Chapter 19: Burgos to Honillo del Camino – Honillos to Castrojeriez

Ola friends and fam-Jam! We’ve had a super consistent two days, back to back. One characterized by bright sunshine and a bit of a burn …. The other was packed with rain.

We left Burgos after a good nights sleep and a strong coffee. I’ll never get tired of how the Spanish serve coffee – because you always get a full spread with your drink – something to eat and often a side of fruit juice. Makes a small morning moment seem like a reason to celebrate.

It was sunny and hot – and the walk went by quickly. We ambled along 22 k with Gary, and enjoyed the Spanish wheat fields (albeit – they’re still very young, short crops). Windmills everywhere. Lots of lovely murals as well – we tried to take some shots of our favs (I’ll upload more to the gallery). Both Blake and myself ended up with an impressive burn, despite stopping every few hours to apply sunblock like it was going out of style. Gary couldn’t believe we still turned red anyway… that’s Canadians for ya!

That evening the Hospitilario (Auberge owner) made us a beautiful Paella meal – served communal style with 26 people at the table. The diameter of this pan was around 3 feet – no joke! We chatted with our table mates and enjoyed a little too much red wine before we shuffled off to bed.

It was absolutely delicious and – up until that point – was Blake’s favourite Pilgrims meal…. Served with unlimited wine and bread, of course.

The next morning – rain. Cold, wind and Rain and rain. Blake and I were the only pilgrims delighted by this…. A reprieve for our scotched skin. Our dorm mates weren’t so happy.

Another 22 KM day and we MOTORED. We’re getting so strong now that 10 KM at a time doesn’t feel like too much effort.

A few cool things to note during this walk – a neato kilometre sign post that means we’re ALMOST HALF WAY COMPLETE. Also – a really freaky dilapidated old monastery just sitting along the path. It used to serve as a pilgrims hospital for the sick and infirm…. Now you know it must be haunted.

We got to our Auberge in record time – checking in just before 1PM. Lucky us, as it was the best one we’ve stayed in yet and we had extra time to enjoy the building. it was an old barn that was converted and we stayed in the attic. The beams were old and the room was heated by a wood stove.

It was drafty and creeky – but they gave us all these very heavy wool blankets for on top of our sleeping bags, and we all just sat around, tucked into our warm beds after a shower – enjoying the wood stove and waiting for supper to be served.

This night we had the pleasure of being seated with exclusively French pilgrims. Blake started playing guitar at the end of the meal (most auberges have communal guitars and keyboards for their guests). Once they heard Blake play, they requested an old French folk song about the Camino… and he pulled it off pretty well! There were 10 or so French pilgrims singing happily – all 5 verses and a chorus. It was a lovely moment and we’ll absolurely remember it forever… just don’t ask us what the song was about! Haha I’ll try to upload a video of the playing,

And that’s a wrap for today! We’ll keep he updates coming – we’re about a day or so behind on our posts, for no other reason than just being busy and enjoying the day to day as it rolls. We love you all and miss you. Even if you’re not commenting, we’re hearing privately from lots of friends that they’re keeping up with our adventures. Thanks guys – it really means so much to us. All our love! B&B Xoxox