OUR WAY

 9th May 2025

Day 11 - Cardeñuela Riopico to Hornillos del Camino

Us on the Camino

We were up at 5am and packed before realising it was raining - too late to crawl back into bed. By 5.30am we were out the door in full waterproofs. The rain had mostly stopped but it was still very cold.

We set off through the dark streets alongside another pilgrim from our dorm. Not long after, a woman from another albergue caught up with us and asked to join, explaining she had no phone or map and didn’t want to navigate the dark alone. A warm orange glow hung on the horizon—it looked like sunrise, but it was just the light pollution from Burgos.

Approaching the airport, my phone showed a different route from the yellow arrows. The guy from our albergue had a guidebook that confirmed a route variant. He opted for the direct road-walking route while we chose the slightly more scenic one on tracks. We followed the airport perimeter and entered Parque de La Quinta, where we almost stepped on a snake stretched out across the path. We then followed the Río Arlanzón into Burgos. Signage in the city was the worst we’ve seen so far, so we relied entirely on my phone’s map to find the Cathedral of Santa Maria, which was impressive, but everything was still shut.

Cathedral of Santa Maria

We carried on walking until we found coffee, then went to a supermarket to get food for dinner—no cooking facilities in tonight’s albergue.

My breakfast

Leaving the city, we passed through crop fields and crossed some busy roads, then through a couple of small villages before our final climb to around 900m. On the descent, Gaby got a second wind and powered past everyone at the thought of a hot shower.

We checked in to one of the most modern albergues yet, did the usual shower and laundry routine, and headed out in search of ice cream. The options were disappointing, but Gaby found a bar serving €1 glasses of wine which made up for it. We headed back for dinner and an early night, ready to repeat the same morning routine we’ve now done ten times in a row.

Where we stayed
Albergue Meeting Point
€15 bunk bed
Limited kitchen, Washing machine, line dry. Comfy seating, light and. Socket by bunk, heating. Small shop & bars in village.
Our rating 9.5/10