Michelle wrote:
12 Sept. Tuesday
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Early morning selfie in the
garden of Albergue
San Anton Abad |
Matt and Darcy kept me updated on the weather/hurricane situation at home. There was a power outage and small limbs were blown down, but no damage at our house or Clarissa’s. Thank goodness the storm was weaker than expected in Atlanta.
We woke up later than planned, 7:00 am, and left the albergue at 8:00 am. It was a tough 200m climb right off! We walked through 12 km of oak and pine forests in cool, sunny weather. It was very nice once we were at the top of the hill/mountain. Then a gentle slope down to San Juan de Ortega – a small village with an active monastery. We finally saw some cows, very peacefully resting with their calves at the top of the hill. The views were beautiful! The walk continued to Ages, which was a pretty little village and seemed like a happy place to live. We went on to Atapuerca, where we stopped for the night.
Atapuerca is an important archeological site for evidence of early homosapiens. It is a fairly recent discovery. We stopped at a small museum in the village and enjoyed the exhibits there. Almost everything was in Spanish and I didn’t understand a lot of it, but I still enjoyed looking at what they had displayed.
Curtis and I walked up the hill to the church and had a beautiful view of the area. The skies were blue, the air warm with a cool breeze. Perfect for hanging out the laundry!
The albergue was very nice. We stayed in a private double room (habitacion doble). It was in a separate building that had 6 double rooms with private bathrooms – quite a luxury! We shared a kitchen, large table, TV, library, couch and wood burning stove. It was very comfortable. The other pilgrims were very friendly and it was easy to share the space with them. That is one of the many great things about the camino. Almost everyone is very considerate and friendly and happy to share the same space. One of the couples was from California and the woman’s name was Michelle. I can’t remember her husband’s name. It wasn’t Curtis! They were carrying a letter from their church in California to give to one of the priests at the cathedral in Santiago. They are sister churches and share the same name and they are very proud of that fact.
There is only one store in the village and it has a very limited offering, but we were able to get some bread, milk (boxed), tortilla, yogurts, eggs and juice. That sufficed for our dinner tonight and breakfast tomorrow. That totaled less than the cost of one pilgrim dinner – 10 Euros. The stores and most of the bars/cafes close between 2:30 and 5:00, so you have to get your shopping done early or wait until 5:00. Dinner isn’t served until 7:00 or 7:30 pm. I have a hard time falling asleep after eating that late, so we are trying to do something different. We have a 20 km walk to Burgos tomorrow.
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Looking back at our albergue and N-120 coming into Villafranca from Logroño.
The bell tower on the right was in the last picture in the post for the day before this one. |
The first step out of our albergue this day was up hill, and the next step too, and so forth for a couple of hours. But it was nice to be hiking through the trees. Thinking back, there were very few sections before this where we were hiking through trees. Mostly it's been through open fields. Next year, as we work our way through Galicia, there will be more forests.
We did not know it at the time, but this was our penultimate day hiking through trees. The day after tomorrow we will be on the meseta (the flat plain). This hill coming out of the albergue was not fun for Michelle.
Even without a pack, hills stress her lungs.
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As the sun came over the horizon
we took this picture. |
So we took it easy, not rushing. We had reserved a private room in the albergue at the next town, Atapuerca. We had a nice, cool and dry breeze that day. It reminded me of hiking in the mountains of Utah. Because of the variety of the terrain, I think this is one of my favorite sections of the trail to date.
The scrub oak gave way to planted pines. We never came across any sections where the planted trees had been harvested. Then, as we gradually descended the mountain, the pines gave way to scrub oak again and then fields.
One of the first fields we came across had cows resting on the ground near the trail. Apparently they had seen so many pilgrims that our presence made no difference to them.
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| I particularly liked this calf sleeping in his mom's shadow. |
We stopped at the first village that we came to as we came down the mountain, San Juan de Ortega. There we bought some drinks and a snack, and used the restrooms. I took time to take off my shoes and socks and give my feet a good rub down with a foot cream made in Germany that was highly recommended by experienced hikers we met last year. Problems were developing on my left foot. It seems that the little toe was getting jammed under its neighbor. A blister was developing between the two and the toe nail of the little toe was getting stressed somehow. I could not figure out what was causing the problem.
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| Agés is on the left. On the right and further away is our destination this day: Atapuerca |
From the hamlet of San Juan de Ortega, we walked through low hills to the charming town of Agés.
You really should check it out at
This Link in Google Maps
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| This is definitly a 'pilgrim-friendly' village. |
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| The tomatos and flowerrs are happy. |
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Fun idea: provide chalk and a place to leave a message. The message on the right of
the top board is: "When someone judges your Camino, lend them your shoes." |
The message about 'judging your Camino' is appropriate. As you research hiking the Camino de Santiago, you will learn from the forums and the guide books that everyone hikes their own Camino. None of us can say that my way is better because, for example, I carry all my gear with me every day and I never ship my pack ahead; or I always stay in a pilgrim albergue - never a hotel; or I walked all of it without ever taking any other kind of transportation. These behaviors only have meaning for the walker. In fact, because each of us are different, we will each learn something different from our experience following the Camino, following The Way. Just as following the Way, the Truth and the Light must also be done in a uniquely personal way. Who can tell what burdens our fellow pilgrims in life are carrying? Who knows the blisters that shoot pain in every step of a long cleansing process of repentence? Do we recognize the burning pain in the lungs of the overburdened neighbor who is trying to keep up and not get left behind? Not me. So I find myself to be much happier when I don't judge. Sure, I will point out the beautiful things on the Camino and in life to my fellow pilgrims, but I don't want to hold it against them if they choose to go flying by in a bus.
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Coming in to Atapuerca we see the Church on the hill and our albergue, the yellow building on the left.
In fact, our window is the one closest to the street. |
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| Albergue El Peregrino, as seen from the Camino. |
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| Michelle at the entrance |
Highly recommended by me is Albergue El Peregrino in Atapuerca. Notice the spacious lawn where you can take off your shoes and stretch out on the grass. On the left you can see part of the ample clothes line. The wash room had a nice modern washer and a dryer, as well as 2 sinks for hand washing. For us, this was the most relaxing albergue on the Camino since beginning at Saint Jean Pied de Port. Did I say something similar yesterday? Certainly our room at San Anton Abad in Villafranca was nice, but there were so many people there - it was too busy. Before this trip, when talking with other couples, (you know who you are) many would say "We could not sleep in a bunk room with so many other people." Now I know you can walk the Camino without having to stay in a bunk room. You might have to take a taxi some evenings but most of the time you'll be able to find private rooms.
We shared a kitchen with several other couples, (each having their own private room) but apparently all of us were feeling shy because it seemed like nobody came out of their rooms while another couple was preparing there meal and eating in the dinning room. Now I sort of regret this shyness. In the morning we met a couple from California that were fun to talk with. And we could have enjoyed dinner with them the night before, but we chose to stay in our room. Further down the trail we met them again and again.
Why would we stay in our own room? I think part of it is simply because of the pain in my left foot. When I hurt, I want to be miserable in private. Certainly there is a challenge there for me: "How to be gregarious while in pain". It can be done. I've seen it before, in others. But I'm not there yet.
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| This is the wild life in Atapuerca: 8 cats in one picture |
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| The view from the top of the hill near the Church |
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| The Church at the top of the hill |
Atapuerca is famous for the discoveries of Homo Antecessor who lived 1.2 million to 600,000 years ago. According to Wikipedia, "The genus name Homo is the Latin word for "human" whereas the species name antecessor is a Latin word meaning "explorer", "pioneer" or "early settler", assigned to emphasize the belief that these people belonged to the earliest migratory waves as yet known from the European continent."
In the photo above, the museum can be seen as a gray building down the road to the left of the church. Had we not walked from Villafranca, we would have had enough energy to walk to the museum and check it out. As it was, we limited ourselves to the much smaller museum down the street from our albergue.
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From the top of the hill by the Church, looking north west, you can see the trail leaving town and going over the mountain.
The excavation site for the Homo antecessor is further to the left, on the other side of this same hill. |
The first step out of our albergue this day was up hill, and the next step too, and so forth for a couple of hours. But it was nice to be hiking through the trees. Thinking back, there were very few sections before this where we were hiking through trees. Mostly it's been through open fields. Next year, as we work our way through Galicia, there will be more forests.
We did not know it at the time, but this was our penultimate day hiking through trees. The day after tomorrow we will be on the meseta (the flat plain). This hill coming out of the albergue was not fun for Michelle.
Highly recommended by me is Albergue El Peregrino in Atapuerca. Notice the spacious lawn where you can take off your shoes and stretch out on the grass. On the left you can see part of the ample clothes line. The wash room had a nice modern washer and a dryer, as well as 2 sinks for hand washing. For us, this was the most relaxing albergue on the Camino since beginning at Saint Jean Pied de Port. Did I say something similar yesterday? Certainly our room at San Anton Abad in Villafranca was nice, but there were so many people there - it was too busy. Before this trip, when talking with other couples, (you know who you are) many would say "We could not sleep in a bunk room with so many other people." Now I know you can walk the Camino without having to stay in a bunk room. You might have to take a taxi some evenings but most of the time you'll be able to find private rooms.
We shared a kitchen with several other couples, (each having their own private room) but apparently all of us were feeling shy because it seemed like nobody came out of their rooms while another couple was preparing there meal and eating in the dinning room. Now I sort of regret this shyness. In the morning we met a couple from California that were fun to talk with. And we could have enjoyed dinner with them the night before, but we chose to stay in our room. Further down the trail we met them again and again.
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