Tosantos to Atapuerca

Breakfast was provided, although not earlier than 7am as "rest is very important" so we all had a sleep in for the sake of some free bread, jam and coffee. Rusty, either oblivious or unburdened by the LITERALLY HOURS of advice last night about being disconnected from the modern world on your pilgrimage, propped his phone up against the milk and live streamed the Carlton game at volume. As Josie has since suggested, I wouldn't be surprised if that finished Jose off and he gets out of the albergue game now.

I got what turned out to be quite a dull day of walking underway at 8.30am. it was almost all on a straight forestry type road, the contrast was turned down with grey skies, and a persistent wind from the south gave me a deep comb-over. With nothing exciting at all to look at, it was good thinking terrain, and despite a (possibly mayonnaise poisoning) headache, I got a solid amount of that done.

Again, the typical end point for today is St Juan de Ortega but I overshot it to finish in Atapuerca, which means getting to Burgos tomorrow (in the rain) will take 20 rather than 26km. Atapuerca is a big deal if you're into archaeology, with the earliest human remains in Europe found in now UNESCO World Heritage listed prehistoric caves here. At last count, it apparently evidences 1.4 million years of activity. So one night of listening to Jose then.Read more