El Camino Day 14

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A cold start to the day’s walk this morning with snow during the night as the temperatures dropped below zero. The snow was visible on the gardens and parked cars as we walked out of Belorado this morning.

Close-up of a snow-covered sunflower head with wilted leaves, set against a blurred background of dried sunflower stalks in a field.
A snow covered sunflower

Today’s walk was only a short one as we need to break up the walk into 3 segments to Burgos so as to not walk over 30kms in the one day as we find that too much. It’s too long a time to be out in the cold when we’re averaging about 4kms per hour. It means that today’s walk was just under 13kms with an 18km walk tomorrow and then another 18km walk the next day. This stretch has limited accomodation in the towns that are on the way otherwise we could’ve broken it up into two stages rather than three.

A scenic view of a wooden pathway leading towards a stone arch bridge, surrounded by trees and greenery under a cloudy sky.
Evidence of last night’s snow, now ice

0ºC when we left this morning and there wasn’t that much variation to the temperature throughout the three hour walk. We left the hotel at about 9:45 after a good breakfast and sleep in. Today’s post will be short as the walk was short and fairly uneventful and lacking somewhat in scenery.

A gravel path leading towards a building marked with a red cross, surrounded by grassy fields and distant hills under a cloudy sky.
Blue skies were a welcome sight after yesterday’s bleakness
A dirt path winding through a rural landscape, with bare trees and a distant view of hills covered in snow. Fields and a small village with houses are visible on either side of the path under a partly cloudy sky.
This town we passed had a chapel built into the side of the mountain
A rock formation featuring a small building with a pitched roof, set against a hillside with trees and a stone wall in the foreground.
The chapel itself in the town Tosantos

This is from Wikipedia:
‘800 years ago a woman, known as La Ermita, lived in a cave in the cliffs above Tosantos and ministered to the passing Pilgrims. A chapel has been built into the that cave and once a year, on Fiesta Day, the inhabitants of Tosantos hold a procession through the town, up the winding path to the cave and give thanks to God, Santa Maria and La Ermita for blessing the town.’

A winding dirt path beside plowed fields under a cloudy sky, with rolling hills in the background.
Looking back, the chapel can just be seen on the side of the hill
A person walking along a dirt road in a rural landscape, with rolling fields and mountains in the distance under a cloudy sky.
Looking back again

It was cold walking with 0ºC temperatures so we were both walking with our scarves up over our faces to keep warm as you can see with Ron in the pic above.

A picturesque stone church with a clock tower, surrounded by trees and grassy area, under a cloudy sky.
A small church in a town we passed
A picturesque stone church with a bell tower, set against a backdrop of rolling snow-covered hills under a cloudy sky.
Snow covered hills
A dirt road winding through snowy fields and rolling hills under a cloudy sky.
At least the skies were blue!

It wasn’t long before we started to see our destination for the day, Villafranca-Montes de Oca.

A person walking along a dirt path surrounded by trees with green leaves and patches of snow on the ground.
Walking into Villafranca
A winter scene of the San Anton Abad hotel and restaurant, with a snowy landscape and cloudy skies.
Our hotel for the evening

That’s it for today. The hotel has a pilgrim menu so that’s what we’ll be attacking tonight with the other pilgrims that have since checked into the hotel with us. A non-eventful walk with not much to report about unfortunately.

Tomorrow’s forecast is for more snow and rain.

Thanks for reading.

For a map of today’s walk you’ll find it below.

Buen Camino! 😊

Comments

2 responses to “El Camino Day 14”

  1. Kees Avatar
    Kees

    Hi guys
    Because it was only a short walk and post I read it slowly!
    But all jokes aside, snow at this time of the year. Is rather unusual. In Holland they be lucky to get any at all during winter. Without going into the climate change debate.
    So realy you should be getting at least some warmer weather soon.
    Stay warm and safe.
    Kees

  2. James Altham Avatar

    Thanks Kees! 😊

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