Friday April 17, 2009
Day 10: Burgos to Hornillos del Camino (Walk - 20km)
Day 10: Burgos to Hornillos del Camino (Walk - 20km)
Elma Fakt 6: Heaven is a warm bath
Nine days into my excellent adventure and the Camino was close to breaking me. I have covered over 300km and while I feel that my body and the gear had held up to the weather and the terrain over the past 9 days, my spirit was close to empty. Each step I took in the mud, the wind, rain , hail and snow stripped a little bit away from my resolve. Untill the last few kilometres winding through the suburbs of Burgos, the cold and the hail finally almost finished me off. I would never have believed that a simple bath would be enough to reduce me to a whimpering mess. 
I stayed at the Hotel Cabildo in Burgos, it provided me with a warm bed and a bath. As I lowered my saggy bag of bones into the bath I started to whimper. The depth of relief surpised me. I was so happy to be warm and for the chill to leave my bones I thought I would never get out of the bath. I purred my way to sleep tucked in a warm bed. I think I have a new definition of heaven.
I spent the morning walking around Burgos having a look at the sights. Burgos is a large prosperous city with a gobsmacking gothic Cathedral that to me outdoes the Notre Dame in gothic extravagance.
The streets of the old city are filled with beautifully dressed people but they have still not managed to get the general community to accept not smoking in cafes. It was impossible for me to find a cafe to have a coffee that was not a smoking den where I felt I could not breathe. It was rather off putting. After a few hours walking around I felt like it was time to get some fresh air and hit the road. Left Burgos at 12 and it was almost an hour before I had left the outer suburbs and was out in the countryside again.
It felt great to be moving again. The night in a nice hotel was enough to fluff me up for whatever the Camino had instore for me. The walking today was by far the easiest I have had to date. Flat open country side with the trail extending out to the horizon. I walked the last 8km with Katerina who is an exchange student from Denmark studying in Spain. She was only in her early 20s but spoke Danish, English,Spanish and French I think. How impressive. She was walking only for the weekend to see what the Camino was about. 
I had dinner with lovely Irish ladies Neave (whose son works for the ABC in Sydney) and Benita (who has run Boston and the Dublin Marathon 3 times) and Teffea from Holland who is walking for the second time, Katerina and Sabrina the English lady from San Juan. Lots of laughs and red wine over dinner, recounting the horror stretch of walking to San Juan de Ortega.
I stayed at the Hotel Cabildo in Burgos, it provided me with a warm bed and a bath. As I lowered my saggy bag of bones into the bath I started to whimper. The depth of relief surpised me. I was so happy to be warm and for the chill to leave my bones I thought I would never get out of the bath. I purred my way to sleep tucked in a warm bed. I think I have a new definition of heaven.I spent the morning walking around Burgos having a look at the sights. Burgos is a large prosperous city with a gobsmacking gothic Cathedral that to me outdoes the Notre Dame in gothic extravagance.
The streets of the old city are filled with beautifully dressed people but they have still not managed to get the general community to accept not smoking in cafes. It was impossible for me to find a cafe to have a coffee that was not a smoking den where I felt I could not breathe. It was rather off putting. After a few hours walking around I felt like it was time to get some fresh air and hit the road. Left Burgos at 12 and it was almost an hour before I had left the outer suburbs and was out in the countryside again. It felt great to be moving again. The night in a nice hotel was enough to fluff me up for whatever the Camino had instore for me. The walking today was by far the easiest I have had to date. Flat open country side with the trail extending out to the horizon. I walked the last 8km with Katerina who is an exchange student from Denmark studying in Spain. She was only in her early 20s but spoke Danish, English,Spanish and French I think. How impressive. She was walking only for the weekend to see what the Camino was about. I had dinner with lovely Irish ladies Neave (whose son works for the ABC in Sydney) and Benita (who has run Boston and the Dublin Marathon 3 times) and Teffea from Holland who is walking for the second time, Katerina and Sabrina the English lady from San Juan. Lots of laughs and red wine over dinner, recounting the horror stretch of walking to San Juan de Ortega.
No comments:
Post a Comment