Those of you who follow me on Instagram will know that this summer, I spent 7 days walking around 120km along the Camino de Santiago, from Logroño to Burgos in Spain. This was the second leg of the Camino that I started in 2016 (if you’re interested, I wrote a Q&A post in response to some of the questions people had asked me along the way). This is Part 13 (other posts linked at the end of this post).
Camino Frances Day 13: Santo Domingo de la Calzada to Belorado (approx 22.5km)
“Be prepared for half today’s walk to be parallel to the busy main road with little shelter and water apart from the villages that you pass through,” said the book. Add to that the 30˚C + temperatures and it made for a very long day but thankfully there was a chorizo break towards the end 😉
Though it was hot, it was hard not to be wowed by the scenery…
It was also the day we were introduced to “sunflower faces”…
I mean, it just looks like a field of sunflowers, right?
But up close…
Aren’t they hilarious?
And for scale…
Yup that’s Neil standing amongst them. They were So tall!
This was also the day we entered Castilla y Léon…
We passed through a few cute little towns today…
Redecilla del Camino…
(where we DIDN’T stop for a foot massage though it was tempting…)
And Viloria de la Rioja… where we enjoyed a lunch of champions:
(rehydrating drink and chocolate ice cream)
It still wasn’t even midday at this point but it was so hot. We pushed on, noting that the book was right and there was, in fact, not much shelter outside the tiny villages… Someone’s shoes must have given up the ghost at this point – we just happened to glance up!
Eagle-eyed Neil had also spotted that on this leg, there was the chance to stop at Restaurante Léon in Villamayor del Río, famous for its house-cured meats including chorizo. At this stage it was around noon so we figured we’d head there for a quick drink, a rest and perhaps some chorizo.
Some chorizo with your cold drink?
I left Neil inside ordering cerveza con limón (basically a shandy) and some chorizo to take away with us and settled in the sweet patio..
With some, errr… friends…
Strangest decor ever…
Soon though we were enjoying a little snack which totally refreshed us..
Ready for that last hour on the road (ugh, who wants to walk an hour in the sun with a belly full of beer and chorizo?!)
Sooner that we imagined, though (the roads alongside the main roads are easy to walk on – hard on your feet but relatively flat), we were ensconced in our tiny guest house in Bolorado (pop 2000) napping the afternoon away. We headed out later on to the gorgeous round central plaza to enjoy what else…
And then, possibly the worst meal of the trip (but with the sweetest server ever so some of the awfunless was forgiven). I ordered the “mixed vegetables”:
Uh…. what????
And to follow, a “tortilla en salsa verde” (egg omelette in green sauce).
SO weird. Not much of a meal for me.
Thankfully there was dessert. Ubiquitous flán.
Meanwhile, Neil got the better option… For both courses…
But hey, we’re not doing this for the food and there have been some spectacular meals along the way so it’s ok to not eat like kings everyday, right?
Also, views like this on the way back to the guest house kind of make up for a lot…
This was a really long (hot) day and I was literally hobbling around Belorado (as were a lot of other pilgrims), but also a great day because we bought some of the best chorizo we’ve ever eaten (we took it back to France and shared with neighbours who loved it). It’s the third “long” day walking in a row and thankfully we had organised our route to only walk a short distance the following day. It’s all about balance 😉
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Disclosure: I researched Camino trips independently and chose the Camino Travel Center based on a number of features such as flexibility to accommodate a couple of “splits” in some of the longer days, price and customer service. They were, in fact the first company I came across in my very first Google search and the one I ended up booking with. From the initial inquiry to the actual trips, they have been a pleasure to deal with and we have been very impressed with the service provided (bag transportation) and the accommodation choices. I was not compensated to write about this trip in any way but I love sharing companies and products I believe in with my readers. I couldn’t recommend the Camino Travel Center more and, in fact, am booking another Camino walk with them for next summer (and every summer until I reach Santiago!).
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