Rocks R Us

Burgos, Spain
We shared a delightful dinner at our hotel with Clive and Michael, 2 British gentlemen we met previously in Belorado and Christine, a French physician. In Atapuerca, population 124, you're bound to run into people you know. We all headed to bed early, exhausted from the extra-long walk. In our room under the eaves, it was reminiscent of being on the boat when a big rainstorm hit in the middle of the night. I listened to the rat-a-tat-tat of the rain above me while Mike leapt out of bed to close the hatch or rather the skylight. I think we tossed and turned a lot during the night from over exhaustion. By morning it was obvious that Mike would be out of commission due to shin splints. His left shin is red and swollen. He agreed, after much persuasion, to take a cab to Burgos where we have a scheduled rest day. Hopefully with 2 days' rest, ice, elevation, and ibuprofen he'll be able to get back on track. I left him with Jennifer our innkeeper and instructions to have the arrival beverages ready in Burgos. I started out thinking it should be a fairly easy day with just one little hill at the beginning, followed by a straight shot of relatively flat terrain to the destination. The path up the hill was a sea of rocks and any earth that might have been mixed in had been washed by the wayside into a thick and tenacious mud. In proper billy goat fashion, I picked my way up the hill with my poles to compensate for only having 2 rather than 4 legs. Down the hill to the first rest stop in Cardenuela Riopico I ran into Clive and Michael. The three of us fell into a steady rhythm and walked together the rest of the way, solving the world's problems. Thank heavens for their company as the Camino was mostly paved roads poorly marked, going through the industrial section of Villafria which then merged into Burgos. It was quite the slog, and I was very glad to have the companionship of these fascinating fellows. Burgos is the end of the line for them and I was sorry to say goodbye as we went our separate ways to lodging. Perhaps we'll run into them tomorrow as we're all spending an extra day here.Baca lagi