Time for a break....: Day 48 – 26/05/2013

Burgos – Calzadila de la Cueza

119.4km, 6hrs 43mins, 926m total climb

Woke up, and strangely the tent felt a little bit warm. We peeked outside and couldn't believe it – bright blue sky, not a cloud! The weather was even better than the day before despite what the Belgium couple had told us. The moral – never believe a Belgium weather forecast.

We packed our bags and headed towards Burgos town centre. We hadn't bothered to look at it the day before and our route now went past it anyway. When we cycled into Burgos two days ago it didn't look like anything special, even a little bit industrial, but now we were surprised by the huge Gothic looking cathedral in the centre. We didn't bother to look inside, we have seen so many churches recently and after all we wanted to keep on going and find out what else the day had on offer instead of unpacking the bikes to store the stuff somewhere safe whilst we went in.

We followed the route towards the destination we should have gone to two days ago (the end of the 176km cycle) to a little place called Castrojeriz. We were glad that we decided to stop short in Burgos as the place was tiny and we weren't sure if the campsite was even open, it was certainly not very easy to find anyway.

The rest of the day was fast, very fast. We were pumping on country lanes through fields with tiny little corn flies getting stuck to our arms. We were covered in them, like 20 flies per arm. You had to keep your mouth closed most of the time, especially when you went through a cloud of them. It was hot and humid but still a lot of big jellyfish shaped clouds hung ominously. Then the weather got more overcast, and the mystical jellyfish looking creatures started dragging tentacles of purple rain. It was coming down all around us, but for once we managed to navigate our way through the tentacles and escaped dry as a bone!

We got to our destination or at least to what the GPS told us was our destination. We originally had a booking for a double bedroom with bathroom in a Hostal, but because we decided to stay in Burgos for an extra night we had to cancel the booking and they didn’t have another room for the following night. We knew that we would have to find an alternative but thought it be a good idea to go to the Hostal anyway and asked if something had become available. Anyway, when we got to the address on the GPS, we found ourselves in a Spanish ghost town, no shops, no bars and nobody on the haphazard streets and certainly no hotel. We weren't sure what to do but then decided to keep going until we found another village, even though we realised that the area was lacking villages. This was already after 100km plus so we weren’t even in the mood! After about another 5 km we spotted a big sign for a Hostal on a building form the road and decided to give it a bash as it would be another 20km to the next big town. As we got closer to it, we realised that this actually was the original place we had booked! No idea how the address gave us the wrong town, it even had the street address in there. Anyway, the place was mobbed with pilgrims interested in our plight. We checked again and indeed all of the 50 rooms were booked out. We spoke to a group of French cyclists who happily told us there was another Auberge just around the corner in this tiny village. What luck! So we went up there and it was not what we usually would book, but something different. A two story building with 50 bunk beds on the lower floor, and another 50 or 60 upstairs.

At only 7 Euros a head it was certainly cheap and we decided to give it a bash, if not just to see what the other pilgrims liked to experience! There were no beds left in the bottom floor, and all of the lower bunks were taken on the top floor. We got two top bunks (no ladders) almost opposite each other and stored our luggage under one bed, bikes were put in the back garden amongst the aching and exhausted pilgrims who were lounging about beside the quite nice pool!

We had showers in the unisex bathroom (with urinals?) and headed back down to the original Hostal as that is where they served food, the Auberge had no food. We enjoyed a couple of cold drinks whilst waiting for the pilgrims dinner which promised 3 courses and wine for 10 Euros, couldn’t miss that.

Some pilgrims came and went in the bar and had pizza or snacks but we held out until 7.30 for the main event.

The dinner was held in another room like a canteen and it filled up quickly once the doors were opened. We sat at a table for 4, and eventually another 2 pilgrims joined us. A young Swedish guy called Michael who had a glass eye, and an older German guy from Cologne called Lothar who we did see in the bar already.

We had our first course of salad or soup (all had salad) which was good, but I managed to tip the whole salt cellar over mine as the top was not on properly (a typical Pilgrim gaffe one can only presume). We followed with hamburgers and chips or fish fillets, then also had a pudding of crème caramel (they call in flan in Spain) or ice-cream. The wine was OK, but we only had a bottle between 4 until Lothar complained to the management and got us another bottle as apparently the menu promised ½ bottle per person!

It was great to chat to these guys as they really did have a different perspective to us. They basically were still walking for another 2-3 weeks to Santiago. We expected another 4-5 days! They had met some interesting people on the route as well. In fact we decided that to do the Camino properly you did have to walk it and get all the stamps. Michael was quite impressive and had done 37km that day on foot. We maintained that we were just out for a bike ride and were not doing the Camino per se, but did appreciate all that it is.

Lothar was doing it in stages. Each year he would take a 3 week holiday from his job in the TV station in cologne and avoid his wife and kids by coming to do this. He was doing it for fun and enjoyed a good few drinks and a few smokes each night.

The last few days had been arrow straight and flat as a rail-road though, with a lot of wind and not a lot to see, so we did question why this section of the Camino had been the busiest also. It is also one of the most famous sections. It seems the walkers like the solitude and the monotony as much as the detail, understandable that this was a real feat back in the day. This section had turned out too boring for Lothar though, who admitted on the walk back to the Auberge that he was getting a taxi early the next morning to avoid yet another flat and boring route the next day! What a champion.

The Auberge was quiet and dark when we got back in the middle of a lightning storm. Lights go out at 10pm sharp. We crept upstairs and found our bunks quietly and got in. We had never experienced this type of sleeping arrangement before and it was nothing short of a surprise. The several tonnes of mainly older pelegrins were snoring so continuously and so harmoniously it was like one long deep and monotonous hum, only broken as one or more vocalist broke off to loudly clear their throats, or insert a jazz trombone rift, before rejoining the choir. Strangely it was slightly hypnotic, like white noise and not unbearable. Worse though, the heat in the upstairs room escalated during the stormy night until we both had thoughts about going outside to the garden to sleep. I guess when you are as tired as they are, none of this matters.

http://ridewithgps.com/trips/1354055