but after the early risers were on their way; pack and have breakfast; walk for a couple of hours, then stop for coffee. Walk for another couple of hours to arrive at our destination for the day.

Morning coffee stop

As we made our way up the steep climb to El Poyo, we passed a simple wooden cross on the side of the path. One of the walkers with us at the time took a pebble from his pocket and put it on the pile of stones at its base. He then picked another stone from the pile and walked on. He told us that a lot of the simple crosses mark the graves of pilgrims who had died on the way over the years. By carrying the stones in this way, he was symbolically ensuring that these lost souls found their way to Santiago. From the top of the climb we looked out onto the wide expanse of La Rioja, the next region of Spain we would pass through and a famous wine making area.

We felt good when we arrived in Viana. We had walked well and felt as if we could have carried on for the extra nine kilometres into Logroño but we didn´t have to. Our room mate from Barcelona was with us again.

The old town of Viana has a number of impressive civic buildings which date from the 16th through to the 18th centuries. These give testament to the importance of the town throughout the centuries. Now, it seems to be developing more as a dormitory suburb for the large city of Longroño, afew kilometres away.

Over a quarter of the distance completed - only another 650km to go.

Day 16 - Viana to Navarette - 22km - Total 258km

When we reached the bottom of the steep hill from Viana, we crossed the border from Navarra into Rioja.

In a tiny hamlet on the outskirts of Logroño, we stopped at a house where an old woman offered coffee, bread and jam to the passing pilgrims in return for a donation. If there were any surplus from the cost of providing this simple service, she was most welcome to it as she was obviously quite poor. There was no pressure to make a donation, but we gave her all our small change which meant that we paid about the same as we normally did for coffee in a café. The coffee was fresh and strong, so we weren't complaining.

We spent most of the morning walking through Logroño. It was a Sunday and nothing was open. The streets were very quiet. After crossing the Rio Ebro, we followed the original route of the Camino through the narrow winding streets of the city. At the Iglesia de Santiago el Real we stopped to look at the large statue of Santiago Matamores in the tympanum. This was a statue of St. James in his guise of the "Slayer of the Moors" reflecting the legendary role he is supposed to have played in the defeat of the Moors at the battle of Clavijo which is some 15 kilometres away. There is little or no evidence that this battle took place but it was an important rallying point for the Christian forces. It is hard to reconcile this image of Saint James as a violent, ruthless killer with the other common image of him as a gentle pilgrim acting as a guide to the people walking the Camino. A medieval fountain opposite the church still provides water for passing pilgrims.

A few kilometres outside the city we came to a large recreation area by a dam. There were lots of people out walking, cycling, roller skating and cooking barbeques. The food smelled delicious but no one invited us to share their barbeque. As we crossed the dam wall, we came across a man trying to remove a fishing line wrapped around the neck of a young duck. With one of our knives, the duck was quickly freed and sped off quickly to the safety of the lake.

Just as we left the recreation area, we came across a table laden with apples, cherries and biscuits. They had been placed there for today's pilgrims by a man who had previously walked the Camino.

We walked for a while with a man who had started his walk in Holland doing about 20 kilometres a day. He now rarely walked less than 30 kilometres, so it wasn't long before he was leaving us behind. After a long steady climb for a few kilometres, we dropped down to the ruins of the 12th century hospice of the Order of San Juan de Acre on the outskirts of Navarette. Then we had another climb to reach the small but delightful albergue in an attractive old arcaded building.

Arcaded building near the albergue in Navarette

After we had checked in, the others went to mass which I relaxed at the nearby Bar de Los Arcos with cerveza com limone grande.

We dined at the bar on the square in front of the church; a pleasant meal of lentil soup and pimentos stuffed with bakala (salt cod) together with a couple of very nice bottles of local red wine.

Day 17 - Navarette to Nájera - 17km - Total 275km

We were waiting with several other pilgrims for the café to open to have breakfast. It being Sunday, the town shops were closed yesterday. Many pilgrims set off in the mornings without eating breakfast and then buy something after they have been on the road for a couple of hours. That was not for me; I like my breakfast before starting out on the day's journey.

We all felt very tired this morning, not having slept well last night. While the day's walk wasn't very long and wasn't particularly difficult on the quiet farm roads, we were all pleased to reach Nájera. We arrived in town at half past eleven; found the new albergue only to discover that it didn't open until three o'clock.

If you arrive at an albergue before it opens, protocol dictates that you place your pack in line in the order of arrival from the entrance door. In this way, the early arrivals get the benefit of booking in first. There were eight or nine packs lined up when we first arrived. By the time it opened early at two o'clock, there were 50 packs in a long line at the entrance door. All 94 beds were taken by four o'clock. This was a very new building specially designed for the increase in the number of pilgrims passing through the town. All of the beds are crowded together in one large room. With only a few tiny windows, there was very little ventilation. There were only two showers and two toilets for each sex which meant that there were long queues. That wouldn't have been too bad but the hot water system was very small and was the size we would normally find in an Australian home. The first dozen or so people had hot or warm showers but everyone else suffered with cold water. There was no kitchen and the only area to sit other than on your bunk was at one small table with half a dozen sad looking chairs. It was a nice sunny day, so most people wandered down to the nearby river. All in all, this was one of the most unpleasant places we stayed in.

Backpacks lined up outside the albergue in Nájera in the order of arrival

What made it even more annoying, was that we had chosen to stay in Nájera so we could visit the Monasterio de Santa Maria la Real which received a rave review in our guide book. By the time we realised that the monastery was closed to visitors on Monday, it was too late to head on to the next refugio in Azofra, five and a half kilometres further on. We found out later that a new, luxury refugio had just opened in Azofra replacing a derelict building.

Day 18 - Nájera to Santo Domingo de la Calzada - 20km - Total 295km

The day started early. After a disturbed night with lots of snoring from my neighbours, I was woken by the first of the early risers at half past four. By 5.30, there was so much noise and activity that it sleep was impossible. We were on the road after breakfast by a quarter to seven.

We stopped in Arzofra for coffee after a little more than an hour's walking. One of the bars was open and doing a roaring trade in coffee and breakfasts. It was good to see businesses in the small villages benefiting from the increased number of pilgrims. In some cases, the Camino seemed to be providing the catalyst for an economic resurgence in villages and towns. New cafés, bars and hotels were opening and new privately run albergues were starting to offer higher levels of comfort and services than the traditional church or municipal run ones. Some people were critical of these developments arguing that they were destroying the real experience of the Camino. Others looked at the way some of the "traditional" establishments were being forced to improve their standards of cleanliness and maintenance and said that this was a good thing. There have always been people walking the Camino who have demanded and paid for a higher standard of accommodation than the vast majority of pilgrims. Some people stay only in hotels, including the five star Parador hotels. If the new privately run albergues take some of the more well to do walkers away from the municipal and church run ones, then this just means that the overcrowding in these places will be less and more people will have the opportunity of getting a bed for the night rather than having to sleep on the floor.

After a morning of steady climbing up and down hills on quiet farm roads, we reached Santo Domingo just before midday. There were two albergues here, a municipal one and a church one. We chose to stay in the one run by the nuns in the 17th century Cistercian Abbey. It was in a lovely old stone building with a delightful common room and a pleasant courtyard where we sat and ate our lunch.

Domingo Garcia was born about 1019 in a nearby village. He did poorly in his studies to become a monk but dedicated his life to servicing the pilgrims travelling to Santiago, improving the roads and building bridges on this section of the Camino. His holy life of good works resulted in his canonisation as Saint Dominic of the Roads. The town of Santo Domingo is a very pleasant place with a number of attractive old buildings and squares. The old Hospice de Santo Domingo which dates back to the 15th century was built on the site of the original hospice built by Domingo himself. Very few pilgrims stay here now as it is a five star Parador hotel.

The impressive cathedral was originally designed by Santo Domingo but very little remains of that 11th century building. Most of what we see today dates to 14th and 16th centuries. The cathedral is unusual in that it houses a white cockerel and a white hen in an elaborate gilded cage. This display relates to a legend which was popular as far back as the 12th century. One version of the story is that a German family were on their way to Santiago and stayed in an inn in Santo Domingo. The innkeeper's daughter thought the son was rather dishy and tried to lead him astray. He rejected her advances but she took revenge by hiding a golden goblet in his bag and then reported him for stealing it. The magistrates found him guilty and he was hanged. The disconsolate mother and father continued on their pilgrimage to Santiago and on their return journey, they came across their son's body hanging from a gibbet on the outskirts of town. Miraculously, he was still alive thanks to the divine intervention of Santo Domingo (or Santiago in some versions of the story). The parents rushed to the magistrate with the good news. About to commence eating his dinner of a cockerel and a hen, the magistrate said that the son was about as alive as the cooked poultry in front of him. Immediately the two birds grew feathers and flew away. The son was released and the happy family returned home. The poultry in the cathedral are said to be the direct descendents of those original birds. Apparently, if you hear the cock crow, it is a sign that you will reach Santiago. The cock crowed for us.

We had now completed the first third of the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela.

Day 19 - Santo Domingo de la Calzada to Belorado - 22km - Total 317km

Nearly everyone slept in a little this morning - we didn't have crowds of early risers to wake us up! We ended up leaving a little after seven o'clock. We had planned to stop after eight kilometres in Grañón for coffee but somehow we ended up bypassing the village. It was another day through undulating country but today, the ups seemed to win out over the downs. Almost imperceptibly, we had moved from a landscape dominated by vineyards to one dominated by wheat and potatoes. Every available piece of land was under cultivation and there were very few trees anywhere. As a result, there was no shade. While it was quite cold early in the morning, it soon warmed to another hot day.

Just before Redicilla del Camino, we crossed the border from La Rioja to Castilla y León. The bar was closed and we regretted not having stopped in Grañón for a coffee break. After a couple of kilometres, we found a bar on the highway where we stopped. Except for a short detour into the village of Viloria de la Rioja, the birthplace of Santo Domingo de la Calzada, we walked beside the N120 highway most of the way to Belorado. The small, crowded albergue adjacent to the Iglesia de Santa Maria was run by volunteers from the Swiss society of friends of the Camino. Storks were nesting on the church tower.

Day 20 - Belorado to San Juan de Ortega - 24km - Total 341km

Today was described in the guidebooks as being a hard day so we decided to get up early and try to be on the road by half past six. We almost made it, leaving a couple of minutes late.

H had been having trouble with her ankle for several days and was having considerable difficulty in walking. She started off very slowly in the mornings but later, as the anti-inflammatory pain killers she was taking took effect, she walked faster. We were all concerned about the pain and suffering she was going through but she was determined to try to walk the whole way to Santiago. Souvenir shops along the way sold T shirts with a pair of heavily bandaged feet and the slogan "No Pain, No Glory". We felt that H should have one of these.

A & C set off a few minutes earlier than the rest of us. We planned to met up later in the morning. It was a pleasant gentle up hill walk on wide tracks through the villages of Tosantos and Villambistia before reaching the almost totally abandoned village of Epinosa del Camino. Surprisingly, tucked in amongst the ruined buildings was a small, new albergue. Just before we entered Villafranca Montes de Oca, we were forced to walk along the very busy main highway with heavy trucks thundering past us with just inches to spare. It was a frightening experience. We were very grateful when we reached the main cross roads and saw a bar with several backpacks lined up outside. We stopped there for coffee and delicious jamon boccadillas.

Immediately on leaving the town, we had a sharp, steep climb into an oak forest. Whenever there was a gap in the trees, there were extensive views of forest clad mountains. Eventually we reached a wide plateau that was planted with oak and pine forests. Just before the Arroyo Peroia, we came across a monument to people killed and buried in a nearby mass grave by Franco's secret police. We were now at our highest point so far on the trip at 1,100 metres since descending the Pyrenees.

We met up with A & C in the shade of the pine forest. Soon after we arrived, the peace and quiet was shattered by the arrival of a bus load of German walkers. They were on a trip where you walk a few kilometres of the more scenic parts of the Camino each day before being whisked along in air-conditioned comfort to the next hotel. They changed the whole atmosphere of the day - they were noisy, refusing to acknowledge or talk to anyone who wasn't part of their group. After a few kilometres, most of them turned off onto a side path to wait for their pick up but a few continued on. We caught up to them and told them that the rest of their group had turned off earlier but they refused to believe us. Eventually, they realised that they had become separated from the group and turned back. Peace and quiet descended on the forest.

A couple of kilometres later and we dropped out of the mountains into the hamlet of San Juan de Ortega. It is just a few houses, the church holding the tomb of San Juan and the old monastery, part of which is used as a refugio. San Juan, like Santo Domingo, spent his life looking after pilgrims and building roads and bridges. Today an old priest and his sister look after pilgrims. The whole monastery was in need of restoration and maintenance. The place was very run down. The electrical wiring and the plumbing do not comply with any standard. Light fittings are connected to the power with bare twisted wire. The hot water runs out after the first few people have a shower and then it is cold water for everyone else. There are no facilities for cooking or clothes washing and there is no common room. It doesn't look very safe, but the place does have a feeling of history and of the thousands who have passed through here over the centuries. Many people now bypass San Juan and head to the new private albergues in Agés and Atapuerca.

While the others went to mass (after which the priest served garlic soup and bread to all who attended), I had a pleasant dinner in the adjacent bar.

Day 21 - San Juan de Ortega to Burgos - 28km - Total 369km

The snoring last night was unbelievably loud. I was totally surrounded by Spanish snorers, both male and female - they certainly know how to snore in Spain! After a light snack of sweet biscuits and hot milk coffee made by the priest's sister, we set off in the early morning light to walk the seven kilometres to Atapuerca. Mist was rising as we walked across the open country. We could hear the tinkling of cow bells from an unseen herd of cows.

A wooden crucifix with a large oak tree near Agés

In the caves in the limestone hills surrounding Atapuerca, archaeologists have found the remains of the oldest Europeans.  In modern day Atapuerca, the bakery was doing a roaring trade in supplying breakfast to all the pilgrims who had stayed the night in San Juan, Agés and Atapuerca.

After a stiff climb back up to over 1,100 metres, we dropped back down through the wheat fields to Villafria. The ten kilometre walk along the highway from Villafria into Burgos has a reputation for being boring, noisy and unpleasant. We decided to avoid the long line of factories, warehouses and used car lots and took the city bus in Burgos.

Mural on the way to Burgos

Burgos was our first rest stop of the walk. As you are only allowed to stay one night in a refugio or albergue before moving on, we decided to stay in a hotel for the two nights and treat ourselves to the little luxury of having our own bedrooms and bathrooms. The hotel we stayed was only a two star place but compared to San Juan de Ortega, it was sheer decadent luxury.

The old town in Burgos is very attractive with lots of attractive old buildings and delightful squares. It was very relaxing to wander around and relax in this delightful city. But the real attraction of Burgos is the magnificent Gothic cathedral, one of Spain's greatest religious buildings. Burgos is worth visiting just to visit this spectacular building.

(More photos of my Camino can be found at http://www.pbase.com/magfos )

Part 3 - Burgos to León

Part 4 - León to Santiago de Compostela

Part 1 - Col du Somport to Puenta la Reina

Books, Music and Links on the Camino