9/29 Ages to Burgos

So, firstly, Happy Birthday to Camille’s brother, Collin. I wish the world had more like him as the world is so much better for the one we have.

The walk today was cooler (low-mid 40’s around 8) so we lounged around a little to wait for the temp to get up toward 50 before venturing out. As a South Dakotan I would say the wind today was familiar. Yesterday was Kentucky wind (5-10 mph) but today was more 15-20 range. It was not uncomfortable walking and the total worked out to just under 14 miles. We walked through Atapuerca which is a UN Heritage site for the ancient cave drawings and prehistoric settlements. Closed on Sunday, so museum here in Burgos tomorrow! We did cross a beautiful ridge which gave us a nice view of Burgos. Rather than taking us into Burgos, however, the Camino winds around a little like a line at Disney. It involved a lot of walking without really getting any closer to our goal. This seems, perhaps, to be a recurrent theme of the Camino: why make it easy when you can make it hard?

I have been looking forward to Burgos for a while since we had planned a break day tomorrow to rest/recover and visit the cathedral and a couple museums. Perhaps Camille will know more tomorrow but El Cid (from the Arabic “as-sayyid” which apparently means “the master”) was a legendary military leader who established the independent Valencia city/region…. Burgos is something like his home town. It was not a long walk today but it seemed like one. The perception perhaps secondary to the fact that while my body was on a walk, my brain was in Burgos (probably soaking in a warm tub).

I have noticed walking means you often see your goal for two hours before you get there. Today it was even longer because the first half of the road was neither, straight, nor smooth, nor flat… The Biblical vision of smooth and flat roads kept coming to me. We are spoiled with our roads at home but when the Bible talks about “making a highway in the wilderness” (Isaiah 35:8) or the passage we read every Christmas about a voice calling “make straight in the desert a highway for our God” (Isaiah 40:3) I think it would be appreciated in a whole different way by people used to these roads.

Anyway, as I was limping up these terrible roads I saw it as a kind of irony to find a cross at the top. It made we wonder at the allegory or analogy of how difficult we sometimes make it for ourselves or others to approach the cross. In this case you need a decent set of ankles and stubborn endurance; in figurative terms the list becomes a lot longer for me. Putting the cross at the bottom doesn’t seem right either, I will have to think about that some more… If only I had 500 more km to walk to do so. Oh, wait…

We have been dealing with the realization that flying home on the 14th and walking 500 more km (310 miles) doesn’t seem realistic so we are looking for some pivot here. The receptionist at the hotel asked us if we are “enjoying” the Camino. I think the answer is, “yes” but it may be the wrong question? I would say we are appreciating the Camino and the time to walk with your albergue and think is appreciated almost as much as the relief one feels in stopping for the night. Our Camino has moved past “starting” (300 km down) and like our walk to Burgos, we see the end of this chapter even if it is far away and not a straight path.

Buen Camino!