Startpoint: Atapuerca; Endpoint: Burgos; Steps taken: 27,301; Distance walked: 18km; Conditions: I’ve been wetter but only while in the bath.

Well, he’s done it. After 398,720 steps and covering 289km, my Dad completed his Camino trek for the time-being after arriving in Burgos. Tomorrow, he heads for Madrid to fly home and on Wednesday I hit the trail again without him.

As we completed the last 20km walk from Atapuerca to Burgos, it rained heavily again and the wheat fields were sodden. Fields of sunflowers mourned his passing with bowed heads and black faces. We discussed the least cost mix formulation method of feeding cattle and he told me a funny story about someone stealing a dead cat. I told him a story about a priest; it was meant to be funny, but it wasn’t.

We tried to follow a diversion into Burgos to “avoid urban sprawl”, but if we got the scenic route, I’d hate to see the other options. Luckily, the city centre and old town are beautiful.

We spent about two hours looking around the huge romanesque cathedral. On the way in, we got some abuse for not presenting our pilgrim passes to qualify for a discount. We weren’t trying to get a discount, we were happy to pay full price (an extra €3.50) in order to not walk back to our hotel and up two flights of stairs and back again. The cashier was disgusted at our cavalier attitude, clearly she’s never walked the Camino herself or she’d know the value of not walking.

The cathedral is huge, complex and ridiculously ornate. It seems every bishop, prince or king since 1250 added a chapel, an arch or a refurbishment in return for them and their family being buried their and having a statue erected in their honour. We also saw El Cid’s burial place in the cathedral and numerous pictures of him on the walls. For someone who died 800 years ago, they’re certainly very sure that he was a fierce good-looking man. And he had a lovely horse too. Some people have all the luck.

While looking for a restaurant for dinner, I was very excited to see a sign for a vegetarian place and persuaded Dad to go there. It was closed when we arrived and wasn’t due to open until December 19th, which was slightly longer than we were willing to wait.

In the end, we bumped into some friends from the trail and had dinner with them. We discussed Lacrosse, Chartreuse and snow tyres. One of the ladies had sat on a bench outside an Albergue, but was quickly warned by the Irish guy sitting beside her that ‘the last girl who sat down on this bench beside me fell in love with me’. So she left and joined us for dinner.

With Dad leaving tomorrow, I’m going to send home some stuff I haven’t used in an attempt to lighten my bag. I’ve only fully decided on letting go of one spare pair of socks. Hopefully that’ll make a difference. I’m not sure how I’ll get on without Dad here. Although he’s been featured in it, he hasn’t been reading the blog. My biggest fear is that he reads it once he gets home; sees what I’ve been saying about him and comes back out to give me a serious clip around the ear.

There is only one socket in the room we’re in, but I was quicker so Dad’s phone is charging in the bathroom. He’s gone to sleep now and is snoring in protest at the lack of electrical outlets. It really won’t be the same without his nightly nasal nochturns. I guess I could send my earplugs home with him too.

Buen Camino.