Into the bright city lights.

Sunday: San Juan to Burgos
I had to pull the mattress on to the floor half way through the night as I felt my back beginning to ache in the banana boat bed. While the hostel was beautiful it was also a bit of a pit, and so we made an early start in darkness and fine drizzle. Soon we were up a great height with a fantastic view of the plain on which Burgos sits: it seems to be the one spot on which the sun is shining. We can see the Camino stretching out for miles.

We walk past a number of villages. The churches have become rather dull stone boxes, presenting their flat, square east ends to oncoming pilgrims. After stopping for a bocadillo the path becomes very boring: we skirt Burgos's airport and then walk past Sectors 8-13 of its industrial sector.

This walk into Burgos is so long that we have to stop and rest. Malte tells me that he has heard more blister stories. Most of these are about successful blister avoidance and usually involve bathing the feet nightly in some strange concoction, and all end with a triumphant, "No blisters at all!" Malte and I agree that we now have no difficulty accepting the strange tale of St James's transport and discovery in Spain, some of these blister avoidance stretch credibility beyond reasonable limits.

Finally we get to the fine buildings of Burgos's historic centre and the huge, modern complex of the municipal refugio (it's behind an old facade, but it has bunks arranged in neat and private sets of four, each one with an individual reading light and plug which passes for luxury on the Camino). For once my request for a place to say mass is met with the offer of the empty fourth floor. I am able to put up a notice to advertise mass in English at 6pm and by the end of mass we have upward of 20 pilgrims.

Before mass i manage a quick tour of Burgos Cathedral (an cultural highlight of the Sanish Camino). At mass was Lionel, a Dubliner who is doing the Camino in three weeks and therefore hiring a bike to speed through the middle section. He joins us and a whole lot of other pilgrims at a popular, cheap restaurant for dinner.