Day 20

Burgos to Tardajos -10 kms

30 April 2019

Today we spent the morning in Burgos. We had a few things to do and Jeff posted home a couple of things he had been carrying but had never used, we also visited the magnificent 13th century cathedral, Catedral de Santa Maria. It's so very beautiful, what wonderful craftsmanship. 

We loved Burgos and didn't really give ourselves enough time to fully appreciate everything there was to see and do. It is so very different to Pamplona, more European I think. We enjoyed sitting out in the plaza last night watching the people out with their children and babies ...also we loved seeing storks flying around overhead. 

We bought a few lunch things before midday and set off on our walk once again. We may have missed the green way into the city yesterday but we made up for it today. Our walk out of Burgos was easy and took us through park areas then we were back out in the countryside. Much of the walk was alongside or near roads and flyovers. We did see some cropping. Tardajos has a population of around 900, very old looking. We spent the afternoon sitting outside our hostel soaking up the very warm sun and stayed outside for our evening meal. We shared our table with Lucy, a quiet spoken Texan from Houston. She has a great sense of humour and we spent much of the time laughing. 

Burgos

The magnificent Burgos Cathedral - Catedral de Santa Maria

Part of the cloister in the Cathedral

A knight in one of the streets

Three tired pilgrims

Walking out of Burgos

Pappy having fun playing with soft white 'fluff' from the trees.

Just as we left Burgos  - it says 532 kms to Santiago but back in Agés there was a sign that said 518 kms. 

The path from Burgos took us through this lovely green park.

We stopped to have our picnic lunch in the park on our way put of the city.

And out into he countryside

A small church we found

Through an area of cropping.

Some graffiti in the underpasses

'Trust yourself there are many reasons!'

Puente del Arzobispo - a kilometre or so before Tardajos.

Tardajos

In Tardajos

A wee house for Pappy today, it may be small but at least it's not too big a project for him 

The bar attached to our hostel - this is where we spent the afternoon and evening

And the town's grocery store.

Day 19

Agés to Burgos - 23 kms
29 April 2019

After a poor night's sleep due to an overheated dormitory room in the albergue we were up early and walking before it was light. The day started off quite cold but warmed up as it went on. Our walk took us up and I over a rocky path and down through small villages. Then we made a navigational error which meant we walked into Burgos on roads and pavements all the way! There are three routes into Burgos according to our John Brierley's camino guide and we had planned on taking the green route which would have been a lovely walk on a riverside path. Not only did we miss the signs for that route we also missed the signs for the more usual route and came in on the motorway one! We weren't the only ones to make this mistake though, we walked part of the way into the city with a British chap who was most upset as he had planned on taking the riverside walk as well. I can only think of the saying that I saw the other day, 'Better to light a candle than to complain of the darkness' - at least we got into the city somewhat earlier than we thought we would have. A shower followed by lunch at a nearby cafe restored us somewhat.
Refreshed after a rest we have come to life again and are enjoying being out and about people watching in the plaza. Burgos has a wonderful feel to it. Now to enjoy the Menú del Día. While we were dining in front of a cafe in the plaza Leena came along and joined us for a while, she said she was staying an extra day in Burgos. I wonder if we will see her again.

Atapuerca, just 2.5kms along the way from our nights stay at Agés, was very quiet as we walked through.

The morning light was so pretty.

Jeff negotiating the extremely rocky path.

Cruz de Matagrande at the peak of our walk at 1080m...

...and from the top we had our first view of Burgos in the distance. 

We walked through some cropping country again.

We had a very welcome stop at Cardeñuela Riopico. I love the freshly squeezed orange juice.

Pappy's house is in Cardeñuela Riopico. He's got a bit of work to do as it's roof looks like it's collapsing.

The next village was Orbaneja

Walking into Burgos took forever and then we got to a very rough looking suburban area - this is when we realised our navigational error...

...and our walk went on for kilometre after kilometre of hard pavements.

Just before we found our hostel we managed to walk on part of the riverside walk. 

The view from our hostel.

Menú del Día: Morcilla de Burgos y sangria - wonderful. 

Day 18

Villafranca de Montes de Oca to Agés - 16 kms
28 April 2019

We left Villafranca de Montes de Oca behind very quickly - a right turn out of the courtyard of our albergue and we were out in the countryside, back on the Camino. Our walk took us straight into a climb going from 950m above sea level to 1150m and now at Agés we are down a wee way to 1050m. After the rolling cropping country of the last few days our path was through forest - some of it in pines but most of it had trees we didn't recognise. A young deer ran across our forest path  - it was so beautiful. About four kilometres from Agés we came to a little settlement of San Juan de Ortega where we had a morning tea break. San Juan was a disciple of Santo Domingo and like Santo Domingo San Juan did much to help the medieval pilgrims.  He built bridges, hospitals, churches and hostels. This area was dangerous and difficult for the pilgrims of the time as there were gangs of brigands - hiding, ready to attack and rob pilgrims they went by. After San Juan we walked through more forestry for a way before it opened out to farmland with cattle and horses and we were able to look down on the village of Agés.
The weather is awesome. It was cool in the morning and we were up in the clouds for good way until it cleared and we walked on in the sun. Agés is a beautiful wee village and our albergue is very good, so clean. We're having dinner in albergue tonight.

The countryside in the early morning as we set out for the day.

Monumento de los Caídos - Monument to the Fallen - marks the shallow graves of 300 people who were shot during the first months of the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939.

The path ahead went down then up a steep rise.

Near the high point of the walk we came across a pilgrim rest area - in the busy season there would be a cafe here. The distance to Australia was on the post but not New Zealand.

A forest person

Looking towards San Juan de Ortega

The San Juan church

San Juan's tomb

Out of the forest we came across horses...

...and cows

Coming into Agés

We had so many cyclists racing past us again today

518 kms to Santiago according to this sign

Santa Eulalia Church in Agés 

The stork nest on the church is massive.

This is Pappy's house - he has lots of work to do on this one as the doors are rotten and the plaster work needs repairing but he should be happy as Agés is such a lovely village - I think I'll join him.

A late lunch

Flowers on our walk