03/06/07
Villafranca to
Cardeñuela de Río Pico
Cardeñuela de Río Pico
I was up and out fairly late and I was on my own again with my memories. I now remembered the little café at the top of the road that was just a little way out of my way. I needed that morning coffee, I knew it was some way before I could get one. I could make a black one for myself but anyway thought it would be a good idea to get breakfast and bread and food of some sort for later.
The little café was open and a sleepy eyed proprietor made my coffee. I asked if there was any cake for breakfast and he got some from the room at the end of the bar. I looked in and it was set out like a small shop, which it was. I stocked up on cake, bread and chorizo.
As I left he told me to go to my right and take the steep track up by the side of the café as it met the other camino that others would have taken opposite the albergue. It was a hard start, but breathtakingly beautiful and I now remembered climbing this before with Luke.
I dallied, looking out across the hills back the way I had come yesterday and then continued slowly looking for wild flowers in the grasses. There were a number and the scrub here is lovely, mostly Holm oaks.
This part was notorious for bandits in the old days but today it was just a little hard going. Still I was fresh and the day cool, with the sunshine promising to warm things later. When you reach the top it levels out and becomes a wide track that proceeds to take you through the forest. I stopped to repack some of the food I had bought and take a drink. An Austrian chap came along and we walked quite a way together. Unfortunately he could not speak much English and almost no Spanish. At a monument to fallen soldiers of the Civil War we caught up with two Norwegian girls.
Soon after taking photos with them we left them behind and met a very pleasant and brave elderly lady. I had met her some days before. She was Austrian too, she walked very badly and slowly, as she suffered from arthritis or some such complaint and I had great respect for her. She was completing the same mileage as I was each day, by starting very early and finishing late. A very courageous woman to have walked from the French border to here and still going strong. I am not sure now, but I believe she told me she had walked from Austria in fact. Anyway we both slowed down so we could chat to her. I soon moved forward so they could talk in their own language, then picked up speed again leaving them both behind talking! 
It’s a good 12 kilometres to San Juan de Ortiga, where I stopped last time. I must have been physically worse off then for although I now had painful blisters, I was prepared to move on. I enjoyed a coffee in the busy café and took a look around the church that had undergone much restoration since I stopped here last.
I found steps in the church going down into the floor and went down them. It was pitch black and I could find no light, I almost fell but now used my torch and found it was a candle lit chapel and I took a photo hoping the flash would light it enough to see it properly. I now know the plaque says San Juan de Ortiga 1.080 . 1.163. I returned up another flight of stairs and out into the strong sunlight. In the porch of the Nuns albergue, you can stamp your own credential. I had felt guilty for four years for not leaving a donation the last time I slept here, but finding no one to give the money to, I never paid my dept, so I still feel guilty!
I returned to my camino and saluted again my brave Austrian lady friend and presumed the chap was in front somewhere. In 4 kms I found that the small village of Ages that now has two albergues. My camino then took me to Atapuerca that had only one, but several hostels. Here also was a tourist office and ancient bones had fairly recently been discovered of one of the first humans. They had been unearthed nearby but they only took groups to see them, and discouraged people from going to see the site on their own and the last group had already gone. I now stubbornly went on over the hill.
I remembered this climb and knew it would be hard especially on my own. The views were great and made up for the effort but where would I be able to stop for the night? My guidebook said no albergues from Atapuerca till Burgos some twenty or more kilometres. You could see it in the very far distance from the top of the hill.
Coming down I was looking for a camping spot but nothing seemed flat enough. The track took a turn to the left and I came past Villa Aval that was not much more than a farmhouse. I felt shattered and flopped down to rest my weary body out of the cold wind. While walking, I had a scarf and gloves so I had not noticed the cold too much except that the wind was in my face, therefore making it harder to walk!The wild flowers were lovely and a few rocks sheltered me from the wind and here the grass was long. Unfortunately it was sloping too much to camp and
I'd not much left to eat in my bag or water anyway. My feet were painful and I took off the boots and socks and laid on my back in the long grass with my feet up over my pack, socks hanging over my staffs in the wind drying. It must have looked a bit funny to the few cyclists and a lone walker as they went by but only the walker spoke saying just "Are you ok?" then continuing on before I could say no! I ate a bit of stale cake and drank a little water. After twenty minutes or so I put on my boots and went on. After what seemed ages of trudging I came into the little village of Cardeñuela de Río Pico. It may only have been about 7 kms from Atapuerca when I came to a few old houses and a building on my right with flags flying that I thought must be the Ayuntamiento (Town Hall) then I saw a bar! Oh boy! was I happy! I went in and ordered a coffee. I asked if there was any place to stop here and the barman said I had passed it!
"Didn't you see the place with the flags."
I had to pay him anyway to stay there then went back to secure a bed! The building was built into the hillside. I was so tired my brain was not working as I entered the ground floor only to be met by two giggly boys that thought everything was hilariously funny! They had been on a computer, I had probably come in as they found a porn site or something! I could get no sense out of them! Looking round, I saw there was only a flat wooden staging, other than the computers in the far end of the room. The only sensible word I could get from the boys was (staircase.) I left them giggling and went out and found a flight of steps that went up around the outside and round to the back. Here I found another entrance to the top floor, and this was the albergue. One toilet, one shower, one basin, all in the same tiny space, although the toilet did have a door that wouldn’t close properly. The shower relied on a skimpy curtain. There was a room with several bunks and I took one. The water was freezing cold so it was a very quick shower I had!!! Being so tired I was happy when I discovered I had a clean shirt and socks in my bag. I decided I could go one more day without washing my clothes. I rested a while, then several cyclists, one being a girl took beds. I was not getting much rest so decided to go to eat in the bar restaurant, embarrassing the poor girl washing as I used the loo on the way out!
At the bar I was asked to join a very pleasant coloured Canadian and his girlfriend and another man from the USA and to my surprise he was a Jesuit priest! It was a good home cooked meal by the Mamá of the house and we drank a good wine and passed a pleasant hour or two and swapped addresses, which I duly lost! I gave them a four-leaf clover. The priest said he was stopping off in Burgos to visit other Jesuit priests.
"Well you have to make the most of your visit" he chuckled over the orujo we were by then drinking.
END DAY 19 = approx. 24.6 km Sub Total = 109.5 km Total = 447.4 km
