Two weeks from Burgos (May 2023) - reflections

[EricJR]

I enjoyed a great two weeks walking from Burgos, on the Meseta and then on to Villafranca, from 21 May 2023 onwards. I thought I'd put a few observations into a thread...

1. It was busy! Late May on the Meseta seems to catch the hefty wave of early May starters from St Jean. Many stops were not bookable, as much as 1-2 weeks ahead... My fellow travelers had become used to this (apparently many people gave up and flew home from Pamplona due to difficulty finding places to sleep - this is what I was told by people I met), and were either booking well ahead (by Booking.com and also Wattsapp) or were starting at 6am to get a bed. I'm slow due to foot pain, so I booked ahead, but I needed to do so 1+ week in advance to get a mixture of rooms and bunks. I saw a few people without reservations turned away at busier places on the Meseta (e.g. Terradillos)

2. Fellow pilgrims and hosts were friendly, and a real delight! It seemed to be prime season for young Australians, and retired US couples, among a wide range of others. A good 2/3 of the US couples had booked well in advance - perhaps why it was hard for me to book some places.

3. Sadly I couldn't book at either Rabanal or Foncebadon. I stayed at a casa rural at St Columba (or somewhere), which was excellent, and did an excellent dinner (leftover from the lunch menu, but the place is mainly a restaurant, so it was great). Next time I really must book futher in advance, because those stops are awesome! Suspect I could have got a bunk without booking, but didn't want to risk it.

4. A few very nice and good value pilgrim's menus - Albergue El Puntido in Hontanas had a great chicken stew, plus a real dessert.

5. A few very uninspiring pilgrim's menus - by which I mean extremely low-cost ingredients! I think in Boadilla I enjoyed a bit of lentil soup (alternative: chicken soup minus the chicken), a few bits of beef with beans, and a choc ice for about 12 Euros... Fine, it was perfectly OK, but about 150 pilgrims enjoyed this dinner, so that's a lot of euros!

6. Decided I can't live without fresh natural orange juice, so I've ordered myself an orange juice press! It's great, just like being in Spain or Greece!

7. I'm a big fan of the stone buildings. I *think* I can now distinguish between real stone walls, and "fakeout masonry" where the "stone" is really just tiles on the front of reinforced concrete. Loved staying in an old monastery at Carrion with real stone walls (but refurbished on the inside).

8. I probably got the early stages of heat exhaustion on the 17 km out of Carrion... It wasn't even that hot (23 Celsius perhaps), and I thought I was drinking enough fluids, but I was completely zonked and at the albergue I just had water and slept from 6pm to 6am. OK after that. Do watch out for that!

9. Still having foot challenges - arch pain, perhaps minor plantar fasciitiis. Calf stretches helped quite a bit, and to a lesser extent so did my new Merell Ventilator shoes which were better than last year's thinner-soled trail runners, but I suspect I'll always get this problem. On the plus side, due to the arch pain I seem to rest or stop before blisters become a problem and I don't really get them! Open to suggestions on how to fix the arch/sole pain problem. But I'm not willing to take painkillers! I chatted with an older US hiker who, like me, was of the opinion that people who took painkillers were just concealing their problems and letting them get worse!

10. 95% of bikers were polite and left plenty of space, and passed slowly. No particularly bad exceptions.

Just a few thoughts for now.

 

[dbier]

Arch pain plus sole pain. Would a podiatrist recommend arch- supporting insoles in better cushioned shoes?

And there's a tendon pain along the side of the heel that's also due to arches, but isn't plantar fascitis but mimics it, and won't be better with plantar remedies. Ask me how I know this...

Either way. If you'd like to deal with this without painkillers, I would suggest that you see a podiatrist or a doctor that deals with sports injuries.

 

[Tony S]

I second the motion about custom orthotics. I suffer from periodic plantar fasciitis and can attest that over the last thirty years having custom orthotics has helped more than stretching, rest, anti-inflammatories, and even steroid injections. Your foot changes, so you need to get new custom orthotics at least every 10 years, possibly more often. They are expensive but worth every penny.

 

[Eni]

I enjoyed a great two weeks walking from Burgos, on the Meseta and then on to Villafranca, from 21 May 2023 onwards. I thought I'd put a few observations into a thread...

1. It was busy! Late May on the Meseta seems to catch the hefty wave of early May starters from St Jean. Many stops were not bookable, as much as 1-2 weeks ahead... My fellow travelers had become used to this (apparently many people gave up and flew home from Pamplona due to difficulty finding places to sleep - this is what I was told by people I met), and were either booking well ahead (by Booking.com and also Wattsapp) or were starting at 6am to get a bed. I'm slow due to foot pain, so I booked ahead, but I needed to do so 1+ week in advance to get a mixture of rooms and bunks. I saw a few people without reservations turned away at busier places on the Meseta (e.g. Terradillos)

2. Fellow pilgrims and hosts were friendly, and a real delight! It seemed to be prime season for young Australians, and retired US couples, among a wide range of others. A good 2/3 of the US couples had booked well in advance - perhaps why it was hard for me to book some places.

3. Sadly I couldn't book at either Rabanal or Foncebadon. I stayed at a casa rural at St Columba (or somewhere), which was excellent, and did an excellent dinner (leftover from the lunch menu, but the place is mainly a restaurant, so it was great). Next time I really must book futher in advance, because those stops are awesome! Suspect I could have got a bunk without booking, but didn't want to risk it.

4. A few very nice and good value pilgrim's menus - Albergue El Puntido in Hontanas had a great chicken stew, plus a real dessert.

5. A few very uninspiring pilgrim's menus - by which I mean extremely low-cost ingredients! I think in Boadilla I enjoyed a bit of lentil soup (alternative: chicken soup minus the chicken), a few bits of beef with beans, and a choc ice for about 12 Euros... Fine, it was perfectly OK, but about 150 pilgrims enjoyed this dinner, so that's a lot of euros!

6. Decided I can't live without fresh natural orange juice, so I've ordered myself an orange juice press! It's great, just like being in Spain or Greece!

7. I'm a big fan of the stone buildings. I *think* I can now distinguish between real stone walls, and "fakeout masonry" where the "stone" is really just tiles on the front of reinforced concrete. Loved staying in an old monastery at Carrion with real stone walls (but refurbished on the inside).

8. I probably got the early stages of heat exhaustion on the 17 km out of Carrion... It wasn't even that hot (23 Celsius perhaps), and I thought I was drinking enough fluids, but I was completely zonked and at the albergue I just had water and slept from 6pm to 6am. OK after that. Do watch out for that!

9. Still having foot challenges - arch pain, perhaps minor plantar fasciitiis. Calf stretches helped quite a bit, and to a lesser extent so did my new Merell Ventilator shoes which were better than last year's thinner-soled trail runners, but I suspect I'll always get this problem. On the plus side, due to the arch pain I seem to rest or stop before blisters become a problem and I don't really get them! Open to suggestions on how to fix the arch/sole pain problem. But I'm not willing to take painkillers! I chatted with an older US hiker who, like me, was of the opinion that people who took painkillers were just concealing their problems and letting them get worse!

10. 95% of bikers were polite and left plenty of space, and passed slowly. No particularly bad exceptions.

Just a few thoughts for now.

Very nice and useful review. I am about to continue my camino from BUrgos next year hopefully. How about starting my way at the end of April? Do you think there should be more possibilities for acommodation?

 

[EricJR]

Very nice and useful review. I am about to continue my camino from BUrgos next year hopefully. How about starting my way at the end of April? Do you think there should be more possibilities for acommodation?

I don't really know about April, but I expect it would be significantly less busy than late May. Do be aware of the 1 May weekend holiday, which apparently is very busy everywhere in Spain. And there's a greater chance of cold weather. I met several people who said they were very cold in early May. (I did not experience cold at all during late May this year, not even sitting outside at night in just a T shirt, but I assume they were telling the truth and there were cold nights.)