Today we left the city delights of Burgos and headed to Isar (via Hornillos del Camino)
Burgos was founded in 884 by the second Count of Castile, Diego Rodríguez Porcelos and soon became the leading city of the embryonic County of Castille. The 11th century chieftain Rodrigo Diáz de Vivar (El CID) had connections with the city: born near Burgos, he was raised and educated there and is buried in Burgos Cathedral. After a long-lasting decline starting in the 17th century, Burgos became the headquarters of the Francoist quasi-state (1936-1939) following the start of the Spanish Civil War.
We walked out of town past the Burgos University complex – a mix of very old and modern buildings – a very impressive campus. The “fluff” on the ground in the first photo is known as poplar fluff, the billowy pale drifts are seeds from female poplar trees. We first noticed this in Logroño where it was like walking in a snow storm at times.
It was a not particularly scenic walk at this time as we walked out of Burgos and into the countryside. We could see the Centro Penitenciario de Burgos (State Prison) on the right – built in 1932 it has 209 cells. On the left hand side we could hear lots of gunfire, google maps revealed that this was from a shooting range – Campo de Tiro de Burgos (some interesting reviews of the current instructor!). The last picture is a Hermitage or chapel that belonged to the old Juan Mathé pilgrims hospital that was attached to it.
Back to the more usual fields of crops, we crossed the Rio Arianzón, passed a few fields full of poppies and walked through the small village of Tardajos.
We walked through Rabé de Las Calzadas and stopped at the Ermita de la Virgen de Monasterio for a visit. This is a delightful little chapel with an attendant nun who was happy to welcome us, give us a blessing (presumably as didn’t understand a word), stamp our pilgrim’s passport and give us a medallion.
Up to the top of a hill surrounded by fields of crops and then at the top we could see Hornillos del Camino below us in the near distance. We could also see the heavy rain clouds coming our way so it was a bit of a race to see could we get to the cafe (for our taxi pickup) before the rain hit. Re the title of today’s post we passed a significant number of solo walkers, all with heads down looking at their feet instead of the surroundings – they reminded us of zombies! The last picture is of the church in Hornillos, in the rain, from the door of the cafe. We are starting tonight in Isar and will get a taxi back to Hornillos in the morning.
Tomorrow we head to Castrojeriz.