1 May 2008

The Albergue was really full last night. The beds in the room we were in were partitioned 4 to a section and once the door was closed it was pitch black in there. It seemed that no one wanted to get up this morning. Bernie got up to shave at 5 am since we wanted to leave really early but it was then impossible to pack in such darkness and with everyone snoring still. There was so much snoring, it sounded like a symphony of snorers, all that was missing was a conductor!
We finally managed to get out by 7:30 after having a bowl of Golden Graham and yogourt. It was quite annoying to have been up so early and not be able to leave.
From Santo Domingo de la Calzada where we stopped last night, the Camino mostly followed the highway, a long rocky, dusty straight road that seemed endless. We still walk about 6 hours a day and more. The road took us through Grañon and Redecilla del Camino. May 1st is a public holiday here and just as a group of Pilgrims entered this little village, we were greeted by a 4 firecracker salute. Later on that morning, we heard from those behind us that, as they went through the town, the entire population, dressed in red and white, turned out to serenade them. The Camino continued through other small towns such as Viloria de Rioja and Villa Mayor de Rio to finally get to our destination of the day, Belorado. One of things we noticed on this leg of the journey was that the villages were not as well kept and a lot of the ancient buildings had fallen into disuse and abandonment. The places today have not been as pretty as previously. Viloria de Rioja is a modern, cookie cutter townhouse subdivision with a large golf course. It is quite at odds with the rest of the place and I can´t imagine who would want to live there since there is no industry around. It is possibly a bedroom community to Belorado or even Bourgos. That night, we checked into an inexpensive hotel about a 5 minute walk to town. Later that evening, we walked into the Plaza Major, the main square in front of the Church and were greeted by all the Camino amigos we had met and spent time with along the way. We sat down at an outdoor cafe and had Cerveza and zumo and then went to dinner with our Orleans perigrinos, Pat and Glen. During dinner, we chatted with another young Monreal couple whom we had met a number of times before. They were so excited because they had met the Mayor of Belorado who had taken them for a full tour of City Hall and the city archives. They were shown documents dating back to the 16th Century, handwritten on parchment and documenting minutes of meetings at the time. They were even allowed to photograph them. The lucky guys! We are now going back to our place to get ready for another long day tomorrow. There is a bit of a complication tomorrow since our destination point, San Juan de Ortega, 24 kms away, will not have an Albergue because the priest running it died and no one has taken over. Our choice will either be to walk another 3.7 kms to Agès or to take the bus to Burgos. A nice bus ride sounds nice to me, we need a treat for my sore feet.