Camino Francis, Day 11

 6:12am, & I’m out the door, and away I go. It’s 50° foggy & a bit humid due to all the rain we had last night. I am leaving in the dark today. First time I get to use my head lamp. You are probably wondering, why is he leaving in the dark? The short story, that’s when my roommates started getting up, so I just decided to get up to. I was surprised when I exited my room & see half of the second floor pilgrims loading up their pack. I can see leaving early when it’s hot but now the weather is cool, why leave so early? So I did what everybody else was doing and loaded my pack.

Before we go any further, I’ll go over last nights events. I had my first real piligrim dinner. About 15-20 pilgrims all gathered around the big table to have dinner together. Started w/ the traditional Spanish salad, bread, red wine, from local winery, & the main dish Arroz con pollo. Basically, the dish was rice, some small vegetables and chicken. Then the desert, wait for it, wait for it… vanilla chocolate ice cream sandwich🤣🤣. It was fun listing to everyone talk in their native languages. I think I was the only American staying there last night. One sad note, I lost my water bottle😢  I liked that bottle because I could just clip it to my shoulder strap & it was easy to access. I‘ll look in Burgos for something else. Now to the sleeping, as I feared, I didn’t get much sleep last night. Sleeping in a small room with five guys is a disaster waiting to happen. The snoring sounded like the snoring tenors, you had the alto snorer a low base snorer in the mid range snore, so yeah as you can assume, it wasn’t a great night  of sleep, hence why I got up early today.

Back to today’s walk. Its’s dark, I have my head lamp on, but I can tell it’s foggy buy just looking at the street lights. I head out of town zig zagging the mud puddles. The dirt path is actually not all the bad, but just a lot of puddles. My next town, Villafranca Montes De Orca is only a couple miles away. After a short way down the trail, I turn my headlamp off, I am seeing okay at this point & time. I decided to go back to wearing my pants today along with my fleece jacket, but my rain jacket & ponchoare close by. 

I’m using the microphone feature while doing this blog now. I’m just talking into the microphone, then I can go back & edit or add any info that I see fit. Yesterday I did more of a chronological order of my walk. What do you think?

It is 21+ miles to Burgos from where I am staying. When I was younger and energetic, I could walk all the way to Burgos in one day, but I’m not that guy anymore, nothing to prove to anyone. So I have split the section in two.

6:45am starting to get a little bit lighter, but now the fog is thick, & I am surrounded by it. It’s kind of creepy out here walking alone, along on these dirt roads and shrouded in the fog. I keep thinking of the movie “The Fog”, and the line from the movie, “ don’t go into the fog!!” I am still zig zagging the mud puddles, & sometimes the path is completely flooded. 

7am I reached the  Villafranca Montes De Oca. It’s currently 49°. The fog has begun lifting a little bit, but it’s still pretty thick. I am walking along the highway & and the trucks are zooming by me. As I reach the town the highway turns into a single lane. What I witnessed next was amazing to say the least. The road squeezes down and makes like a S turn through this section of town. I sat there and watched these big rigs come flying up, zig zagging through this small curvature, just missing a corner of a building, that sticks out, by only a few feet. I said holy crap this better than the Formula One racing in Monaco. Villafranca is definitely a pilgrim stop destination. There are a lot of hostels albergues, even a couple hotels here and I know most of the people I was talking to recently, this was their destination. The walk between Villafranca and the  village of Ages is about 6 miles w/ any services. I read this in my guide book. Make sure to have plenty of water and some snacks if need be.

7:25am, stopped for a quick break. Found a stone wall to sit on and eat my orange & banana. This climb has been pretty step and I am only about 1/2 way done, on I go.

8:00am, 4.5 miles at the 1hr 47 min. mark into my day. At this point my legs feel heavy, my pack feels heavy I’m hoping that I am just about done climbing this hill.  

8:20am, Whooo hooo, I finally crest the top of the hill. That climbs takes me back to day 1 on my Camino. It wasn’t all bad though. I did get to enjoy walking through the misty forest, listening to the bids singing and chirping away as I pass. Still having to zigzag  all around the mud puddles left from yesterday‘s rain and sometimes the trail is completely covered in water and this section of the trail is very bouldery. I am also, seeing a lot of big black slugs, on the trail. 

8:35 am, just stopped at this little roadside food stop, perfect timing. It reminded me of someone who does trail magic out on the PCT. This guy was a character. He was joking, laughing w/ everyone, taking there pictures, asking where everyone came from. I meet a mother & daughter from Pittsburgh, a husband & wife from Chili and a guy from England, who was going all the way to Burgos,  was also there. All the food and drink items, he only took donations. He had all kinds of different things, coffee, juice, pastries, strawberries, which he gave one to everyone, bananas, oranges, etc….you name it he seem to have it. You could tell he really enjoyed helping pilgrims

9:00am, 4 miles down 2hrs 47 min. in. I am still continuing to walk through the forest still cloudy, temp. 59°. I was going to take my fleece jacket off back at that guy’s food & drink stand, but I as starting going down hill it still felt a little chilly. The trail /road has turned into more firm surface, more like you would find on a forest service roads in the US. I still continue dodging all the muddy potholes. Interesting how different these past two days of walking have been. Yesterday was walking next to the highway & wheat fields, but today, the total opposite. Walking through the forest in the mist & fog just confirms how different each day on the Camino can be.

9:30am, 9.3 miles done, 3hrs 21min. I have finally popped out of the forest and now walking through more farmland. Not seeing a lot of pilgrims today, since once again I’m out of the normal bubble of pilgrims.

9:42am, coming into my first village San Juan de Ortega since leaving Villafranca, 6 miles back. I stopped at an Albergue, just as I enter town and they had café.m, YES!!. Good because I was getting hungry. Ordered my café con Leche, along w/ wonderful egg bacon ham on a toasted ciabatta bread & the last chocolate doughnut. Hey now don’t judge, I looked at the  chocolate doughnut and it was staring me back though it’s one big eye, and I could almost here it say, please buy me I don’t want to sit here all alone by myself any longer!!!! I met two French women pilgrims who I have seen on the trail and actually we stayed in the same place a couple of times, Fabiola and Judette. After eating my wonderful breakfast & getting my stamp  I was back on the trail. This little village had two nice little churches and they were both open, but no stamps 😡

10:24am, I’m at a junction where they have an alternate Camino route. It takes you more into the deep forest area then it comes back out into Burgos, but I’ve already made reservations for another place on the main Camino Trail, so I won’t be taking the alternate. It’s back into the forest for a bit. I actually see my shadow from the sun trying to peak out, but it was only short lived. I exit the forest and cross over a cattle guard. Then I proceed to walk through a cow pasture. No cows but plenty of cow evidence💩, watch you step please.

11am, I’m at 13 miles  5hrs1min. It’s still cloudy 56° I finally shedded my fleece jacket. I am passing through the village of Ages. Looks like a cute little village. They have a church here that you can actually sleep in the back of the church on mats. I was originally gonna stay there but then I decided to make a few more miles down the road so that’s why I didn’t stay there, but it sounds interesting. I am just a couple miles from Atapuerc, where I will be stay the night. If I knew that I was going to get to Atapuerc so soon I would have pushed on a little further down the trail. There are still a few more towns between here and Burgos.

11:27am, have reached Atapuerc, 14 mile marker. I can’t check into my Accommodations until 2pm. So I find the only open bar/cafe in town. Unload my pack find a seat out an outdoor table. Order a 🍺 and some saucy olives. Talked with a husband & wife from Philly. The mother/daughter from Pittsburgh showed up and we chatted for a bit. She is a bone marrow nurse, and her daughter is contemplating going into nursing as well. Alley, who walked w/us a couple days ago, stopped by, but she was going on farther. 

2pm, checked into my hostel, got the all import stamp, single room w/ private bath. Washed a couple pieces of laundry, showered. Then was able to Face Time w/ Maryann. Now just chillin waiting for diner @ 7pm.

Gear- I’ll talk about the rest of the gear I am carrying. 

Electronics - iPhone 15 pro max, Apple Watch, with a cords for both and 1 back up cord. Anchor Power pack, European plug adapter & Apple earbuds

Toiletry- all the basics, but in smaller quantities. Baby powder-shoes, Vaseline-toes, nail clipper, Compeed blister kit, close pins, washer/dryer sheets.

Misc- headlamp, wash cloth & towel, earplugs, the type you mold into the ear, sleep mask.

I am sure there are a couple items I missed, that’s about what I carry on my back.

Strike up the Band- Stats—> Grañón to Atapuerc,  Stage 11

Miles- 14.4

Duration- 5hrs 29min

Elev- 1,158 ft

Weather- 50- 63 degrees, mostly cloudy

Song- I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles), The Proclaimers 

Tomorrow I head to Burgos for my first rest day on the Camino. It’s about a 13 mile walk. Also taking the River Route, alternative, going into Burgos. There is a possibility of rain in the forecast.

Thanks as always for reading..Fight On✌🏻✌🏻