7 May to Burgos take II

At last….published….

At the end of the hamlet where I stayed last night was this sign. For half a moment I considered turning right and taking the not-very-busy road. Later in the day I would wish I had!

When I set out I was expecting a short day – just 12km. And I knew I was ending up in another little place so I started wondering what there might be to blog about. Little did I know!

Warning: this is a very long post!

I knew the first village was Agés.

And I decided I’d tell you what I was thinking about as I walked.
The other day I had a conversation about this place with an English speaker, who objected to the fact that the “g” is pronounced somewhat like the last sound in “loch”, and the little squiggle on the “e” means you need to stress it. The English speaker insisted, “I speak English so I’ll say “ages” and I won’t bl**dy say it any other way.”
I had thought travel helps people grow – and it can – but I’ve realised you have to be open to it.
I also realised that while I accept different people do things differently and it is often a good thing, I do think some ways ARE better than others. And that’s probably an unpopular opinion these days.

As I walked through Agés, I switched thinking for appreciating what I was seeing

After Agés there came a little narrow path with long wet grass on either side…running right next to a very quiet road. Half a dozen pilgrims ahead of me were on the path (as you would expect given that it was signposted), but I walked on the road. Reflecting that many of my choices in life have been non-standard, I wondered whether I am contrary for the sake of it! You might have your own opinion, but I decided I wasn’t…however I will go against the flow when there is good reason to. This morning had two good reasons: to keep my shoes dry and to give my feet a rest from uneven ground. When I looked back, I noticed other pilgrims following my lead!
I nipped back onto the path in order to get to cross this cute little single span stone bridge rather than the utilitarian vehicle one.

My thoughts turned to practical matters as I approached ATAPUERCA

I’d have liked to detour to this site, but decided to look after the foot and just walk straight on. In the village I smiled in remembrance at these steps

I had sat on them in 2014 with a Small Child, who had lost the plot that morning – not because we were walking, but because I had put toothpaste on his/her toothbrush when they wanted to do it themselves. They had kicked every stone on the road from Agés, grizzling and grumping along, until we decided that Dad would walk on with the rest of the children while I would sit here with Small Child until he/she was ready to walk without fussing. We sat there a long time. Two minutes less, and we would have got into the accommodation we were aiming for!

I have found that much of the trail I do not remember from walking it ten years ago (unlike when we repeated the San Salvador and Primitivo…then I was constantly aware of what was coming up next…although sometimes it took ten kilometres to turn up), but today I knew there was a climb up a stony hill next to a military zone, at the top of which we would be rewarded with seeing Burgos off in the distance. That’s pretty much exactly what happened.

After looking out at Burgos, I looked down at my phone, checking my emails. I was hoping to find a reply from a dentist saying she would change my appointment to tomorrow. I have had a toothache for a few days and had asked if there was any chance of seeing her sometime from Wednesday on. She sent me an appointment for Tuesday 6pm. I had replied that I would not yet be in Burgos and could I have a later day? But there was no reply, and for the first time I wondered if I should try to make Burgos today. It didn’t look far!
As if in answer to my question, with every downhill step, my mouth throbbed more and more, and my Achilles were not noticeable at all.

I decided to do it.

At the village where I had been planning on stopping the night, I stopped for breakfast instead.

I had done 12km, and now had another 14 to go…and I didn’t know if I would get a bed. If I had known I was going to do a long day, I would have left earlier. There’s been a bit of angst on the trail about accommodations, with some people missing out and having to taxi to the next place….so that was at the back of my mind….especially as in 2014 we were the first in the queue to be turned away from the municipal because it was full. So I decided NO PHOTOS, JUST WALK. And I walked. I may have stopped thinking. I engaged my brain to make sure I got on the “River Route” into the city instead of the industrial one we took last time. In retrospect, if I’d taken the other I could have hopped on a bus for six or seven kilometres. Instead I pushed on past the airport, watching a couple of little planes doing a series of touch-and-goes as I paced the perimeter fence. Then through another little village, where I was starting to feel a bit tired so I sat down for a minute. I was actually enjoying that stage at that point – that route does not have the big new fancy signs that are everywhere else, just yellow painted arrows and so it felt a bit more like the old caminos. You actually had to look out for them. Then they took me by the river, which for a long time you couldn’t see and I thought they should call it the Highway Route, because you COULD see that. But once you passed under the highway, the river came close and the route lived up to its name. Thinking there must just be an hour to go I made the fatal mistake of opening the map app and typing in my destination. Still 7.2km. At the rate I was going, that was going to take more than two hours. And I was aware the albergue was already open. I imagined the queue diminishing as people checked in, and wondered whether a COMPLETO sign was attached to the door. I made a conscious decision to not think any more about that, and knew I could sort something out if I needed to. The path beside the river that had been winding through a big recreation area (basically fields with long grass and trees), turned into a paved path, still beside the river and well populated with a wide range of people out walking and riding, and one dog chasing a duck. It was perfectly straight and looked like it went on forever. Felt like it too. I decided I must be walking to its source. It started to feel very hard to keep going. I did little “intervals” for a wee stretch: walk past three benches and then sit on the fourth for a minute. But it felt like I’d never get there if I kept doing that and it got to the point that I thought if I sat down one more time I wouldn’t get up again. And each time I stopped, I was so ungainly when I restarted. So I Just Kept Walking. One foot, then the other. Step. Step. Step. Step. Until I stopped and leaned on my poles. And then kept walking. And sat on a stone ledge. And then kept walking. Towards the end of that stretch a man asked me if I was doing the camino. He then wanted to tell me a shortcut to the cathedral and warned me not to follow the arrows, because they take you here, there and everywhere around the city before finally getting to the cathedral. He was a bit perplexed when I said I wasn’t going to the cathedral, so I quickly added I would go tomorrow, but today I needed to get to the albergue. He was impressed with my map on my phone and assured me that was the quickest route so I stopped following arrows. When I was given directions to walk 300 meters I counted out 600 steps. One two three four five six….And then did it again for the next 300. One, two, three, four, five, six….I have no idea what I walked past. I just had to keep going. It has been a long time since I have walked so far in one day, and I was trying not to think of whether I was “overusing” my poor tendons.

Finally, I was in the city, and because I was using the map app I had my phone out and snapped two photos

I could feel the history, the magnificence, the hum, but I needed to let it all wait for tomorrow. At the top of a set of stairs I could see the A sign next to a wooden door. (A for Albergue) I was almost there. I was about to find out.
I walked in and asked, “Is there one bed?” and was pleased to hear there were still plenty. I had made it. There was even time for a shower and washing before going to the dentist appointment, which fortuitously turned out to be under a kilometre from the albergue.

I left early, thinking I’d pop in to the cathedral on the way (Tuesday afternoon is free entry so it seemed silly to pass up an opportunity like that), but there was a long queue and after standing in it for five minutes I realised I couldn’t stand any longer, so I went in search of the clinic. Sat down on a bench nearby because I was still two hours early and watched a stork

After a long day’s walking I always used to get cold, and today was no exception, so I went to the clinic and asked if I would wait there until my appointment at 6. They saw me straight away. Impressive!

Form, X-ray, examination, diagnosis, treatment plan, refusal to charge and the junior girl was sent out to take me to a pharmacy. Evidently I need endodontic treatment and when she started talking about pulling up nerves I hoped something was getting lost in translation. I need to take antibiotics for at least four or five days before she will do treatment…but she did say the antibiotics might settle the inflammation in which case I could just keep walking and see what happens if I want. I definitely prefer that to catching a bus back to Burgos next week and then needing to stay here for a couple of days to recuperate. But that’s a decision to be made later. For now I just need to go to bed and get over today!

First I should just record that I did go in to the cathedral on the way back to the Albergue, but I wandered in a daze.