Two hours on the bus took me to Burgos to start my 3 day mini walk on the Camino de Santiago. The famous pilgrimage to the Galician city of Santiago de Compostela, known as the Way of Saint James in english, Jacobsweg in german. Equipped with my credencial bought at the Cathedral in Santander for about €5 and a menu del dia (legally enforced value set menu lunches available at most Spanish resturants/cafes) I embarked on a section of the French route (there are multiple ways to walk to Santiago) as this passes through Burgos and is the most popular.
The Mesata is regarded as perhaps the less interesting part of the French Camino. But to miss this section out is to miss the point of the Camino de Santiago. It is the routine of starting early each day to walking resting and passing though new towns and of course meeting other pilgrims from around the world.
The serendipity of where you may breakfast. Many of the villages on the route will cater for the pilgrims. Hostels costs vary from €5 to €7 or rely only donations. There has been an increase of private hostels over the years providing a higher level of comfort that was traditionally provided
but with not quite the same feeling of collective endeavour that the municipal or donation have.
Some of the private hostels reflect the character of the people who run them, just like a some english B&Bs do. Some of these establishments have people who have become part of the furniture after setting out to walk to Santiago years earlier.
