Day 4 - Santo Domingo de la Calzada to Burgos
Quite a long distance today and with quite a lot of climbing.
Because we wanted to arrive early afternoon in Burgos - to allow for sightseeing and perhaps drinking with Christian - we set alarms for 5:00 and left at 6:00. This was an error as we had not allowed for being so far south of the UK. It was completely dark and, once we were cycling, really cold. Cycling in the dark was a bit intimidating but we persevered. The Camino in this region is very straight and not very interesting. Quite pretty scenery but a little monotonous. Lots of fields of corn and sunflowers.
We arrived in Belorado just before 8:00 and nothing was open. We had not had coffee or breakfast and were freezing cold. Peering into a lit bar the lady must have taken pity on me and opened early. It was warm in the bar. Coffee (x 2), Tortilla and (under-cooked) croissants later we were revived (although still cold). We opened our bags and added layers (should have done this much earlier) and put socks on with our saddles (not a good look but hey!).
This part of the blog is written late at night. Christian met with us and brought his two cousins - one crazy. The story of this evening will have to wait until tomorrow due to my condition. Goodnight!
Because we wanted to arrive early afternoon in Burgos - to allow for sightseeing and perhaps drinking with Christian - we set alarms for 5:00 and left at 6:00. This was an error as we had not allowed for being so far south of the UK. It was completely dark and, once we were cycling, really cold. Cycling in the dark was a bit intimidating but we persevered. The Camino in this region is very straight and not very interesting. Quite pretty scenery but a little monotonous. Lots of fields of corn and sunflowers.
It became light around 7:30 and we passed into Castilla y Leon and said goodbye to Navarra. We were very under-dressed for the temperature and wind from cycling.
We arrived in Belorado just before 8:00 and nothing was open. We had not had coffee or breakfast and were freezing cold. Peering into a lit bar the lady must have taken pity on me and opened early. It was warm in the bar. Coffee (x 2), Tortilla and (under-cooked) croissants later we were revived (although still cold). We opened our bags and added layers (should have done this much earlier) and put socks on with our saddles (not a good look but hey!).
An half hour later the sun was on our backs and we were too hot. We cycled into Villafranca Montes de Oca of which I had warned Derek. The climb out of the village is long and hard - 6km at an average gradient of 6%. Derek’s knee, which had behaved for the first two hours, was already sore and he suffered. All things end though and at 1,125m we reached the top. For UK readers this is 30m higher than S owdon and 147m higher than Scafell Pike.
This was the hard part of the day over. We came off the road onto forest tracks that took us to San Juan de Ortega which is where the eponymous saint is buried and celebrated. Quite interestingly (for cyclists) 3 members of the Bora Hansgrohe cycling team were there. Later in the day we saw another professional team on the road (either Movistar or Astana from their kit). The 2021 Vuelta a España stages 2 and 3 are in this area and these teams were probable on reconnaissance.
SAN JUAN DE ORTEGA
After that it was an easy 25 km into Burgos where we posed with El Cid and took some pictures of this beautiful city.
This part of the blog is written late at night. Christian met with us and brought his two cousins - one crazy. The story of this evening will have to wait until tomorrow due to my condition. Goodnight!
Comments
Post a Comment