When we left Belorado on our 2024 Camino walk, we decided to take a short day and stop after 12km – mainly because after then was a really steep section. This year – for whatever reason – we decided to push through and deal with it… and it was every bit as steep as we remember it, but even slower going with the current heatwave. In total, our walk to San Juan de Ortega was just over 24km with around 2/3 of it being uphill.
We had planned our first stop for coffee in Tosantos, even though the only place open in 2024 and 2025 had the worst coffee on the Camino. Thankfully, outside said establishment (I won’t call it a cafe… it was more like somebody’s front room with a kettle), there was a lady telling us not to go in as she’d opened a new cafe around the corner… and what a delight it was! We had great coffee and fresh pan con tomate (a posh version of tomato puree on toast) for breakfast 🤤. If you want good coffee in Tosantos, don’t settle for any place other than Bar El Castaño!
There wasn’t much to do in San Juan de Ortega, but we did catch up with a fellow Caminoista, Shoji (he’s Japanese), at the bar downstairs from his hostel for a quick drink.
The next day – thankfully – other than a brief 150m (or so) climb after Atapuerca, the 27km trek to Burgos was mostly downhill – although we would have liked it to have been shorter.
In 2024, we failed to find anywhere in Atapuerca selling coffee in the morning, but thankfully this year, Agés has a new establishment serving breakfast from 7am (despite Google saying it didn’t open until the afternoon). Check out the Fagus Agés Restaurante if you need sustenance… it’s hard to miss as it’s the first place in the town. As a bonus, they have the best empanadillas de jamón y queso we’ve tasted so far: they were warm yet the pastry wasn’t soggy, and the chunks of ham were a good size 🤤.
Burgos is just as good as we remember from 2024, which is why we chose there to have our second rest day. That, and because the pintxos bars are outstanding, and we had our second Michelin-star restaurant booking (of course 😀) at the lovely La Fábrica.
We found a fantastic food market containing many stalls, including a casquería (offal specialist). Sadly we couldn’t purchase the many delicacies as we’ve no means of cooking them. I guess the brain, heart, gonads, snouts, etc., will have to wait for our return trip 🤤.
The plan was to feast on pintxos on our arrival day, have the posh lunch the day after, and finish with more pintxos in the evening. However, as with all good plans, things go awry – and the lunch lasted 3.5 hours and left us pretty full. We might go out later for a drink and a few nibbles, but nothing like the previous night 😬.
Well-rested, tomorrow we start the walk to Hornillos del Camino. Given the official stage length (to Hontanas) is around 32km, we’re choosing to stop early and break two stages into three days. Our feet really need the break!
