The heat is on
Ed and I may be the oldest pilgrims here on the Camino Frances right now. Or so it seems. The path is full of young university students, millennials who have left their technological jobs behind for an adventure, and forty-somethings who squeeze in the stages of the Camino between work obligations. Traditionally, baby boomers like us have mastered the Camino, but being generally sensible people, most of them know not to schedule this walk in the middle of the Spanish summer. Ed and I apparently missed that memo.
The Camino Frances is divided into 33 stages, each approximately 14 miles, so if you walk one stage a day, it will take just over a month to complete. Each stopover city has numerous accommodations, restaurants and bars to welcome pilgrims. In some cities, this is their largest source of income. Today we walk to San Juan de Ortega and complete stage 11. So far we have kept the routine of walking from stage to stage, but that will change as we progress. 
To beat the heat, we got up early and started walking early in the morning. Some days our Hostel offers breakfast so we can stay for lunch and start a little later. But at nine in the morning we were already a few kilometers ahead. The road so far has been dirt and asphalt. The views, although pleasant, have generally not been “very pretty.” Rolling hills, farmland, and the sides of 18-wheelers roaring by. Every 5 kilometers we walk through small towns and stop to have a café con leche and chat with other pilgrims. This is my favorite part. Some Europeans I’ve met apparently keep a tally of Americans from different states. When they find out that Ed and I are from Florida and Virginia, it’s like double bingo!
Burgos, Spain: I could live here.
Yesterday was our longest day of walking. We woke up very early and left without breakfast or caffeine and headed out into the darkness of the morning. Some cows along the dirt road are still sleeping next to us. Early risers seem quite annoyed when I shine my headlamp on them. Not wanting to bother them further, we hurry down the path as the sun rises over our shoulders. Sixteen miles later, we trudged toward Burgos, a city big enough to feel bigger after spending the last week traveling through small towns. I like the atmosphere right away. Businessmen, students, older and elegantly dressed couples walk arm in arm through the streets. He is busy; It’s bustling, but I don’t feel crowded or overwhelmed.
I am writing the end of this blog in the public library, or “public library.” Thanks to Google Translate and a little help from Claude, I successfully communicate my desire to use their public computer terminals to write this. Although I can and do use modern technology, I always find it easier to type on a keyboard. Even a Spanish keyboard, where the characters are, to me, in strange places and require a keystroke scavenger hunt. My text is flooded with those squiggly red lines that indicate a spell checker because I’m in a Spanish browser. I find it quite stressful to see a page with these error alerts. Finding the library and navigating the language barrier doesn’t discourage me, but the thought of making all these potential typos and spelling mistakes is killing me.
So I’ll end this. Tomorrow we return to the Camino towards the Meseta, a long stretch of flat, shadeless trail in the highlands of central Spain. It will be hot and hard. I can’t wait.
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