Today we were introduced to the intimidating Meseta. This is a high plain that starts at Burgos and extends all the way to Leon. It is featureless, with fields of wheat, oats and barley stretching to the horizon. There are no trees so there is no shade and it can be very hot. It can also be very windy so we will see many wind turbines. Occasionally there are rivers that have cut canyons into the plain. Villages are located at the bottom on these canyons where the water is. This means we must descend an often steep path from the plain to the village and then ascend back up to the meseta. We will be crossing the Meseta for a week!
Leaving Burgos was much more pleasant than entering it. A walk through the old town under the Arch of St Martin part of the fortified city wall, through some parks, past the university and into the countryside. Near the university we came across the first free-standing public convenience we have seen so far. This was an automatic opening /closing /flushing affair that you could use for 30 cents. Interestingly the signs on it said “WC” In bars and cafes the conveniences are called aseos. We also passed a large state prison with many watch towers. Many political prisoners were held there during the Franco years’ and so many young dissidents got a political education here it was nicknamed “La Universidad”.
After passing over and under several motorway flyovers we started a long slow climb for about an hour onto the true Meseta. For what seemed like hours we walked between flat fields of hay. A little breeze kept us cool and the path was flat, smooth clay. A few tractors were working, turning the cut hay for drying. Eventually we came to the edge of the first canyon and descended Cuesta Matamulas, Mule Killer Hill, to the very quiet village of Hornillos del Camino.
Our hotel was about 2km up a side road at Isar and our instructions said to telephone and they would send a car to pick us up. After some refreshments we felt good so decided to walk. It was hotter now as there was no breeze down in the valley but we got there comfortably enough. We actually have a whole house to ourselves, 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, living room, kitchen etc, about 100 metres up the hill from the hotel proper. It feels like we have the whole village to ourselves.
Isar is a very small, peaceful, rural hamlet, a total contrast to the hustle and bustle of Burgos. We have heard that a lot of these villages are nearly empty. Isar has about 100 houses, 50 would be derelict, 30 abandoned and 20 occupied. The only people left are farm workers, some service industry workers and the aged living off their government pensions. Where it passes through a village the Camino provides some employment by way of bars, cafes, albergues, small supermarkets etc.
I have been meaning to get up at night to look at the Milky Way which we are directly under, east to west. If the sky is clear this could be the ideal place as there will be no interference from artificial light.
A heap of bicycles around today. On the roads there were many road warriors, like us at home, decked out in their lycra and carbon fibre road bikes, powering along. And on the trail lots of hybrids and mountain bikes loaded with panniers. A group of seven had jerseys and shorts with “slow men” all over them. Some people don’t like walking the Meseta as they find it too monotonous, too hot, too windy, whatever. They walk St Jean Pied de Port to Burgos, cycle Burgos to Leon (which they can cycle in three days), walk Leon to Santiago. Others just get the bus from Burgos to Leon.
Ipod theme tune for the day: Nine million bicycles by Katie Melua
There are nine million bicycles in Beijing
That’s a fact
It’s a thing we can’t deny
Like the fact that I will love you till I die.