Day 13: San Juan de Ortega to BURGOS!!! (26.7 km/ 16 miles)

April 5, 2017

This was a BRUTAL day, my feet were killing me despite Stephanie’s wonderful massage the night before. Thankfully we would stop after 3.6km for a DELICIOUS breakfast so that was a nice break.

It was a bit rainy and very overcast. I hiked majority of the day with Stephanie and Michel. Their company was so lovely all up until I stopped to take my jacket off. I am pretty sure my backpack was cutting off the flow for my bladder because immediately after I took it off I instantly had to pee. TERRIBLY. We still had 4 km to go and holy shit I almost peed my pants.

I started walking faster and faster. I lost Michel and Stephanie 😩 but managed to find a restaurant that was open (it was siesta time and most restaurants are closed) I begged the bartender to let me use his bathroom and he said “no problema.” I almost cried with relief.

I had no idea where the Camino was because I just ran to the closest restaurant but alas, the Camino came through and I saw the comforting yellow arrows. Those beautiful arrows 😍

I found the albergue and was SO happy to hear a couple of people from my Camino family were there. I rested and waited for Stephanie and Michel to get to the albergue and then we all went out to dinner. I was able to hangout with almost my entire pilgrim family:

Tony (the world traveler who I mentioned in my post about Zubiri)
Sebastian (a pilgrim from Germany who is able to make me laugh with a single look)
Hanna (a pilgrim from Sweden who was in the group photo I posted in Pamplona)
Sugar Boys (aka Olaf and Pepe, Olaf is the one who gave me the nickname “sunshine” ☀️)
Angela (a girl who became close friends with the Sugar Boys)
Roxy (one of the girls who gave me money when I lost my debit card, was SO happy to be able to pay her back
Menu (my very first pilgrim friend who I met my first night when I arrived in St. Jean)

And the other pilgrims I was already with:

Stephanie (the wonderful massage/reflexology pilgrim from Montreal Canada)
Michel (the German guy who brought me food when I was worrying about my debit card, he is a Saint)
Neil (the hilarious chap from Scotland who was a member of the party in Logrono)
Malcolm (the guy who hikes with his guitar, music is such a treat!)
Remi (a pilgrim from France)

We all got a “family” photo together that night. And then we went out to grab a drink before our 10 pm curfew! These albergues close the doors/close down at specific times so we have to be back so we don’t get locked out. It keeps us out of trouble, haha!

Some photos:

”Twas a very gray day…