14 Sep; Day 14. It took us nearly an hour to get out of Burgos as we had to circle to find the Camino again. Being honest I didn’t care much if we found the exact right street, I did not feel the need to walk every single step of the marked trail but my travel companions did care so time was spent ensuring we walked it as close to our accommodation as possible in the heat of the afternoon and circled to where we left it in the morning.
We stopped at the Cathedral for a look, took some photos, found a place for breakfast and got on the trail again. All of that took over an hour before we cleared town. The sun was rising though it was still cool thankfully as we had 28km to go. We walked through a small village where we had a drink and rest, then as we set off again we found a lovely little chapel where a nun was stamping Compestellas and offering trinkets for a donation to support the nuns going on a pilgrimage to Lourdes and St Chappells in France. As we had seen both places we were happy to donate and receive a wonderful blessing for our journey.
We carried on as the day got hot, the meseta, the high plains are sweltering. Hard yakka, one foot at a time. We were about done when we stopped in Hornillos for food and a blessed cold drink, then realising we needed to hoof it the next 5km to claim our beds at Arroyo San Bol. It was a very tough 5km in the heat, we were all struggling and beginning to wonder if this was the day we planned a kilometre to far.
A little off the beaten track, Arroyo San Bol is a small alburgue with 12 beds, solar power, a healing mineral pool, one toilet and one shower. The communal meal was cooked by the host. The last km was hard on the feet, knees and spirits. I was never so happy to see the sign that said we had 800m to walk. Before dinner we had time to have a cold beer, do our laundry in the pool outlet, soak our feet in the blessed cold water and hang the laundry to dry before sitting down to an amazing chicken paella with salad and red wine.
Brenda braided my hair in spite of her sore hands and feet, heartfelt thanks for the blessings of a sister. We were in bed by 8.45pm. Laying down my weary body, earplugs in, eye-mask on, snoring before the room was quiet. Deliciously thankful for the rest. Though I believe a few of my roommates had something to say about my snoring the next morning.
Visions of Clarity 