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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.
<p>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.
<p>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.
<p>Howard Mendes wrote:
<blockquote TYPE=CITE><font face="arial,helvetica"><font size=-1>Marcia
-The "industrial" part of the Camino may be the approach into Burgos</font></font>
<br><font face="arial,helvetica"><font size=-1>which is the highway that
goes past auto dealerships ad nauseum and other</font></font>
<br><font face="arial,helvetica"><font size=-1>buildings before you reach
the residential apartment buildings around the</font></font>
<br><font face="arial,helvetica"><font size=-1>center of the city.
This is boring but the earlier part of the day's walk</font></font>
<br><font face="arial,helvetica"><font size=-1>was ok. You probably
can take a bus to bypass this because I remember seeing</font></font>
<br><font face="arial,helvetica"><font size=-1>bus stops after you cross
the railroad tracks at the beginning of this</font></font>
<br><font face="arial,helvetica"><font size=-1>stretch. I am 66 y.o.
and not in great shape so I would not discourage</font></font>
<br><font face="arial,helvetica"><font size=-1>anyone from attempting the
Camino. Just resign yourselves to do your best</font></font>
<br><font face="arial,helvetica"><font size=-1>and if you have to break
up the trip with bus rides as many people do, don't</font></font>
<br><font face="arial,helvetica"><font size=-1>feel guilty. It is
better to settle on alternative means of transportation</font></font>
<br><font face="arial,helvetica"><font size=-1>periodically and to complete
the Camino than to give up due to exhaustion or</font></font>
<br><font face="arial,helvetica"><font size=-1>injury by forcing yourself
to walk. Howard</font></font></blockquote>
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