12. Agés to Burgos

Camino Frances - Day 13 - September 8th. 2013: Agés  to Burgos (12th day walking)

Contour Map: Copyright John Brierley click here to see notes

Click here for Google Map and my start point today
The window close to my upper bunk bed was left open during the night. The temperatures drop significantly at night so it is important to make sure you are prepared for this before retiring to bed. I remained cold and unable to sleep so I put on my thermals for the first time. I could not get the warmth back into my body so I closed the window. I did not realise until morning that there were blankets just outside our room for anyone feeling the cold. 


Jim, Ger, Bob, Peggy and Scott left at about 6:30am and I set off about 30mins later. It was Poncho time again because of the very damp mist, no rain yet. I walked to Cardenuela before taking a break for breakfast having passed Jo, Mary and Kathy along the way. They informed me that Ed was just ahead of me. I took a short coffee break in Orbaneja before my final push towards Burgos.

I reached the centre of Burgos around midday and bumped into a  guy from Slovenia who appeared to be limping along. We had met several days earlier and he was telling me how he planned to walk a minimum of 40kms each day. Clearly, if he was now here with me entering Burgos things were not going to plan. This was a common occurrence as people underestimated the challenge ahead. I asked him if he was OK and and offered him items from my medical kit like compede. He said he was OK, that there was nothing wrong with him. I think he may have felt embarrassed about not achieving his ambitious targets. We all have bad days but sadly for him he was not dealing with his very well. We parted when I saw Ed and went over to talk with him. 

Ed and I were looking for a hotel because we planned to spend a day of rest in this beautiful city. We each got a great rate on a single room in Hotel Norte y Londres right in the centre of the city and just a couple of minutes from the Cathedral. It was too early to get access to our room so we crossed the street, had a beer and some tapas while the rooms were being made ready. On returning to the hotel we met Ellie, Rose and Peter. They had booked the hotel in advance, I introduced them to Ed. 

I had a soak in the bath but then realised the errors of placing my feet in the water to soak as the blisters, that were starting to heal over, opened up again. I then got into fresh clothes and washed all my spare clothes. I scattered them around the room hoping they would dry out over the next couple of days. 

The All Ireland Hurling Final:
Back on the street with Ed we went in search of the other Irish guys. We were all hoping to find at least one pub, somewhere in the city, showing the All Ireland Hurling Final between Cork and Clare in the afternoon. We met Jo, Kathy and Mary who informed us that Ger and the other guys were just up the street. We met Ger as he was heading back to the room he was sharing with the other guys in the El Cid Hotel. 

Jack, Ed, Ger and Marty

We had no success locating any place showing the game on television. Jim had a small notepad and he was able to get Clare FM radio station. We all sat at tables in the square in front of the cathedral, having pints and listening to a brilliant game that ended in a draw. The replay would have to be fixed for a date in the next couple of weeks. We had been joined by a couple from Kerry, the lads from Donegal and finally Lis and Alexandro. 

Some of us went for pizzas before going back to the bar, this time indoors, for a night cap : ). One for the road and I was ready to go back to my hotel after a long and very enjoyable day. It was clear with the Irish troops gathering, and staying over in Burgos tomorrow, that our day of rest might be anything but restful.

Day 14 - September 9th. 2013: Rest Day in Burgos : ) or : (  ?
Ed and I made the mistake of having breakfast in the hotel when we could have had so many better choices outside. I had a short list of things I needed to do today before meeting up with the guys later. 1. Get a haircut, 2. Buy more Compede, 3. Get new lens cover for my camera, 4. Visit Cathedral, 5. Take some photos.....

Apologies to all, image distorted by panorama shot. Ger, James, Jim, Marty and Bob in the shade

 Could not get lens cover in any camera shop  but manage to do everything else on my list. The tour of the Cathedral was amazing. Some photos on my Flickr page 

All the Irish gathered back in the square that evening and after a few pints we had a fantastic sing song. Rather stupidly, I again attempted to sing Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah", while reading the words from Conor's iphone. Never again, I blame the demon drink : ) Some good singers made up for my murdering of a great song. Apparently God loves a trier. Not sure if there is a word for murdering a song, maybe Lyricide or even Melodicide or in this case Hymnicide?

Ed, Ger and myself went to a popular restaurant just off the square where we were joined by James and Sheila from Seattle. We had a great, artery clogging, meal that tasted so good I knew my heart would forgive me, for now.

The 41st. was approaching: 
Back in my room I made a call to my son, Damian, who I was going to help me resolve my dilemma about what send Brenda for our Anniversary. I had decided I would send flowers to her sister's house in San Francisco where Brenda would be staying for a month while I got on with my Camino experience. Damian and I discussed the best way to do this and we agreed we would have to enlist the support of Brenda's sister Jean in the States. So I fired off an email to the two of them to start the ball rolling. 

I also wanted to mark the day some other way and decided I would try and do something on the 15th and send her a photo. 
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Other Links, relating to this section of the Camino, you may wish to follow 

Burgos:

Images of Burgos on the internet
Wikipedia on Burgos 
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Topic: Gear 
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