Day 10, Sep 20, 2017, Belorado to San Juan de Ortega, 15 miles

We had dinner at Cuatro Cantones last night in Belorado. This was featured in The Way, I think. They have pics. of Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez. On the street outside, they have bronze plaques with M Sheen's hand and foot print and the same of Estevez! Dinner was fun - with a ton of us packed into a small room. We shared a table with this engaging couple from Florida. Tammy, who is a traveling nurse and Tom, who is a retired air traffic controller, originally from Colorado. They met two years ago and got married in March. This is sort of, their honeymoon. We had a good dinner and the conversation was great. We were done around 9 and we headed back to our hotel for a good night's sleep.

We left earlier than usual since breakfast was earlier here. 7:45 and we were out on the road. It was around 43 degrees F and really cold. So we bundled up in coats and scarves and headed out.

We made very good time and were in the next village in an hour and fifteen (nearly 7 kms.).

We were tempted to have a cafe con leche (damn caffeine addiction!) and headed on to the next village which was only a couple of kms. away. They refer to kms as klicks on the Camino. Don't quite know why. Anyway, we passed through lovely countryside with fields just ploughed and lovely wildflowers. The birds were out in full force ( I need to research the flowers, birds, and insects in this area. They are all lovely), and it was a great walk.

The day was warming up slowly and we had covered over three quarters of the way very quickly. We came across several villages in quick succession and then were at the last village before our final destination. This was Villafranca Montes de Oca. It was a bit of a climb to get there but not too bad. The village was pretty and there were over twenty gorgeous cats, all unfriendly!! Story of my life! We passed the church, which was also pretty spectacular looking but closed.

We rested for a bit because we had 12 kms. left with no rest stops, and then continued on. The exit was a looooong, a grueling climb on a very rocky path. We finally hit the top and took a break to put on some sunscreen and take the weight off our feet. A very cute little bird came and sat at our feet. :-) There were a couple of very neat plaques in memory of two people who had passed away. One said something like " I don't want a room of gloomy sorrow. Why mourn when a soul has been set free?" and the other was " She flowered to her noon, influence many people who also blossomed beautifully". That was the general gist of it. We thought these were beautiful thoughts to mourn someone.

We continued on and a couple of kms later found some benches to sit down. That was our lunch break. Some tomatoes and a couple of digestives later, we headed down a steep path and continued on. There were a couple more climbs and then the path went into a very gradual descent. With around 3 miles left, we came across a rest stop which had several benches and little stump stools and a few hammocks to rest in.

She also was selling fruit and snacks and coffee and other drinks. It was a voluntary donation place like so many we've seen along the way. We rested for a bit and trudged on. Luckily, the weather was pleasant with a cool breeze and the path was full of shade. We had a gorgeous walk all day today. Soon we could see the roofs of the village of San Juan de Ortega in the near distance. Yaaaay!!! We went to the church, which was open. It was very unusual and pretty.

It is dedicated to San Juan who was a disciple of Santo Domingo (yes, of the hen and rooster fame) and along with his mentor, helped make the Camino around here a pleasant experience. We then sat down and waited for our ride to our hotel. Our hotel is in a village along the Camino called Atapuerca and the hotel is called Rural Papasol. V. small but clean and pretty nice. We hope to have dinner in five mins. and then it's beddy bye. Tomorrow is our walk to Burgos!!! Looking forward to the Cathedral etc. there. Adios, amigos. Hasta luego!