Camino Confidential: Tardajos

My hotel, Silken Gran Teatro, was just acroMy hotel, Silken Gran Teatro, was just across the river from the Museum of Human Evolution. It was extremely comfortable with all mod cons. In the dining room for dinner at 8.30 was a big group of Koreans with their interpreter and bus driver. I chose from the "healthy menu" with Vietnamese spring rolls for entree and fish w risotto for main.

Before dinner I had a last stroll around that part of town, which had some very fashionable and tempting shops. There were loads of children's clothes shops where doting parents and grandparents could buy cute outfits; no shops for teenagers, except for one window display in Zara.

I skipped breakfast to make an early start to my day's walk, leaving in the dark at 7.30 am. The wide boulevard along the river was very well lit, and the sky behind me was starting to lighten by the time I reached the university area at the edge of town.

The first item of interest was Burgos Regional Prison on the right. Near there I met a young Irishman resting on the side of the track. He was suffering badly from tendinitis and had spent 3 days resting up in Burgos, but it was no better. I told him of my tendinitis episode 3 years ago, which forced me to abandon the Camino. He could recover better at home, I said, and Dublin is only 2 hours away by plane. He'd be fit as a fiddle and able to come back next year.

Arriving in Tardajos at about 11.30, it took a while to discover where my rented studio apartment was and importantly how to get hold of the key. In the end the friendly Señora at El Camino bar came to my assistance and phoned up the owner. So now I'm relaxing stretched out on the sofa, just like home, looking at their book on Atapuerca in Spanish.

Unfortunately there is no wi-fi here so I'll have to go out to a bar, and the only thing to eat or drink is a vast collection of herbal tea bags, including piña colada flavour!ss the river from the Museum of Human Evolution. It was extremely comfortable with all mod cons. In the dining room for dinner at 8.30 was a big group of Koreans with their interpreter and bus driver. I chose from the "healthy menu" with Vietnamese spring rolls for entree and fish w risotto for main.

The first item of interest was Burgos Regional Prison on the right. In here lots of political prisoners had been incarcerated during the Franco era. Near there I met a young Irishman resting on the side of the track. He was suffering badly from tendinitis and had spent 3 days resting up in Burgos, but it was no better. I told him of my tendinitis episode 3 years ago, which forced me to abandon the Camino. He could recover better at home, I said, and Dublin is only 2 hours away by plane. He'd be fit as a fiddle and able to come back next year.

Unfortunately there is no wi-fi here so I'll have to go out to a bar, and the only thing to eat or drink is a vast collection of herbal tea bags, including piña colada flavour!

Last pics from Burgos: