Town and Country Mice

Jane:  Charlotte is having a snooze so I am whiling away some time blogging. Friday afternoon and Saturday we stayed in the beautiful city of Burgos.  Sunday and today, Monday we have begun walking on the Spanish meseta, a very high plateau that one reads much about. In Summer it can be very hot with little shade; in Autumn it can be uniformly brown.  However, in Spring it is verdant green with many hedgerow flowers and, at this early stage of our long walk across it, it is varied and undulating. Oops, I forgot to mention -- it can be muddy - an abiding motif at the moment.

Burgos is a lovely city and as Henry had found an ideal location for us we were able to watch from the window traditional Spanish wedding dancing and brides galore having photos taken with the cathedral as their backdrop.  The dancing and singing was brilliant (short video for you lucky people who will be invited to our Camino Way meal and slide show!).

All around the city are statues - old people sitting on benches, a policeman directing traffic, a pilgrim nursing sore feet and so on.

 This was a bit of a busman´s holiday for Charlotte and I had to tear her away eventually when the two old dears refused to remember "money, apple, table".

You can see the pilgrim´s backpack with cockle shell (we all have cockle shells dangling off our packs to show we are pilgrms).

A rather creepy, warty, naked man!

 Anyway, we had a lovely break (and a couple of proper baths) then it was back on The Way- guess what-- in the rain. Cue fashion shoot photos!

 This is us in our new ponchos (thank you Burgos). We look quite normal from the front, but check out the side view! Honey Monster eat your heart out! (We donated the other, plastic ones to an Albergue. Not sure we were doing anyone any favours!)

Anyway, they worked.  Although you do tend to develop your own micro-climate in there.  Despite the fairly poor weather, it was a good day´s walking in fresh air and the rain let up periodically.  We arrived at a place called Hornillos del Camino.  This place is in desperate need of some time-and-motion study advice.  It took an hour to be allocated the dirtiest bunk bed you can imagine in the overspill room.  Charlotte and I "itched" all night wondering what was creeping out at us.  However, at least we didn´t get allocated to the gym over-flow, which did in fact overflow with rain water, was very cold and drafty and you had to sleep on mats on the concrete.  We were so eager to escape we joined the 5.30 rustle-and-dash brigade and were on the road by 6.20 this morning.

 Mankiest bed I have slept (no ladder so getting up in night was tricky.)

But at least it wasn´t the gym!

Today was a lovely walk and we even had some sunshine towards the end of the walk.  We booked ahead and got a room with shared access to a proper bathroom (all part of a campsite complex) and with very kindly helpful Spanish people.  (More on that in a later blog, but we are finding the Spanish to be a little like Europe´s Yorkshiremen - bit brusk.)

In contrast to the lovely statues in Burgos, the rural ones are a little more primitive!

Relaxing at Castrojeriz.

Charlotte sitting infront of a Tau cross, the cross of the pilgrim apparently.

All is well with us.  We are finding 20 kilometres a manageable distance.

Might blog again later if we have the energy.