Day 2: From Burgos to León

After a warm night next to the hay, I packed up my tent in the morning, had a pain au chocolat for breakfast and got ready for the rain. It was supposed to rain almost all day today. It had already started a little during the night and carried on in the morning. The big corrugated metal roof made the rain sound even heavier. But when I rode the first few metres, well prepared, I noticed it was only drizzling a bit. And after half an hour it stopped altogether.

Shortly after sunrise it got a little warmer, and I got to see the real Camino de Santiago. The first pilgrim was walking ahead of me on the gravel path. Shortly after, I saw something else: a pair of original Apple earphones, made for my iPhone with a Lightning connector. They looked like someone had only just bought them and lost them straight away. I took it as a sign from God and listened to some music with the new earphones for the first few kilometres. The gravel path went up and down.

Next to the second pilgrim I made a quick stop and asked him if he had lost his earphones. But he had a Samsung phone. I carried on along the gravel path to the third pilgrim, who already looked from behind like the owner of the earphones. I spoke to him too. With a joint in his mouth, he answered: "Oh man, yes, those are my earphones! That's crazy!" He told me this while I had his earphones in my ears. Of course I gave them back right away, and he was really happy. My first encounter with God, or a sign from the Camino de Santiago?

After that it went steeply downhill, and I started wondering whether my tyres were really suited to this gravel track. I had deliberately bought 35 mm tyres instead of 40 mm to be a bit faster on the road. But by now I've ridden countless kilometres on gravel… Every now and then the tyres bottomed out on the rim. Let's see how it turns out.

The first 50 kilometres definitely gave me the real Camino de Santiago feeling. Countless pilgrims that I rode past were on their way to Santiago. Young or old, men or women. Some as couples, many on their own. And some with gear as if they were about to climb Mount Everest. Today someone also said "Buen Camino" to me for the first time, and I was really happy about it. After that I heard it about 30 more times. I also passed a girl playing the flute. That made me wonder: what do you do when you're on foot and have someone like that in front of or behind you? On the bike I was past her quickly, but on foot that must get annoying, right? Every now and then there were also small groups or couples hiking together.

The villages I passed through were all geared towards pilgrims. After the first two villages I noticed that the bars and cafés in the morning looked more like a pit stop at a car race. All the other doors and gates were locked, some even barricaded, so you couldn't shelter from the rain or sit down. Interesting! All along the route there were benches and water points instead, and every now and then came a village with cafés and bars meant for pilgrims.

In the morning I had miscalculated my food, so by midday I was missing quite a lot of energy. I used one of the bars for a café con leche and a tortilla de patata and warmed up a bit. Today it was cold and very windy! I rode with leg warmers all day to keep my knees warm, and in between my rain jacket kept going on and off.

Today's stage had a good 1,100 metres of elevation gain, which made it the flattest of the whole trip. That's down to the Meseta, the wide, flat plateau between Burgos and León, which offers hardly any shelter from the wind. And that's exactly what I felt: sometimes it was hard to make headway against the headwind or to counter it from the side. After the first 50 kilometres the Camino ran just a few metres alongside a road. Since the path was narrow and, as I said, there were lots of people on it, I decided to take the road. Today I also saw a few other cyclists for the first time. I rode past beautiful churches and along quiet, lovely roads.

In the afternoon I stopped in Sahagún to eat something more and tackle the last small climb with more energy. By the way, Sahagún is regarded as the midpoint of the Camino Francés. Pilgrims who arrive here on foot can pick up a "half Compostela" at the sanctuary of the Virgen Peregrina. There was a pepperoni pizza, but without pepperoni. Yes, really, that's how I ordered it, because a Margherita wasn't possible. After that, long, long roads led on and on through the flat country, going up and down again and again. Sometimes you could even see the road disappear over the horizon. I made good progress, and with almost 180 kilometres this was my longest ride so far.

In the evening it unfortunately dragged on a bit. I actually wanted to ride through León at a relaxed pace and pick up breakfast for tomorrow. But towards the evening the wind picked up strongly again, and I had to fight against it the whole time. Before León I stopped at the supermarket and then started looking for a place to sleep. Further towards the route, that is, towards tomorrow's starting point, I kept passing through small villages that, for whatever reason, were very brightly lit. After a few more kilometres I found an empty plot of land close to my route and was able to pitch my tent there.

Since it's not supposed to rain tonight, and most likely not for the next two days either, I can still sleep outside. For tomorrow I'm planning a night in a hostel in the mountains, because I'll most likely end my day at the highest point of the trip. And there I'd rather not sleep outside somewhere in the mountains. Let's see if that works out!

🚴 179.63 km
⏱️ 9:08 h total time
⛰️ 1,138 m elevation gain
⚡ Avg. 19.6 km/h