Information about stage 13: Stage from Burgos to Hontanas
| STAGE 13 |
KM 31.1 |
TIME 07:45 a.m. |
Itinerary
- Km 0. Burgos (All Services)
The last steps through the Burgos capital begin behind the cathedral, on Fernán González street. We advance to the arch or door of San Martín , with a horseshoe in the Mudejar style and extensively restored in the 20th century. After the arch, we turn left to go down some stairs to Calle Emperador. A little further on we continue, to the left, along Calle Villalón, which ends at Paseo de la Isla, at the foot of the river. We cross the Arlanzón and turn right following its margin. Always straight ahead, at the foot of the N-120 through the avenues of Palencia, José María Villacián Rebollo -next to El Parral park- and Villadiego street, we will arrive at the detour marked “Los Guindales. Forest Nursery” (Km 3) . We take it, deviating to the right, and continue straight on Benito Pérez Galdós street. Next to the gate of the forest nursery the city ends and the asphalt becomes a track. The path does not enter Villalbilla, a town that we see on our left, we pass under the AVE line and turn left to cross both the N-120 through underpasses and shortly after the BU-30 motorway, once we have passed below the latter we turn right towards a roundabout where we take a track parallel to the N-120, cross the Arlanzón river over the archbishop’s bridge and continue along the track until we enter Tardajos.
- km 10.8. Tardajos (Hostel. Pension. Bar. Shop. Pharmacy. ATM)
In Roman times, Tardajos was, or could have been, a mansio on the Roman road that linked Clunia (the Coruña del Conde in Burgos) with Juliobriga (the current Reinosa). We pass the town along Calle del Mediodía, Plaza Leandro Mayoral and Calle Real Poniente. We headed by road to nearby Rabé. In the short journey we pass the Urbel river . This channel, which runs for more than 50 kilometers through the province of Burgos, has little flow but is very friendly to overflowing and flooding its banks. So much so that in the past Tardajos and Rabé were separated by a stretch of mud that gave rise to singing: “From Rabé to Tardajos you will not lack jobs. From Tardajos to Rabé, free us Domine.” Melodic verse that we can hum until we reachRabe de las Calzadas .
- km 12.6. Rabé de las Calzadas (Hostels. Bar)
On Santa Marina street we go past the fountain – decorated with scallops – to Francisco Riberas square and we exit through Baldomero Pampliega. What awaits us from now on is simply the Castilian plateau . Without cheating or cardboard, with its pros and cons. Long straight lines at an altitude of more than eight hundred meters with no other company than our own shadow and large expanses of cereal with no apparent horizon but with a multitude, yes, of partridges, larks, larks and other birds with a fondness for crops. Skipping the plateau implies breaking the unity of the Path and subtracting its meaning. Almost three kilometers from Rabé, on the right hand side, is the Praotorre spring , where some tables have been set up for rest (Km 15.4) . The track continues with its bearable ascent until it reaches a flatter area that gives access to the valley where Hornillos is located (Km 17.9) . The slope, the inertia itself and the weight of the backpack force us to carefully go down the stony slope, nicknamed Matamulos . After crossing a road and the Hormazuela riverbed, we enter Hornillos del Camino , a town conformed to the Camino with a main passage street oriented from east to west.
- km 20.6. Hornillos del Camino (Hostels. Bar. Shop)
In the summer of 1990, on her own initiative, Lourdes Lluch (who continues to receive pilgrims during the winter in her hostel in Frómista) rented a house here to receive pilgrims, an experience that established the role of volunteer hospitaleros who, year after year Since then, they have selflessly collaborated in donation shelters. At the exit of Hornillos, the panorama is similar to the previous one: an endless parcel track that ascends through the cereal-growing plateau. The only distraction is found at the edges of the road, decorated by piles of stone that farmers remove from their crops. Five kilometers after Hornillos we find a cross of Santiago (25.5 km) and seven hundred meters further on with the crossroads towards the San Bol hostel , located on the banks of the river of the same name.
- km 26.2. Arroyo San Bol (Lodge)
After another hour of walking, we finally arrived at Hontanas , crouched and hidden until the last moment. The name of the population comes from the Latin term fontana , source in Castilian. The Bolognese priest and regular pilgrim (he traveled to Compostela three times between 1666 and 1673), Domenico Laffi , reported that in Hontanas the shepherds surrounded their huts with a wall to defend themselves from wolves. Today, various hostels, hostels and rural houses offer comfort and rest to the 21st century walker.
- km 31.1. Hontanas (Hostels. Hostel. Rural Houses. Bar. Shop in season)
Difficulties
- More than 30 kilometers without shade to take shelter: If at any stage it is advisable to get up early to avoid the high temperatures of the central hours, especially in summer, in this it is almost mandatory. Hat or visor and sun protection should never be missing from the team.
Observations
- Hornillos del Camino , 20.6 kilometers from Burgos, is another good end of stage for those who do not want to lengthen the day so much. It has three pilgrim hostels and the Casa del Abuelo de Hornillos , a rural house that has both single rooms for 45 euros, double rooms for 55 euros and triple rooms for 65 euros, it also has hostel places in 6 rooms, four of them with two beds for 55 euros a room, one with 6 beds for 20 euros person and another with 4 beds for 20 euros person, prices with breakfast included in the price.
What to see, what to do
- TARDAJOS : Located in the Alfoz de Burgos region , Tardajos is a historic town on the Camino built on Roman settlements and next to the Roman road that linked Clunia with Juliobriga . It was repopulated, together with other nuclei on the banks of the Arlanzón, starting in the year 882. The legacy of its two churches remains from the division into two neighbourhoods, that of Santa María and that of La Magdalena .
- RABÉ DE LAS CALZADAS : A small town in Burgos where the parish church dedicated to Santa Marina and the hermitage, which keeps the image of Our Lady of the Monastery , highly venerated by the residents, stand out. At the entrance to Rabé de las Calzadas from Tardajos is the palace of the Count of Villariezo , from the beginning of the 17th century.
- HORNILLOS DEL CAMINO : Hornillos is one of the most singular examples of town-road. Its Calle Real, flanked by strong two-storey stone houses, is the pilgrimage line itself. The town was donated in 1156 by Ferdinand VII, nicknamed the Emperor, to the Parisian monastery of San Dionisio. Twenty and a half kilometers separate it from Burgos, so it becomes a very comfortable alternative to finish the stage.
- SAN BOL STREAM : In a valley between Hornillos and Hontanas is the San Bol stream, a place in the middle of the Castilian plateau, belonging to the town of Iglesias , where the Antonian monastery of San Boal or San Baudilio was located . Even if you don’t believe it until you see it, here is a hostel.
- HONTANAS : Domenico Laffi recounted the following in his Trip to the West (Editorial Sildavia): “After, with the help of God, this totally deserted sandbank, we arrived at the village called Fontana and spent the afternoon there. It is hidden at the bottom of a stream that you can hardly see until you find yourself in it. Besides, it is small, unfortunate and poor. It only has ten or twelve houses, I mean huts covered with straw, to protect them from the snow, where only shepherds live.” The scenery has changed a lot, except that you don’t see Hontanas until you’re glued to it. Now she is neither poor nor much less unfortunate. Already at the same entrance, next to the great Gothic and neoclassical church of the Immaculate, a hostel-restaurant and a hostel coexist face to face and going down the main street is the rest of the offer, including the municipal hostel.