Camino Frances, Day 13, The Meseta

 6:45am, I am out the door. It is day 13 on the Camino

6:54am, made my way back onto the official Camino Trail. It’s 50° looks to be partly cloudy. I went with my fleece jacket & shorts this morning. I was awoken at six in the morning by what I’d determine were three very drunk Spanish individuals singing at the top of their lungs. Who needs an alarm clock right! 

8am, I have left the confines of the big city and now I’m currently walking back into the county side. I looked at my compass and I am walking straight due West. It’s still partly cloudy temperature actually it’s 49°. I was hoping to see a nice sunrise, but the clouds were to low and that prevented a colorful sunrise. I once again bumped into the two Koreans ladies that I met at Los Arcos. Also met another lady name is Claire. She is danish, from Copenhagen. So far this morning the pilgrims are just kind of all spread outs/  gaps of 100-200 yrds separate everyone. I did stop at that bakery in Burgos yesterday I’ve forgot to mention and I bought four Pasta del Natas. I had one of them yesterday and I had one last night and I have two left for this morning when I stopped for have my coffee. I also forgot to start my tractor when I left my hotel this morning, but my watch tells me that I’ve gone 3.8 miles since I left my hotel.

8:53am, still 49° sun is now risen up above the clouds. I’m entering the village of Tardojos. I am right at the 7 mile mark.

9:07am, stopped at a little bar to have my café con Leche and my two Pasta del Nada. Two people commented on them, asking where did I get them.  I also bought a ham, cheese, lettuce, tomato sandwich and the server wrapped it up in foil for me so I’ll have that later on today. I found out what holiday, it is in Spain, Workday Holiday, our equivalent to Labor Day. Also spoke to a gentleman from Barcelona and he has been doing the Camino in sections, when he can, and this is his last section to Leon.

9:35am, entering the very small village of RABE de la Calzadas. This is your typical sleepy little village. I do not see a soul walking around. They do have a nice big church, of course they do, and I just passed 1 open café with two pilgrims sitting outside, that I passed earlier in the morning. I also have passed a couple of sheep farms. hopefully one day on this trail I’ll see the sheepherder, pushing his flock of sheep down the trail.

10:00am, it’s 54°. I’ve gone just about 9 miles, close to the half way point of my day. I can officially say I have entered the Meseta. Looking at wheat fields as far as the eye can see. 

I’m now passing the big windmills, like in Palm Springs, their huge blades just facing out toward the Meseta, keeping a watchful eye out. 

10:30am, it’s a small world. A man comes up next to me on a bicycle and he says hi Randy it’s me Shane and I think a second I said oh yeah the guy from Australia. We had pilgrim dinner together in Los Arcos. He had developed real bad blister on his heels, he couldn’t walk. So he took a taxi to Burgos and decided to rent a bike and peddle to Leon. He also mention that the group he was walking with they are actually busing from Burgos to Leon to bypass the Meseta. Everybody’s Camino is different. He said it will take him 3 days to pedal to Leon, whereas it will take me 5-6 days to get there.

It’s time to pop the earbuds in. Today’s selection, 60s classic rock and to start us off,  Norman Greenbaun’s, Spirit in the Sky, followed by Sympathy for the Devil, by the Stones🤣🤣🤣, I think this trail is trying to tell me something🤣🤣. Between the good & evil songs I am greeted with an array of red poppy flowers w/ white daisy surrounding them. So Pretty!!! 

11:07am, at the 13 mile mark, entering Hornillos Dell Camino. This village is a popular pilgrim stopping point from Burgos. We’ve reached 62° full sun now just a slight breeze, which feels really good. If there is an open café here, I’ll probably stop and grab me something to drink. If not, I’ll just keep on moving on down the trail.

11:30am I did find an open café/bar went in and grabbed me a Coke Zero and just sitting over here by the church enjoying that Coke. senior moment, don’t you hate when you can’t find your glasses or sunglasses and you look everywhere for them and when you find them, they’re on top of your head 🫨. There are a lot of pilgrims here in this town, just milling around waiting for the Alburges to open. Another reason not to leave at the butt crack of dawn. These places usually don’t open until 2pm. What’s the use getting here at 11:30 and just waiting around🤔

12 o’clock noon I am at 14.6 miles 64° full sun. Very light breeze still have about 3-4 miles to go. The trail has been pretty moderate to say the least, with just some mild up and downs, and wheat fields as far as I can see. I did have a funny moment. I have my earbuds in as I said earlier and of course, the song by Neil Diamond, Sweet Caroline came on and that’s just a song that you cannot just listen to. You’ve gotta sing that song out loud and so I sing that song out loud. Good thing nobody was around me I would probably scared the heck out of them.🤣🤣. Actually, I’m not seeing many pilgrims on this section at all. I kinda feel like I am out here alone. Oh, now I can see some way up there. Let’s see if I can catch them. 

1pm, I am at 17.6 miles in for the day currently 65° still mostly sunny with big puffy white clouds and still just a light breeze. I have stopped in a little place here off the trail. Found me a nice little tree to sit by a nice rock to sit on and eat my ham and cheese sandwich that I bought earlier today. I feel like this is what Kansas looks. I am just waiting for Dorothy to pop out and yell Toto I’m home !!! some of you might be saying, Randy since you’re out in the middle of these wheatfields, where do you go to the bathroom. Well either you find a tree which are very few & far between or you just look both ways, make sure nobody is coming, you drop your poles and you just do your business right there. Now when I say your business, I am referring to #1. But if you got to go #2, well I suggest you go fertilize the fields 🤣. But I did make a total rookie mistake, I peed into the wind, that will only happen once.TMI, I know. I enjoyed my lunch break. Only 4 pilgrims, plus three bicyclist passed me while I was eating my lunch. 

13:56pm,  I have just reached the outer city limits of Hontanas, where I will be staying the night. Just one of the many small villages along the Meseta. These villages are totally set up for pilgrims. That’s basically how they survive out here. There are 4 or 5 Albergues, a couple hotels w/ a few bars & restaurants. Without the pilgrims these towns would become ghost towns. 

2:10pm, checked into my room. Hand wash a couple items real quick. Head down to the bar, grab a 🍺, go outside tables, work on this blog a bit, watch the other pilgrims come walking in. Chatted w/ a lady from Brisbane, Australia. Her first Camino. It’s funny, most everybody ask , have you seen the man w/ the donkey🤣. He has turned into quite a story line.

Sidenote- feet are holding up good. I know I will lose that toe nail on my left foot second toe eventually. Compeed works great on blisters. Everybody out here has some type of foot issues, it’s just part of the process, I didn’t wear my new Teva hiking sandals today. I want to break them in a little more before I set out on the Camino with them on.

I had dinner last night w/ a group of pilgrims. There were 7 of us, I only knew a couple of them. Like I said in yesterday’s blog, 8pm dinner time is not that appealing to me. I asked for just a green salad, but they didn’t have the ingredients to make a green salad 😡 What type of restaurant cant even make a basic green salad. So I went w/ the  Cevichero Russian Salad ,w/ Marinated Shrimp, Coriander, Onion, & Chili Oil😬. It was good, basically potato salad with all that other stuff on top.  

My place of stay tonight has a restaurant below, Don Rodrigo. So tonight I went with chicken breast, fries, and a mixed salad. It accompanied w/bread, spicy olives, and I chose a glass of local red wine.

🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁-Stats- Bergos to Hontanas Stage 13

Miles-20.1, I am officially a member of the 20 milers

Duration-7hr 2min

Elevation- 866 ft

Weather- 49- 67 degrees, mostly sun w/ high clouds Song- Ramblin’ Man,       The Allman Brothers 

Tomorrow will be much the same as today’s walk. Mild rolling hills with long stretches of straight trail. I actually really enjoyed today’s walk very much. It was very peaceful, w/ not a whole a lot of people around.

Tomorrows forecast ☔️☔️☔️ 

Once again thanks for taking a few mins out of your day to read my journey.