bus into Burgos

[Robert E. Spenger]

If someone is trying to save a few days by skipping parts of the camino
frances, the bus into Burgos doesn't really save all that much time -
only a couple of hours or so. I stopped at the Hotel Las Vegas, in
Villefria, which is just at the beginning of that notorious "industrial
section." I left my pack at the hotel and took the bus into town and was
surprised to find several pilgrim acquaintances on the same bus - with
their packs. One of them who spoke English explained to me that this was
standard practice and that other, experienced pilgrims had advised him
to do this, since it was a boring section and did not contribute much to
the pilgrim experience.

I had done a similar thing on the way out of Toulouse, on the advice of
the Confraternity guide, and one of those strange Santiago coincidences
occurred. As I was on my way from the youth hostel to the bus depot, a
car with about four people in it stopped and asked if I were a Saint
Jacques pilgrim. When I told them that I was, they got very excited and
insisted that I get in the car with them, so they could take me to the
bus depot. At first they had thought that I was planning to walk the bad
part past the airport and they were relieved that I had already opted to
take the bus. They didn't have to talk me into it.

In Burgos, I spent the afternoon touristing around and caught a rather
late bus back to the hotel. Fortunately, the hotel was still serving
dinner, which I had not had yet. The next day, I was determined to walk
the 6 km or so into town and continued on to Hornillos in the rain and
mud. It was a Sunday anyway, so there probably wasn't any bus. I stopped
by the refugio that is in the park on the way out of the city. I just
wanted to check it out to see what it was like. I got some static from
the people there, one of them insisting that I should stay there, at
least until the rain eased up. It was still morning, so I wasn't about
to waste any more time in Burgos. so I just took off. The rain wasn't
really too bad at that time, but by mid afternoon, as I was sliding
around on the slick clay going over the hills, it was a real downpour. I
was very glad that I was carrying my kilo and a half pair of stout
walking sticks. After Hornillos, I walked 30 km of highway to
Castrojeriz instead of 20 km of more mud. The others got there a little
bit before me, but spent a lot of time trying to get all the mud off. It
didn't really rain so much that day, but, of course, the path was still
muddy from the previous day's rain. In Castrojeriz, several of us opted
to stay at the hotel. I was glad that I did, after I heard descriptions
of the "army barracks" atmosphere of the refugio there.

Howard Mendes wrote:

> Marcia -The "industrial" part of the Camino may be the approach into
> Burgos
> which is the highway that goes past auto dealerships ad nauseum and
> other
> buildings before you reach the residential apartment buildings around
> the
> center of the city.  This is boring but the earlier part of the day's
> walk
> was ok.  You probably can take a bus to bypass this because I remember
> seeing
> bus stops after you cross the railroad tracks at the beginning of this
>
> stretch.  I am 66 y.o. and not in great shape so I would not
> discourage
> anyone from attempting the Camino.  Just resign yourselves to do your
> best
> and if you have to break up the trip with bus rides as many people do,
> don't
> feel guilty.  It is better to settle on alternative means of
> transportation
> periodically and to complete the Camino than to give up due to
> exhaustion or
> injury by forcing yourself to walk.  Howard
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