Latest / WCBH / Day 19 - Camino Francés: One-Third Complete: Rest Day Reflections in Burgos

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Day 19 - Camino Francés: One-Third Complete: Rest Day Reflections in Burgos · WCBH

• 0:25
  Day 19, it's a rest day in Burgos. I'm joined here by my wife and Sherilyn.
• 0:32
  We've walked about 280 kilometers so far.
• 0:36
  I think this is roughly the 33% mark done.
• 0:43
  How do you feel so far?
• 0:47
  My legs are feeling it, not my feet.
• 0:51
  Definitely my leg muscles, my calf muscles are sore, so it's good to have a rest day.
• 0:57
  But I'm not feeling it as much as I thought I would.
• 1:01
  My body kind of knew that it was a rest day. I think I woke up this morning
• 1:05
  a little bit stiffer, a little bit sore than I have done other days.
• 1:08
  I think my body kind of had this rest day factored in.
• 1:12
  Some days we've been walking sort of the 20-kilometer-ish mark and we deliberately started slow.
• 1:21
  When we compare it to the last time we did the Camino, we did five days from
• 1:26
  Saria to Santiago ago, and we went straight into 25 kilometre plus days.
• 1:34
  You know, we're close to 10 years older now than when we did that.
• 1:39
  Do you notice the difference? Are we doing this better this time?
• 1:43
  To be honest, I don't know. That was a five-day thing. We did a lot of things wrong.
• 1:48
  It did rain for four days of that stint, and the first time we had,
• 1:56
  I think, all the wrong gear.
• 1:57
  Shoes were a big mistake last time. Shoes were a big mistake and jackets and
• 2:02
  all that sort of stuff. We had the wrong gear type, but we're better prepared for this.
• 2:08
  I think we're going a lot better. Are we taking our time with it?
• 2:13
  We're probably absorbing more around us.
• 2:17
  You mentioned the equipment, having the two walking sticks.
• 2:21
  Have you found that to be a significant factor in doing better?
• 2:26
  Going up and down hills, they're a great help.
• 2:30
  Particularly, there are some sections where we had to go from rock to rock and
• 2:34
  it was quite a deep drop. So those sticks are really good to help balance.
• 2:38
  And when it gets really muddy, they're helpful as well if there's a lot of water
• 2:43
  over the road and things like that. And last time we didn't have that.
• 2:47
  So we struggled up some hills. The psychology comes into play as well.
• 2:52
  Like, you know when you get up and you think, okay, I've got a 20-kilometer day.
• 2:56
  And then some days you get up and you've got a 14 kilometre day.
• 3:00
  To me, the 20-kilometre day is just as easy.
• 3:05
  It may even be easier than the 14-kilometre day. Really?
• 3:08
  Because I kind of almost have myself mentally prepared for a big day.
• 3:12
  It's the shorter days where I think, oh, this is just a short day. This is an easy day.
• 3:17
  I kind of notice my feet and my hip and a few other things more on those days.
• 3:22
  I find it the opposite. Those days my pack feels lighter and I feel like my
• 3:27
  feet could carry me the whole day. Thank you.
• 3:31
  The walk into Burgos was a long walk from the industrial area through,
• 3:35
  and that was a 19-kilometer day.
• 3:37
  And I really felt that last, what was it, 7K or whatever it was?
• 3:42
  Yeah, we're on the cusp of a rest day there. So once again, psychologically,
• 3:46
  we know we just got to get there, and then we're going to have a break for more than 24 hours.
• 3:52
  And I think psychology is a big part of how we approach the walk, etc.
• 3:58
  You know, the first four days we carried all our gear, including Chan, he carried gear as well.
• 4:03
  And since Zubiri, we've had the porter.
• 4:06
  You know, that was our plan to do that all along. I think it's smart given,
• 4:10
  not that we've got a huge amount of gear, but given that it's,
• 4:13
  you know, it's winter, we've got more again than you would need in the summer
• 4:16
  and, you know, my back and knees and things like that and Chan being young.
• 4:22
  But psychologically, I think that's played a huge factor.
• 4:27
  Let's talk, let's talk towns, hard to narrow it down to one,
• 4:33
  but could you sort of give me after a third of the walk done, top three towns and why?
• 4:41
  Pamplona, the old city is one of my favorites.
• 4:46
  So it was a beautiful city, really nice to walk around, everything you could
• 4:50
  possibly imagine there, but had a really good vibe, really good feel around
• 4:55
  the city. Vienna, that's another one.
• 4:57
  That was a smaller village on top of the hill, but all the restored buildings
• 5:03
  that had been made into hotels and shops, again, had a really good feeling,
• 5:07
  but you could really feel the history there when you stayed there.
• 5:11
  And then the third one is a little bit harder because yesterday we walked through
• 5:16
  some very, very pretty towns.
• 5:19
  Yesterday or the day before, they're starting to blend into one.
• 5:22
  But San Juan was a very pretty town, as was Arges, very pretty.
• 5:27
  And Adapueca was also another pretty town. So that stretch was nice.
• 5:33
  Small towns, but the old stone buildings and you can see the remnants of the past there.
• 5:42
  I probably sort of line up pretty similar to you.
• 5:46
  I was blown away by Pamploma. I knew it was going to be a bigger town or a city,
• 5:51
  and we were just so fortunate with our accommodation that it had us right in
• 5:57
  the middle of the old city.
• 6:00
  Had our accommodation been out of the old city just to sort of in the sprawl,
• 6:04
  I don't think we would have such good perceptions of the city,
• 6:08
  but just been able to explore those narrow
• 6:11
  stone streets the retail
• 6:15
  and the cafes and the bars were exceptional the squares
• 6:18
  and you're right the feel of the city
• 6:21
  was very safe and welcoming and we know we even spoke about you could come here
• 6:27
  for a week of of just relaxed holidays you probably wouldn't do a whole lot
• 6:33
  you'd eat some good food and just have a bit of a wander but i I thought getting
• 6:37
  over to the stadium was interesting as well.
• 6:40
  Obviously we weren't there during the season.
• 6:43
  You mentioned Vianna and you mentioned things blurring into one.
• 6:48
  Vianna and Navarette to me, I know they're two different towns,
• 6:52
  but they were quite similar.
• 6:56
  Small, narrow streets, a bit of money's been put back into renovations,
• 7:02
  gentrifying and beautiful churches, et cetera. So.
• 7:06
  Whether it's Navarrete or Viana, I'm having troubles distinguishing between
• 7:11
  the two, but I know they're similar and they were both very good.
• 7:14
  And you're right, yesterday, I think it was, I don't even know how to say, there were a Giz, Agiz.
• 7:20
  I think we both said, oh, this is quaint.
• 7:23
  We didn't stay there. It was just a walk through town. I don't even think we stopped for a coffee.
• 7:28
  I don't think there was anything open, but it did look nice.
• 7:31
  People were very friendly in there and it was very well presented.
• 7:34
  It was a welcoming place.
• 7:36
  But even Valcarlos was, I thought, our first town that we stayed in,
• 7:42
  I was really interested there.
• 7:45
  Bizcoreta, you know, that was a nice little place to walk through as well.
• 7:49
  Been impressed with a lot of the towns that we've been in.
• 7:53
  There's been a few where you sort of walked through, or some that you stayed
• 7:57
  at, or some that would just walk through, and you think, yeah,
• 7:59
  okay, this is probably not where you want to be if you had to be here for a while.
• 8:05
  Favourite hotel or favourite, I should say, accommodation because we've had a few forms.
• 8:10
  And I know at the top of your list was the dormitory in Ronsonvala. Is this your favourite?
• 8:16
  Yeah, being sarcastic there. No, I think Burgos is also a very nice place, historic town.
• 8:24
  We've only seen the cathedral, but it has some amazing museums and things here.
• 8:28
  But the apartments here in Burgos would be, I think, my favorite. Right. Okay.
• 8:37
  Followed by maybe in St. John, the apartment there that had a nice space.
• 8:44
  And then we've stayed in some nice casters, like these houses that had just
• 8:48
  been renovated that have those whitewashed stone walls inside and wooden floors,
• 8:53
  they're all very beautiful.
• 8:55
  They just don't have the space that some of these apartments have had.
• 8:59
  But third, that's a hard one.
• 9:04
  Well, for me, like the accommodation, same as you, when we've had the apartments,
• 9:10
  they've been my pick because of the space and the kitchen. I think having a
• 9:15
  kitchen and being able to.
• 9:18
  Yes, the third apartment, sorry, just came to me. The one in Nahara.
• 9:23
  Describe it to me. It was the little town that was nestled into the cliff face.
• 9:30
  Oh, okay, yes. And we had a nice apartment there. Reminded us of Cappadocia
• 9:34
  a little bit there. Yes, yes. Yeah, that was nice.
• 9:38
  And it had a nice historic centre as well.
• 9:41
  And we had that, remember that one that was, we described it as the executive suite.
• 9:46
  Now, the apartment was great, except for two things.
• 9:49
  Space aid shower that we couldn't work, or the panel kept malfunctioning.
• 9:54
  And it was freezing. It was no big. And the owner was not helping us out with
• 9:59
  the radiators or anything like that. There was, you were from the tropics.
• 10:04
  You can have become accustomed to our... That was never right. Yeah, okay.
• 10:08
  But you're right. When we've had the apartments, they've been the best accommodation.
• 10:12
  What surprised me about the apartments is they haven't been the most expensive.
• 10:16
  They've actually been pretty good value.
• 10:19
  Yes. You know, if we're going to pay 20 bucks, sorry, 20 euro a bed in a dormitory
• 10:26
  in an albergue, for the three of us, that's 60 euro.
• 10:30
  Now, they're not all just 20 euro. Some of them are 25, let's say.
• 10:33
  So that's 75 euro. Well, to get an apartment, we're paying about sort of 75,
• 10:38
  80 for an apartment. Yes.
• 10:41
  Where we've had to go more than that, you know, around the 100 mark has been
• 10:47
  sort of in some of the smaller towns where there hasn't been a whole lot of
• 10:52
  options other than the albergue and with, you know.
• 10:56
  Obviously, there's an economy that's built around the Camino.
• 10:59
  We're at the shoulder of the season, just the beginning of the season.
• 11:04
  So some places haven't yet opened up their accommodation yet.
• 11:09
  But at the same time, the crowds haven't come through.
• 11:14
  Okay, walking this time of year. We've walked, you know, the five days in December, January.
• 11:20
  We're walking now March.
• 11:23
  And we've seen plenty of YouTube videos. We've never experienced walking in peak season.
• 11:30
  Thoughts around the time of the year to walk it? In March, it's quiet.
• 11:36
  You do see other pilgrims every now and then, and you can have a chat,
• 11:40
  which is nice, but you have your own space, which is nice to have the truck to yourself.
• 11:45
  It also means that in your accommodation, it's not so noisy or anything like that.
• 11:52
  The weather, it is cold.
• 11:55
  So every morning we have to put on all the gear and coming from the tropics, that is a big change.
• 12:02
  So if you could blend having warmer weather where you don't have to put on the
• 12:07
  winter gear but still have a quiet track, that would be perfect.
• 12:11
  But I do like, like yesterday when we walked, it was cold in the morning,
• 12:16
  but it warmed up into a really nice day.
• 12:18
  So can't really complain except for the days where it rains and it's bitterly cold and it winds up.
• 12:24
  Have we only had three days of?
• 12:27
  No, we've had more days of rain. It's just that from the tropics we're used
• 12:31
  to that hard driving rain.
• 12:33
  When it rains here, it will just sprinkle the whole day. and sometimes the wind
• 12:38
  is up and the rain is just being pushed straight into your vats, which is not pleasant.
• 12:44
  So would you go more gear and in the cooler time, less people on the path or
• 12:50
  would you go less gear, hotter, but more people on the path?
• 12:55
  And what that might bring, more cafes, more rest stops, open,
• 13:01
  however, much more competition for accommodation.
• 13:05
  Like I said, somewhere in between it, there was a magical period in between
• 13:09
  where you had a bit of a mix of both, because that's something that we've missed
• 13:13
  out on some of the spaces that are open and operating that are on the track,
• 13:19
  just for pilgrims, like a Donatibo
• 13:21
  or rest stop that normally has a coffee truck or something like that.
• 13:27
  All right. Learnings. Any interesting learnings on the Camino so far?
• 13:33
  Wanderings? insights.
• 13:36
  One learning is when you read on the app that the track is going to be a nice
• 13:41
  flat track, never believe it. It always has a hill.
• 13:44
  Always a hill. It starts with a hill. Always a hill. Always a hill somewhere to get you going.
• 13:48
  And then sometimes if it says there's a hill and you think, oh,
• 13:51
  yes, I'm up and over it, there's more.
• 13:53
  So never believe that. Lies. Just lies. Yes.
• 13:57
  And some of those hills, like the one we did not too long ago,
• 14:02
  went for 3K, which was not fun.
• 14:05
  So that's one learning. The other learning is that you can actually walk a lot
• 14:10
  further than you think you can.
• 14:13
  Most people say, oh, I can't walk that far, but you actually can.
• 14:17
  So it's just a thing of just, we're so used to driving places or using a bike
• 14:23
  or a scooter or whatever.
• 14:25
  If you want to get somewhere, you can walk and you can make it in good time.
• 14:31
  Like the, the one thing that we've got to do each day is walk, like that's our one job.
• 14:37
  Now we're doing, our biggest day I think is 25 kilometers, our shortest I think
• 14:44
  was 10 or 12 kilometers, our average is probably sitting around the 19, 20 kilometer mark.
• 14:49
  That feels like a good amount, but there's people out on the track that are
• 14:52
  walking 30 kilometers in a day as well.
• 14:57
  But that's significant. It's
• 15:00
  a little bit sort of like how do you eat an elephant, one bite at a time.
• 15:04
  Like 790 kilometres at the start, you just think, wow.
• 15:08
  But I'm surprised that, like, we've done 284 kilometres so far,
• 15:13
  just bit by bit by bit by bit.
• 15:15
  We're working our way through it.
• 15:19
  Any other interesting things that you want to mention?
• 15:23
  I think this time of year, the landscape is stunning.
• 15:28
  The grass is all green. It's like, it's stereotypical idyllic landscape where
• 15:37
  there's daffodils growing, daisies growing in the grass wild, gerbers growing wild.
• 15:43
  Some of the wetter parts, there's calla lilies and even you mentioned there
• 15:47
  are plants on the side that you'd see at Bunnings for like, you know, $20.
• 15:51
  So the landscape is actually stunning as you walk. There are snow-capped mountains. Yes, vineyards.
• 15:57
  Yes, vineyards, you've loved the vineyards. And the birds, like the birds that
• 16:02
  just sing that sound like they're from a soundtrack from a movie that are made up.
• 16:06
  So it is really beautiful if you tune yourself into the landscape,
• 16:12
  there's constantly something for you to look at.
• 16:15
  I think that's going to be tested once we hit, we've finished the first third.
• 16:19
  Burgess marks the end of the first third and beginning of the second.
• 16:23
  Yeah. where we're into the Meseta, which is a straight flat track where we go
• 16:29
  through what they call the serial.
• 16:31
  So we've done A New Hope. We're about to go into Empire Strikes Back.
• 16:35
  Yes, but with no... With no Death Star.
• 16:40
  There's no, you walk the track and it means as you're walking,
• 16:43
  you might not necessarily see your destination, which is why it's called the mind.
• 16:48
  So we've done the body. And you mentioned there about like the beautiful environment,
• 16:53
  and birds and landscape, et cetera.
• 16:55
  But there's been some times where we've been walking through a city or beside
• 17:00
  a highway as well, heading into the meseta.
• 17:04
  Are we on a path the whole time? We're on a gravel path or it might change a
• 17:11
  bit to some more curated paths, but we're going through fields.
• 17:17
  As I understand it. When you're walking, are you listening to anything through
• 17:22
  Head Buds podcast or anything?
• 17:24
  You're just sort of taking the whole thing in? Just taking the whole thing in.
• 17:28
  I like listening to the birds and those first few days listening to the river.
• 17:33
  The river was our constant companion and it changed from
• 17:36
  rapids into this soft burbling sort of
• 17:39
  brook which is quite pretty so i'm quite happy
• 17:42
  to listen to the sounds of nature
• 17:45
  rather than a podcast although the meseta may change it we're on the opposite
• 17:50
  like i'm probably 50 percent of the day i'm don't have anything on and about
• 17:54
  50 percent of the day i've got a whole stream of podcasts that are running through
• 17:59
  my ears just at a low level like sort of tune in and tune out to,
• 18:03
  And I suppose I'm doing that for a variety of reasons.
• 18:06
  One, it's interesting and keeping up to date and a whole range of things.
• 18:12
  But yeah, the Meseta, which is that mind part, it could be more testing.
• 18:18
  So there you have it, a third of the way through the Camino, 790 kilometres from St.
• 18:24
  John-Pierre-de-Port to Santiago de Compostela.
• 18:27
  At this stage, happy we're doing it.
• 18:30
  Um, yes and no.
• 18:37
  There are things I'm missing from home. Like I'm at a stage where,
• 18:41
  okay, Pinchos and tapas is all very nice, but I am. Had enough bread. I've had enough.
• 18:47
  The bread is beautiful and it's beautiful, but I am missing just a basic piece
• 18:53
  of toast with butter and Vegemite.
• 18:55
  And I am missing the taste of chili.
• 18:58
  I'm missing. Our own bed? Yes, and noodle soup and proper hot water and those sorts of things.
• 19:06
  So first world problems, but I like it when I'm out on the track.
• 19:10
  I don't enjoy the city walking.
• 19:12
  That's probably where headphones would be helpful because it's just like walking through any city to me.
• 19:18
  There's a stress to it because not only do you have to sort of get to where
• 19:21
  you go in the distance, there's the avoiding the people, avoiding the cars,
• 19:27
  looking after an eight-year-old, those sorts of things as well.
• 19:30
  Yeah, there's all of that.
• 19:32
  I'm happy that, like, it's exciting to think we're, you know,
• 19:36
  36 point whatever percent through it, whatever it says on the app.
• 19:39
  And I think I calculated we're about four days away from being halfway through. Right.
• 19:45
  Where we hit the official halfway mark.
• 19:48
  So that's exciting. I kind of wish it'd go a bit quicker, which sounds weird.
• 19:53
  Like at this point, I want to reach the end because the constant walk,
• 19:59
  find the accommodation, you stay in the accommodation, then you do that whole
• 20:03
  routine again. The cycle.
• 20:05
  Yeah. The rest day has been good to not have to do that, but if you could almost
• 20:12
  like transport your home with you.
• 20:15
  See, I'm really enjoying the experience.
• 20:18
  I'm loving the fact that we're doing it I can't wait to see how fit we are by
• 20:23
  the time we get to the end I think we're already fit, it's been like three months
• 20:29
  I am looking really scruffy,
• 20:31
  because I didn't bring a razor,
• 20:34
  and you know, is there something that is there something that you thought you
• 20:39
  should have brought or now that you're on you think, I really should have brought
• 20:42
  that I'm missing my art materials I like to create and draw every day,
• 20:47
  but I'm really missing markers.
• 20:49
  I could only bring some pencils and biros because it's heavy and can't bring a big, heavy marker set.
• 20:59
  But I've seen all these artists doing things with markers and I'm like,
• 21:02
  I'd love to create something.
• 21:05
  Not that everyone needs to hear that. All right. Well, let's wrap it up there.
• 21:08
  I think we've got nine days until our next rest day unless we change the plan
• 21:12
  and factor one in. I think the next nine days are going to be nine testing days
• 21:17
  because it's the Meseta.
• 21:18
  And I think the kilometers sits between, I think, 17, 19, 20,
• 21:26
  22, 25 kilometers over the next nine days.
• 21:29
  We've got some ground to cover in the next nine days.
• 21:33
  One third of it done. That's our reflections.