Day 18 – San Juan de Ortega to Burgos
Today is our 24th wedding anniversary. We want to celebrate tonight in Burgos which is a larger city with some history to explore. 
We had to summit another peak today. Not so high as yesterday but the trail was incredibly rough with large rocks and washes. Odd little flowers delight walkers on this high remote path. No foliage, just popping out of the ground at random. At the top was a large cross made out of telephone poles. Thousands of pilgrims each left a rock at the base to memorialize the spirituality of their walk. There are many such memorials on the Way.
It’s not always easy to see that pilgrims have walked these paths for thirteen centuries. Time washes away all traces. The telephone pole cross and rocks were’nt here a hundred years ago and will be gone in another hundred. Just an odd pile of rocks near the trail with scraps of rotted wood. The pilgrims who made it will be gone too.
Some things do remain to remind the walker where he is. Namely the numerous villages we hike through. Every one with a huge stone Catholic Church that have been built and rebuilt over the centuries; well maintained and accessible for pilgrims. Shrines to the best known of those who maintained the trails to keep them passable. Most notable was San Juan de Ortega who founded some of the villages and labored with his followers to maintain the Way. He died a saint in 1016. His remains are visible in an alcove of the church and village that bears his name.
Then also visible is a pilgrim hospital on the trail. It was rediscovered and archaeologists excavated and restored what was left. It looks every bit like old Roman ruins but the medical help for pilgrims was sculpted into some of the few remaining walls. No date was noted but it would have been built after the Roman occupation, probably under Charlemagne. Some of the paths of the Way travel over old Roman roads however. Mostly so uneven over time as to be barely walkable. So, we know where we are and why we’re here and just wanted to impart some of that to you.
We walked 27 km today (16 3/4 mi) and did make it to Burgos.