AFTER Burgos - 21-4-12

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EXTRA EXTRA !!!! More text at the end AND pics added to this entry



Last entry Burgos Birthday yes?? Well we stayed one more day there and I cant remember if I mentioned Diane´s attempt to order a burger at a bar...... only one came and we had to share it ... was kind of funny...... Di thinks if she keeps making mistakes I won´t get her to go and order any more.... but I´m wise to THAT ploy :-)

We were both really ready to get on the road again... and ended up doing another 30km day to get to Hontanas... it was a VERY strong wind but a great walk onto a Meseta.... which is a table top plain ..... wind farms were everywhere -so THAT´S why it was so windy - ar ar .... AND it was raining too but we hadnt put on our ponchos because you just get blown around so much more by the wind....so.....it started to pour... I DID have a hooded jacket AND my sunglasses on (to keep wind and water out of my eyes) .. but Di´s jacket is a short one with no hood.... AND she doesnt wear sunglasses - I said ´do you want me to get your poncho out?´as the wind and rain buffetted us around..... Di cracked me up ´cos she looked at me like Popeye with one eye only open, was totally drenched and said´Nah , it´s just a passing shower´ .... we both nearly wet ourselves laughing..... it was such a fun and exhilerating walk......took a few fab landscape shots which will publish eventually

At the end of that walk we came DOWN ( very unusual - normally walk up INTO villages) into Hontanas which had a lovely feel... people having a sit in the sun, having a drink, we met up with some previously met folk..... Patrick from Canada, Nicole from ...Holland.....had a drink in the sunshine with them..... The Albergue was built over original ruins of a medieval pilgrim hospital, with some of those foundations covered with glass that you could walk over... it was 6 Euro to stay there.....and we had a few cyclists also.... some of the cyclists zip pass so silently they frighten poor nervy D lol lol many also ring their bells or call Buen Camino ( as walkers also do ) to let you know they are passing.... but sometimes when walking along you are just so much in your own world/mind/body that anything suddenly intruding is startling.....and D´s jumps make me laugh - I´m easily amused ! we ended the day with a shared meal with Patrick ..... and a few reds ..... lights were out in the 6 bed room at 10pm as usual.......slept with men and women whose names we knew not .

Sorry...... no pics to include today as my camera is not attached and is SUCH an arduous process to put on 1 by 1 anyway .........

Let me just mention toiletting here...... the spanish loos are often devoid of paper ( apparently pilgrims often nick it! tut tut ) so we dont EVER go to the loo without little packs of tissues........also the paper is NEVER on a roll in reach....... you always have to search and twist around behind you for it......... and as for going áu natural´in the fields, behind bushes .....with full pack on, walking poles laid carefully pout of the way - its a breeze......... the Nurses among you will be VERY pleased to know we have ´aired our privates´lol to all directions of the compass, and in GALE FORCE WINDS without falling over.... welll actually D did once - but I missed the photo opportunity !

Thats all for now...... stay warm, and out of the wind, and appreciate the bed you sleep in tonight ... we certainly do !

Addit- I have put a few pics on here now for this entry.... so need to explain a few..... The mandala is from where we stayed in the hotel in Burgos..... I think I will do just one entry some day of ALL the mandala/ceiling paintings I have seen all along !

The four shots of Diane, Patrick and I in a Bar really dont convey the FEEL of the place... when we walked in there was an aura .... brought about by the weapons and dead animals all mounted on the walls! You know Deliverance.... the movie? well this was kind of like a Spanish Deliverance ....(cue banjos plucking !) Quite a few guys in there... drinking at the bar ( it was only about 9.30 am ) ..... we had a quick coffee, used the loo - ( I've mentioned before I think the lack of toilets except in Bars - where it is good manners to just buy SOMETHING when you stop to use their facilities - we sometimes took to having 'preventative wee' even if not really feeling the need !) .... Patrick used the loo also and when he came out I asked him if he had met 'The Gimp' down there - he laughed ! I was glad to be in a group of 3 - I really wouldnt have felt comfortable to even have a coffee there if I'd been alone.....

I've added a pic of the bird that seemed to serenade us for km after km....... its' lovely birdsong would just suddenly BE there...... even though it was a plain fields all around and we couldnt spot it..... I dont know what a nightingale sounds like but I IMAGINE it was like this birds lovely song ( a dayingale? lol) ... anyway - Diane suddenly discovered one day that these little birds DON'T sit on the ground somewhere as we thought..... but sit on the wind...up quite high they seem to find a spot in the current where they are almost movement free - even on the windiest days.... and then they sing... serenaded us it seemed sometimes - really it was lovely - we only saw them for about two thirds of the way along the Camino-as we went further west they were no more .

Boots /sign pic - When we were sitting in the village later in the day - a woman came in carrying these boots - showing them around I think to ask if they belonged to someone - if they had been dropped .... they really did LOOK in such condition I couldnt imagine anyone leaving them behind on purpose - but who knows.... maybe they were ill fitting and a blister factory !?

Few pics of Diane are also added here...... Striding happily and purposefully ........ off ahead of me - heading down a hill along the Way , one showing her innocently sitting down - OR IS SHE? :-) and wet and happy after the passing shower...........

I hope I will be able to republish this again now - with extra pics/info ...



Jacqui xxx

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