Burgos, Spain

After a lovely stay in Belorado we set out before the sun came up hoping to make it to San Juan de Ortega by midday. It was mostly a shady walk, but with lots of steady elevation gain through a mixed forest of pine and oak. Sadly, when we reached San Juan de Ortega, the one hotel was completely booked. Hikers were lining up for the Alberque, which was reputed to be a large but crowded one. We had a drink, and ate our picnic lunch at the bar, then decided to hike on to Ages which would only make it easier getting into Burgos. The hike onward was harder than we thought it would be, but we’ve discovered that last 5 km is always the hardest. We wound up in an Alberque in Ages, our first time in the dormitory because that’s all that was available. Norm and I both agreed we could go no further. Here’s where it got funny, Norm was excited about staying in the dorm, but I was less than happy. Before, I had been the more open minded one. The hospitlero was charming, and I was assigned a bottom bunk, with Norm above me. It was the first time I needed my sleeping sack that I’d carried because the bunks were without bedding. We had to leave our boots in the lobby, but had lockers next to our bunks for our packs. Luckily we bunked with a friendly group of 8 who were all early risers, so we agreed to all wake at 5 or 5:30 to begin hiking early. The Alberque served a good hearty dinner that we ate family style, which included singing to each other. I reserved our hotel in Burgos, and watched others lay out their laundry which proved ill fated because it rained.