Burgos to Hornillos de Camino

I've been walking for two weeks now and I've been lucky enough to find myself an amazing Camino family full of awesome people.

There are 11 of us in total and we've got ourselves into a beautiful routine. We stay in hostels together, the first people to arrive each day get beers for everyone else, we cook together (catering for wheat intolerance, a vegan and a Muslim), eat together, share our medical supplies and generally look after each other.

All the people are good people, kind people, fun people, loving people. I'm so lucky to have them!

I'll be referencing them during the blog, so here's a little introduction to the family...

Martine, 28, Netherlands

We call her La Machina (The Machine). She's been walking since Le Puy in France (50 days total so far) and has thighs of steel. She's first to reach the next town every day and leaves us all in the dust. She's also incredibly kind, funny, generous and awesome.

Don, 61, US

Our resident Professor, supplier of red wine, weather forecaster and all round great guy. When I was too poorly to eat out with the guys one night, he bought me back a massive pizza, need I say more?

Janne, 27, Netherlands

What a woman! Psychologist, pianist, guitarist...there's no end to her talents and every day we learn an amazing new fact about Janne. She's a triple threat: crazy clever, talented and beautiful inside and out.

Davide, 34, Italy

What this man can't do with a bag of rice and an onion. Our resident chef (he worked at The Fat Duck don't you know?), he not only makes sure we go to bed with full tummies, he looks after us all while we're on the road too. One day he marched me into a pharmacy because he was concerned about my feet. We all heart Davide.

Abdal, 29, UK

Scottish dude at large in London. We're doing our bit to bridge the north/south divide. This guy is tough - his blisters would make a SAS soldier weep but he keeps going. He's got great chat and one day we cooked a meal for 12 people using only a rice cooker.

Magda, 29, Polish (living in Germany)

Here are some facts about Magda: Nurse, feminist, owner of 10 performing parrots, heavy metal fan. One day she walked me round four pharmacies before she found just the right cream for my feet.

Tano, 64, Spain

Lovely man from rural Spain near Santander. Tano speaks not one word of English and my Spanish is terrible but he's always keen to chat to 'Clara' and give me food, in fact Tano tries to feed me most days and when I'm having a slow day I can see him checking over his shoulder for me.

Manon & Inès, 20, France

I love these girls. So French, so fun! They cry at the state of the Spanish bread, smoke like chimneys and say things like 'c'est horriblé'. One night in Leon they partied til 6am. If it was possible for a human to be your spirit animal, these girls are it.

Rick, 59, Netherlands

Janne's dad. They're on this journey together and the communal life has left him somewhat outside of his comfort zone but he's embracing the experience and our rag-bag little gang of travellers.

So there you have it. Travelling with these people is such a gift and each of them enriches me in a new way every day.

We also have a bloody good laugh together 😊