Burgos - Belorado (04/10/15)

The Jimenez bus from Burgos to Belorado left at 14.00 and took exactly one hour. On the way, Matthew and I took the opportunity to do Midday Prayer together and I had time to look out the window and reflect how different the landscape looked compared with back in March when all had been covered in snow and David and I had been travelling in the opposite direction.

Matt had texted us earlier to say that although he had reached Belorado the previous day, he had decided to continue on and not wait for us as there “wasn’t much to see” in Belorado and was staying that night in Agés. He had arrived there after sharing a taxi from San Juan de Ortega with some English pilgrims he had met.

David and I thought it would be good for Matthew to stay in a slightly nicer private albergue on his first night in a Camino hostel, so we booked back into Albergue Quatro Cantones and it was interesting to note what a different feel the Albergue had compared with back in March. Back then only the ground floor with the cosey kitchen and one dormitory had been open for the winter months. Now however, we found that there were an additional three floors above us and a restaurant for dinner and breakfast – all accessed by an impressive traditional staircase that wound up the middle of the building in a similar fashion to the staircase I had seen back in the very first albergue I stayed in at St. Jean Pied de Port.

We chose a smaller dormitory of 6 beds for a small additional cost, instead of the larger ground floor dormitory and were allocated beds on the top floor. Matthew commented afterwards however that he thought it was a little expensive and not as basic as he had expected, and hoped we would be staying in cheaper albergues for the rest of the trip – so much for breaking him into albergues gently! I should have known; he likes budgeting and saving money!!

Once we had checked in, we decided to have a wander around Belorado. The last time I had been here it had been very cold and most of my clothes had gone to the laundry, so I felt that I hadn’t been able to get a proper look around the town before retreating back inside a warm bar. I had also discovered since my last visit that there was a path to the ruins of the castle up the side of the Santa Maria parish albergue and I was keen to explore it!

Close up of Santa Maria Belfry

When we walked over to the Church of Santa Maria, I was pleased to find that it was open, as it had been locked in March and we went inside. Situated at the foot of the hill on which stands the ruins of Castle, the church was originally the chapel for the fortress. It was remodelled in the 16^th century, but because it wasn’t in a very secure position compared with the rest of the castle, it was eventually closed and it was only reopened in 1910 when it was rebuilt in a neo-gothic style with a slender traditional belfry.

Inside, the church has three naves, a small dome letting in light at the crossing and an impressive 17^th century high altar. To the right, when facing the altar, is a side chapel which I went and sat in for a while so I could examine the notable stone retable dedicated to St. James. Someone had placed a vase of red and pink gladioli in front of the retable adding a splash of colour in the dim light. St. James appears in both his Camino guises in the centre of the retable, inside a two storeyed structure of classical pillars. Below, he appears as St. James the pilgrim, with his hat, staff and water gourd and above as St. James Matamoros – the Moor Slayer. A rather comical sculpture of God the Father bizarrely seemed to be squeezing out of the pediment at the top to bless those below, as if almost added as an afterthought.

St. James Retable

I was also fascinated by the strange (Baroque?) wooden carvings of faun-like mythical semi-human & semi beast creatures that were supporting a coat of arms on top of the screen between the chapel and the high altar. There was a strange manic ferocity about the way they had been portrayed with windswept hair, apparently playing tug of war over the coat of arms.

I rejoined Matthew and David and as there was no one else in the church, we took some time to sing some worship songs together and enjoy the acoustics before we left.

Castle Ruins

We then walked up to the castle. Very little remains of this once important Aragonese fortress that once guarded the frontier with Castille, except some bulky fragments of shattered stone and brick walls on top of natural rock outcrops and what looked to be like the possible base of a tower. Basically though, it was impossible to get an idea of the original layout or size of the castle and it was only afterwards on the internet that I found the Francisco Coello map dating from 1868 which suggests that the castle (far left middle of map) was a square courtyard with towers at the four corners

The castle mound was covered with wild roses bedecked with rose hips and a few autumn crocuses were making valiant efforts to peep through the tussocky grass. A wild wind was adding to the general air of bleakness around the ruins and at times the gusts were so strong that it was hard to stand and walking around the paths below the walls was rather precarious at times. What we didn’t know at the time was that the wind was a forerunner of the edge of a storm which at that moment was battering the French Riviera; 17cm / 6.7in of rain had fallen in two hours, causing serious floods in Antibes, Cannes and Nice, killing at least 19 people. We would feel the edge of this storm over the next two days as we walked to Burgos.

The view from the castle ruins over the rooftops of Belorado was good however, and looked small and tucked into it’s river valley. Apparently the town was once much larger and more prosperous with additional quarters that have now entierley disappeared. It had a vibrant and important Jewish quarter, but when the Jews were finally expelled from Spain in the 17^th century, the town began to go into serious economic decline and by the 18^th century was already much reduced in size and has never really recovered. It certainly has the feel of a place that the tide of history has passed by.

We were grateful to descend the hill out of the ferocious wind and made our way to the town plaza. As I explained in my last post, Matthew is a rugby fan; he played it at school and is an avid follower and as the Rugby World Cup was taking place in England and Wales during some of the time we were walking, he was desperate to see the Ireland vs. Italy match which was starting at 17.30 Spanish time.

Base of Castle tower?

Personally, rugby does not have any pleasant connotations in my mind but reminds me of freezing cold November mornings at Gransha Boy’s High School in Bangor, County Down, in the early 1980’s when boys twice my size were given license in the name of Sport, to jump on me and press my face into the mud whilst taking the opportunity to surreptitiously stick the boot in somewhere soft! However, as Matthew is a valued friend and as I knew seeing the Ireland/Italy game meant a lot to him and as I had subjected him to hours of Spanish history earlier in the day at Las Huelgas , I agreed to watch it with him if he could find a bar that would show it. Needless to say however, although we tried three bars around the Plaza with Satellite TV, we either got blank looks when rugby was mentioned or else were told that it wasn’t possible as some Spanish soccer match was on instead.

 Matthew returned to the albergue looking rather forlorn, but then I had the bright idea that if we could’nt see the match at least we could tune into Radio Ulster online using my mobile on the albergue wifi and at least listen to the commentary. And so it was that we sat on a bunk bed (as my mobile needed charging and had to plugged into the wall) in a Spanish albergue and listened to the Northern Irish tones of the commentator describing the second half, whilst two American lady pilgrims looked on politely.

View over roof of Santa Maria

Matthew really does have an impressive and compendious knowledge of Rugby and it’s rules and valiantly tried to explain the game to me and what was going on as the second half of the game proceeded. I almost felt that I was beginning to actually understand what was going on (as rugby usually makes no sense to me whatsoever!) and even slightly enjoy the experience. But don’t tell Matthew that or he might suggest that I join him to watch a match back in Ireland!

Plaza Mayor

We rounded off the day with a pilgrim menu meal in the albergue restaurant and then reorganised our bags and made ready for getting back on the pilgrim trail the following morning.