Day 25 and 26, Tackling the Mesetas, the worst albergue, and making it halfway

A last view of the Burgos Cathedral as we left town
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Day 24 & 25, June 11^th and June 12^th

470km from Santiago, 480km from start

Distance: 19km, 21km

We left Burgos early to beat the heat on the mesetas. They are a series of high, dry, flat mesas that stretch for the next ~200km. Not much shade or water and the villages are further apart.

The Meseta
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Early starts and early arrivals are key. Especially today, because the only place to stay in a comfortable days’ walk is an albergue in Hornillos de Camino with just 32 beds. For our first outing on the mesetas, we were lucky to have a clear day that didn’t get too hot. We also had coffee at a bar mid-morning and spent the rest of the day walking with an Australian named Don. He was a news producer at the Australian equivalent of the BBC and a great walking partner. He was doing considerably more mileage daily than we were but had a noticeable limp. He said he needed to average over 35km per day to make Santiago within his holiday grant. With his company we we’e in Hornillos before noon.

Our albergue (small building at the right)
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The albergue was filling up quickly and the hostelier wasn’t around so we picked two open bunks in the basement. Our guide book called this albergue an ‘immaculately restored 16^th century building next to the village church’. This was true. Unfortunately, the mattresses hadn’t enjoyed the same treatment, were sheetless and felt heavily sweat on. The bathrooms were very basic and had that odor you smell sometimes in an underpass on a warm day where hobos sleep. But . . . the next village was ten kilometers away and we’d committed to slowing things down. We decided to stay, and let afternoon beer and wine help reconcile us to our fate.

Front desk and concierge at the albergue
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That afternoon we met a very different set of pilgrims: an East German now retired in Spain, a couple and their ten year old girl from Vancouver Island, several French folks, a young girl from Austin, a couple from Finland, and five loud Italian bikers. The German was wearing sandals and had disgusting feet. One big toe nail gone and bandaged, the other separating and yellow, several of the minor toes green under the nail, and a raft of scabs and blisters. He said he was fine. The lady from Canada pronounced them “the second worst feet” she’d seen on the trip. I didn’t ask what it took to win first prize.

Our residence for the evening and a happy wife
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This started an interesting discussion of the number of people who had dropped out. It seemed that everyone knew one or two folks who had broken or sprained something or otherwise beat their feet to a pulp and had to head home. Puts our aches and pains into perspective.

The albergue hostelier showed up in the afternoon and we registered (4 euros each but not a bargain). There wasn’t much to see in the village and the afternoon passed slowly. At seven the village bar offered a pilgrim’s menu. We weren’t anxious to get to our bunks so we held our table for as long as possible then and watched the sun go down from the church steps.

Village of Hontanas and Camino in the background
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No more excuses, we headed down to our beds. I got into my sleeping bag, put my jacket over the pillow, put my pants over my jacket, turned on my MP3, and went out very quickly. Marie had no such luck. She was very turned off by the place and didn’t sleep at all. Over the next several days, we met many pilgrims who stayed at this place and had similar withering comments about it.

The next morning people started waking at 5:15 and by 5:30 there was too much happening to sleep. We were very anxious to be on our way to Castrojeriz and room of our own. After observing the minimum morning rituals, were out the door at 6:15am.

Church and castle in Castrojeriz
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Despite the circumstances, an early start was good because it was going to be a hot day on the meseta.

After two hours, we arrived at the village of Hontanas, mid-way for the day. A bar served coffee and sandwiches and we had a little breakfast. The rest of the hike into Castrojeriz was hot but uneventful. Our room was ready when we arrived, a shower felt great, we enjoyed a beer, and shopped for supplies. In the afternoon, we met up with the Canadian couple and swapped stories over drinks. They were good company and fine people.

The big news for today was that we passed the halfway point of the Pilgrimage! It’s a total of 950km and we finished the day only 470km away from Santiago. We celebrated with a nice dinner in town that evening.

Villages: Burgos, Villabila de Burgos, Tardajos, Rabe de las Calzadas, Hornillos del Camino, Arroyo de San Bol, Hontanas, Castrojeriz