31.8 km ~ 44,903 steps
Song of the Day: God Undefeatable – Austin Stone Worship
Another beautiful day on El Camino. What’s up with this nice stretch, hmm? I shouldn’t be complaining, I should just be going with it.
Anyway, I had paid for breakfast last night at the awesome albergue we stayed at but slept right through it. Whoops. This is why you shouldn’t pay for breakfast in advance people. Traveler Tip 1983. Some days I just can’t convince myself to get up so early. So we started out late, a little past 7, and got breakfast with some great people I’ve been with the last few days in Atapuerca; the three American girls from the night before, and then an older man I’ve seen over the past few days who loves to love on Maverick. His wife was taking a bus ahead to Burgos today to rest an injury so he was going it alone this morning.
The next stretch was absolutely gorgeous, winding its way from Atapuerca, where the oldest human remains in Europe have been found, up hills past where a shepherd was working the hilly landscape with a couple dogs. Luckily, Maverick did not stray or bark as we made our way up. Unluckily, the sheep dog took an interest in him. And started coming towards us and not herding the sheep. And then it barked once. Which set off Maverick. Which made the sheep dog bark more. And soon all the sheep were running the opposite direction, back over the hill, and I could hear the shepherd yelling. Uh-oh. Mav, we gotta go.
We hoofed it up to the rise and I was struck by the view stretching out before me. From the massive cross that was erected there, to the view of Burgos and sprawling fields below, it was breathtaking. The whole stretch from the top of the hill down into the first desolate village was awe-inspiring.
Coming down from the height of land, these beautiful fields stretched out in front of us
Stud
After making our way through two very desolate villages and some more fields, we started looping around the outskirts of an airport through scrubby land. We crossed into a town where I switched into Chacos and we took a rest in the shade with an ice cream.
And then we strolled into the bustling city life of Burgos via the river trail, which Maverick thoroughly enjoyed. So what if the last 4 km took us almost two hours because he had to splash into the river any chance he could get Watching how much fun he was having, I would have taken five hours for that section.
The cathedral is stunning. Simply incredible. And massive. I chose to have lunch right in the courtyard just so I could stare at it the entire time and attempt to take in the magnificence of this place.
I would be taking a rest day tomorrow and my friend Trish, who I hadn’t seen since the night in Villamayor de Monjardín was in Burgos so she had already offered to watch Maverick while I took my time in the cathedral. I can’t wait to see inside!
We found our way to the hostel I had found on booking.com and checked in for the next two nights so that I could shower and rest. And then it was off so we could search for dog food in this first major city. Which was a struggle and a half. How are there no pet stores? There are yogurt stores and cheese stores and the Spanish version of dollar stores and where in the heck are the pet stores?! Finally, finally, I stumbled onto one by accident. Of course, they didn’t have the food I had been feeding Maverick. But I really didn’t have a choice at this point; he needed some real food. Not just my shared food or a steak and egg dinner. So I talked to the clerk about which brand would be available everywhere in Spain and I loaded up on some before heading back to the hostel for the night.
