Wow. Luckily I brought earplugs with me. Sleeping in a dormitory style hall with 50 odd other pilgrims, all wasted after walking/cycling for hours long in the summer heat yesterday, really was a challenging affair for the senses. Notably the nose and ears. I’ve read beforehand that you must take a pair of earplugs with, but didn’t think it would get this mad, not with all the snoring going on throughout the night.
Well, after half an hour’s listening of the ‘song of the tired pilgrim’, I popped in two fat plugs and woke again only when the lights came on at half past six the next mornin
g. An hour later I was on the road and peddling towards the next village, Belorado. Here I stopped at a supermarket to get some stuff for breakfast, and then it was on the road again. At Montes de Oca the sun started to belt down again, which would become a regular feature on the trip. Every morning you have to slap suncream on all over your arms, legs, neck and face, otherwise you’ll not only get sunburned badly, but sunstroke can sap your energy as well.
g. An hour later I was on the road and peddling towards the next village, Belorado. Here I stopped at a supermarket to get some stuff for breakfast, and then it was on the road again. At Montes de Oca the sun started to belt down again, which would become a regular feature on the trip. Every morning you have to slap suncream on all over your arms, legs, neck and face, otherwise you’ll not only get sunburned badly, but sunstroke can sap your energy as well. A short hill was the only challenge for the day, and then onwards it was mostly flat or downhill to Burgos. Another nice feature of the Camino is that you can always see the pilgrims walking in groups – or solitary – with their long walking sticks and wide rimmed hats in the hot midday sun. It’s like a constant companion, even though you don’t actually meet or talk to them. You always get the feeling that you’re part of something bigger, and I really admire these walkers’ grit to walk 800 km’s for 40 days on end just to reach Santiago. One day I would love to come back and hike the whole route as well, but now it’s the bike and the unique cycletouring experience that I’m relishing. And it’s wholesomely satisfying as well.
You enter Burgos from the industrial end of town. Not pretty, but that’s the way big cities go. Unfortunately the road into town is not clearly marked, not nearly as well as Logrono. Apart from the constant blue roadsigns that the authorities put up along the route, along the N120 highway, yellow arrows painted haphazardly by hand features also on pavements, walls and the back of stop signs. Sometimes it’s easy to see, sometimes not. Like now, in Burgos. After a couple of turns I lost the track and ended up in the busy area of downtown Burgos. Buses, cars, taxis, pedestrians, office workers. It was hectic.
After a bit of to and fro I caught up with two Spanish cyclists also doing the Camino and followed them. My left pedal, which started to give some problems as I entered Burgos (it was stripped and was getting loose), finaly broke completely off just as I tried to niftely sidestep a truck and oncoming bus. My right rear pannier fell off, in front of the bus, who actually managed to hit his horn and swerve away from the pannier. I ran and picked it up, found my pedal in the road, and regrouped on the pavement.
Luck was with me. A couple of metres ahead the road started to descend and from there you could see Burgos’ central refugio,which is situated inside a big city park. I could free with my one pedal bike to the refugio. It’s a big refugio, with lots of hut style dormitories to sleep in. I dumped my bags on my bunk, showered, and went in search for a bike shop. There was one 5 km’s away, but was closed till three for siesta. Didn’t bother me, for it gave me time for a powerlunch – pizza and beer.
While I waited one of the patrons joined me and started talking avi
dly in Spanish. I smiled and gestured I can’t speak the local lingo. But he persisted, and then produced a pen and paper and draw sketches of Earth, with Burgos somehow also on it. Apparantly, the guy wanted to show me that Burgos is the centre of the Earth. It was a bit weird, for he wasn’t dangerous, just annoying with his constant chattering. And he took a picture of me and my broken bike after I had to show him five times how the digital camera works.
dly in Spanish. I smiled and gestured I can’t speak the local lingo. But he persisted, and then produced a pen and paper and draw sketches of Earth, with Burgos somehow also on it. Apparantly, the guy wanted to show me that Burgos is the centre of the Earth. It was a bit weird, for he wasn’t dangerous, just annoying with his constant chattering. And he took a picture of me and my broken bike after I had to show him five times how the digital camera works. The siesta finished, the shop opened, and the bike was fixed with a new pedal at six o’ clock. Burgos was a fine place, I smiled that evening.
Time on bike: 4:45
Average speed: 16,4 km/h
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