I should have slept soundly in my 4* bed but for some reason sleep wouldn’t come.   In the end I gave up and plugged in my music and read my book.   Instead sleeping before 10:00pm I was still awake at 1.30am… At least I was able to sleep in, we didn’t wake until 7.45am.

Before I go on can I just share with you that 3 bunks down someone is playing a rather annoying game on their phone and it is making the most irritating noises and beeps… And what I really want to do is jump off my bed,  grab her phone and throw it out the window… But instead I will lie here and try very hard to ignore her.

So Burgos cathedral… Wow.   It really is an amazing and beautiful work of art.   There were I think 23 chapels… All carved and gold and beautiful artwork.   There were stained glass windows and works of art and cups of gold and silver and jewels and beautiful garments threaded with gold.   The beauty of it all… And the opulence was/is staggering.

But it doesn’t feel like a cathedral… It felt like a tourist attraction.   We all carried our little audio guides or others gathered in groups following tour guides around the building.   There were 100s of people wandering around during my visit. The entrance fee is 7 euro…  Pilgrims have a discount and I paid 3.50… There was a lady on the steps outside begging…  I  couldn’t help feeling that it would have been better to have given her the 3.50.

Maybe I am missing something obvious but if my memory serves me right at Sunday school we were told how Jesus threw the traders out of his father’s house… And yet here we were paying to view the tourist attraction (complete with obligatory tourist shop)…  And it seemed to me that very little prayer was taking place. I left sad that this jewel of the camino seems to be little more than an attraction… Sad by some of the images of horrific martyr deaths portrayed in the works of art and just sad for all the millions that walked to Santiago a 1000 years ago who would quite possibly never have been given the opportunity to wander around this most amazing building in the same way that modern visitors can.

If you ever find yourself in Burgos I would recommend a visit… Even at 7 euros this really is a beautiful building.

Today I am 20km from Burgos at Hornillos de Camino… I checked out of the 4* luxury and I’m back in the albergue…  Beeps and all.   The landscape has changed so much the views of the pyrenees seem so far away now.

Can I also say I’m grateful for all your kind words of encouragement…  Even though I must sound like a right moaning minnie I am actually having a good time!