Rabe de las Calzadas, Hontanas and Boadilla del Camino

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On Wednesday we woke up around 8am, a sleep in for us, after a good night´s rest in the Burgos hotel. We packed up, checked out of the hotel and ventured out to meet up with Sarah who had caught up, to go together to see the Burgos cathedral. It was huge and very impressive! Angi then had a few chores to do around Burgos so she left me waiting at a cafe, writing in my diary, drinking coffee, trying to read the Spanish newspaper and watching as all the workers came in for lunch at 2pm. Angi came back after 3 hours... I had doubts as to whether we would actually get hiking! But we decided to go on, just 12km to Rabe, to make the next day shorter, instead of taking a rest day. Before we left we ordered our usual Bocadillo Queso (basically cheese baguette), but this time were shocked to find that they cost €9 each. The cheese they had put on it was €7!!! It must have been 30 years old or something.

So we left around 3pm for Rabe; my knee was still a bit sore so I hoped I could make it. We got out of Burgos easily, following the yellow Camino arrows; it is amazing how my eye now picks up yellow from all other colours. It was fairly flat walking and we crossed a large highway on a big bridge at one point. We came into Tardarjos, 2km before Rabe, where we checked out the hostel as my knee wasn´t so good. However we soon decided to move on after hearing that the showers were cold! We were glad we did as the hostel in Rabe was clean and cute, run by a lovely young lady who prepared home-cooked meals for dinner and breakfast. There wasn´t much to do there so we went to bed early, only being kept awake by the town church bell (which wasn´t even an actual bell ringing - there were electronic speakers next to the bell from which the dongs came!).

Thursday morning consisted of a 6.30am wake-up (thanks church bell) and a 7am breakfast. Then it was onto Hontanas - only 18km away thanks to the short day before. It was a good road, but about 3km in my knee hurt so much I couldn´t walk. It felt like it was going to burst apart. I took some ibuprofen and rubbed in some special cream but nothing really helped. I got so frustrated as I thought I couldn´t make it to Santiago! Very luckily, another pilgrim came along and offered to carry my pack. At first I didn´t accept; I have great difficulty accepting help from others. But with some encouragement from Angi I took up the offer and Angi took some of my things as well. We walked slowly that way for about an hour, to the top of a long gentle hill, where my knee felt better and I was able to take my pack back. After another hour of going very very slowly, and very focussed breathing to try to control the pain, my knee seemed even better. And I couldn´t believe it... I made it to Hontanas! About 5km out it started pelting with rain, which may have made the last hour seem much quicker. The town was in a hollow, so we didn´t see it until the very last minute. We came to the hostel soaked, but just as we got there the sun came out again and we sat outside and dried off before commencing the usual nightly routine. The sleep was good with earplugs, despite the fear of bed bugs which grows daily as we hear and see the horror stories; only broken by a goose quacking along with the town church bell.

Up at 6.45am on Friday, Angi didn´t want to wake up as her back was very sore and she hadn´t slept well. We got going late... 27.5km to Boadilla. Angi´s back improved as we walked and I felt like walking alone as the morning was so beautiful. Most mornings are so wonderful... it is a fantastic time to walk because it is cool and the clouds, sky and light on the landscape are beautiful in the early morning sun. Most days start out very cool, then start getting warmer when the sun starts to shine around 9am. 2pm-4pm is the hottest part of the day, and usually the hardest as my shoes are hot in the sun which causes my feet to swell a bit. We have been keeping up our magnesium, to help our tendons and muscles absorb the water we drink, as we supposedly lose a lot of salts when we sweat.

To road to Boadilla was again mostly flat, except for one ridge which we had to cross just after a grand town called Castrojeriz (which houses many old buildings including a crumbling castle at the top). It was up 150m over 1km and down at a similar gradient on the other side! It gave spectacular views though. I was happy as I made it to the top without stopping; I think my fitness has improved. After a couple more towns (and coffee breaks) we did the last 8km in about 1.5 hours... amazingly I was pain free. I was so happy to be able to walk without the horrible pain in my knee... I felt really free! We came to the hostel in Boadilla which was like an oasis in the dessert. We had reached the Meseta... the long, flat, hot and absolutely boring bit of the walk, but here was a wonderful garden with green manicured lawns, a swimming pool and best of all, a wonderful dinner. The region we were in, Palencia, is known as the food region of Spain; apparently housing 9 of the top 30 restaurants in all of the world. And I must say the food has improved, even in the hostels! We went to bed reasonably early; the hostel owner came in to give everyone a goodnight hug, which was actually really nice. It´s amazing how a little parental-like kindness can be appreciated, as it can sometimes feel a bit lonely along the Way.

Saturday we went 26km to Carrion de los Condes and Today was 32km to San Nicolas del Real Camino... I´ll write about those next time!

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[Alex]

For real, a few kilograms can make all the difference!