Camino de Santiago, Part 4. Burgos to Sahagun and the half-way point.

The Meseta

Leaving Burgos behind us, we now entered one of the more remote stretches of the Camino, through the Meseta, a broad open expanse, almost like badlands, with less extravagant agriculture and few large cities.

Shortly after passing the Burgos city limits, we met a "trail angel", Maria who kindly directed us through an approaching stretch which had been altered due to road construction. She also gave us a useful hint in navigating on the Camino; "when entering a town, should you lose your way, alway head for the church". This turned out to be a pretty useful rule of thumb! Maria was not taking donations, she was just out on the Camino helping the pilgrims.

Maria's advice proved correct and we saved ourselves at least a couple of kilometers. We made our way to Hornillos, calling it a day there after only 18 kilometers, our feet were sore and we needed a short day. We saw Shelia and Jim and played cards and had a few beers with them. Shelia was a crackup, always complaining but at the end of the day, she always seemed to make it through!

The next stage was another relatively easy one, just 18 kilometers to Castrojeriz. Uneventful but for the lovely ruins of San Anton where we stopped for lunch.

The ruins of San Anton

CLICK HERE FOR MORE PICTURES OF THIS STAGE!

Castrojeriz is an impressive looking place with an old castle, (dating from the 9th century), looming on a hilltop overlooking the town.

Castrojeriz and its hilltop castillo.

The next stage was a tougher one, 25 kilometers, with a sharp climb at the start leaving Castrojeriz. We were treated to a beautiful sunrise as we reached the summit which sort of made up for the long walk we had to do to get to breakfast at Itero de Vega (11 kilo's!).

Sunrise: looking back at Castrojeriz

The trail was good and easy to walk after the initial climb and we made pretty good time. The last 5 kilometers or so were along an old canal system and were perfectly flat, leading ultimately to the canal locks in Fromista, where we called it a day.

The canal locks at Fromista.

The next day was a flat and uneventful walk to Carrion de los Condes, where we stayed at a very nice albergue in a convent which featured a "couples" room! Due to a misunderstanding, a group of English speaking pilgrims who were not "couples" were also assigned to this room. They turned out to be a nice group of Americans, an Australian and an Irishman we have met before so it was good to meet them again. Actually, as it turned out, we would continue to cross paths with these guys for the rest of the Camino!

Next day was a long straight walk, starting on another old Roman road, Via Aquitana. We treated ourselves to a nice breakfast of ham and eggs in Carrion. Good thing too because we found no services for the next 17 kilometers! Lunched in Caldadilla de la Cueza, then on to the albergue in Ledigos. Here we played cards and drank some nice wine with Debbie and with Linda and Ed, a couple from New Mexico who frequently visit Spain. Debbie and David had split up for the stages before Leon, where they planned to meet up and spend a few days.

On the Via Aquitana.

Next day we headed for Sahagun, planning to spend the night there. But we arrived there before noon, so after having lunch in town, decided to push on to Bercianos. After Sahagun, we departed from our (English)guidebook's "recommended route in favor of a more level route on the "senda", a modern surface trail. Interestingly, other countries' guides do recommend this route, so we were with French, German and Korean pilgrims on this stretch. Somewhere past Sahagun we actually crossed the halfway mark!

The old city gate, Sahagun.

We stopped at a private albergue in Bercianos and opted for a private room instead of the regular dorm. It was a very nice room with very nice proprietors. We didn't encounter any other English-speaking people in this town. It wasn't a problem though, we found a place for dinner then retired to our cozy room. A good breakfast was included the next morning.

The room at Bercianos.