Camino de Santiago / French Way : 13. Burgos - Hornillos del Camino

                                                                                        (20.0 km)

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  From Burgos all the way to León you will be walking through the area known as the Meseta, a mostly flat uninspiring landscape. It is very hot in the summer and extremely cold in the winter. On this stage there are a couple of villages where you can get something to eat and stay for the night in the albergues but there isn’t much to see or do.

  The best place to restart your Camino to Santiago is to start from in front of the cathedral as the marked path passes by it and down Calle Fernán González. On your way down this road you will go under an archway at which point your will need to turn right immediately and go down a flight of stairs. Crossing the road keep walking straight down Calle del Emperador and past the Iglesia San Pedro de la Fuente. If you have forgotten to fill up your water bottle, you can do so here at the fountain next to the church. At the bottom of Calle del Emperador turn left into Calle Vilalón and cross the Puente Malatos over the Rio Arlanzón. The path continues past the Parque Parral and the Hospital del Rey (now part of the university).

  Hospital del Rey was one of the largest and best-endowed pilgrim hospitals along the Camino. The Pilgrim's Puerta de Romeros is a Platereque jewel and now forms one of the entrances to the university.

  After about 3 kilometres you will come to a set of traffic lights where the road veers left. At this point take a right fork down a tree lined road and then down a farm track which runs parallel to the railway line (this should be on your left). You will walk through some fields and a tree plantation and after a further 3 kilometres you come across the village of Villalbilla de Burgos.

  Here you will find a couple of albergues, a café, shop and pharmacy if you didn’t stock up in Burgos.

  The track continues across a minor railway line and forks right past a flour factory and across a bridge where you take a left turn once you have got to the other side. You will pass two bridges and head down a farm road  through some fields and after about 1 kilometre you will reach the main road where you will cross over the Río Arlanzón via the Puente del Arzobispo. Soon you will come across an underpass where the builders have placed a plaque asking the Pilgrim’s forgiveness for the small diversion and wishing that all the Pilgrim’s desires come true and the river Arlanzón and we wish you Ultreya!

  Once out of the underpass you will pass the site of a former pilgrim hospice, now marked with an 18th century stone cross and then into Tardajos where you will find a couple of bars and a shop along with the albergue. One of the bars also offers accommodation. In Tardajos you will also find the Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de la Asunción.

  Leave Tardajos by the Calle del Mediodia, past a fountain and down a track over the Río Urbel. This takes you to Rabé de las Calzadas where you will find a couple of refugios and a fountain. Despite being very small Rabé de las Calzadas is home to the 13th century Iglesia de Santa Mariña and the Ermita de Nuestra Señora de Monasterio which you will pass on your way out of the village.

  From here the path takes you through fields and pastures and past the Fuente de Prao Torre just before you begin to climb. When you get to the top you will be faced with a wondrous sight, a landscape which for miles around is never endingly flat, devoid of trees but still in its own way, stunningly beautiful. Welcome to the Meseta. After a few kilometres the path begins to descend down the steep Cuesta Matamulas and into Hornillos del Camino.

   In Hornillos del Camino you will find the Gothic Iglesia de San Román in the Plaza de la Iglesia which is built on the site of an ancient Iron Age Castro and it’s rather odd cockerel topped fountain, el Fuente del Gallo. To the side of the church is the albergue. There is also accommodation to be found in the Casa Rural Sol a Sol.

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                                                    delhommeb at wanadoo.fr - 07/01/2014