Oh, beautiful for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain. For purple mountains majesties, above the fruited plains. I know -- the lyrics to the song belong to America, but the sentiment was certainly stirring through my brain yesterday as we cycled 105 kms. from Carrion de las Condes to here in Burgos. This area must be the “bread basket of Spain,” definitely not as flat as Kansas but growing enough grain to feed the populace. And beautiful windmills pirouetting against the blue skies!! Before I tell you about the day, let me tell you that we made our first “food mistake” last night. At a small grocery store, we had purchased the makings for dinner. Everything was fine until . . . dessert. I had gotten two little brown crocks of what I thought was ... read more

Here we are in a convent with 123 other people (and a whole bunch of nuns), sleeping in bunk beds above a couple we’ve never met (and who probably don’t speak English). We arrived here in Leon at about 10:30 this morning, after a short ride over relatively flat land on a fairly busy road that provided a wide shoulder most of the way into the city. A stop at the Officina de Turisma revealed that there was an albergue just a few minutes walk from the center of town. It opened at 11 a.m.. When we arrived at 10:45, there were 40-50 perigrinos lined up, waiting to enter. We added our bikes to the line and were checked in by 11:45 or so. The albergue is run by the convent and a number of volunteers. ... read more

No Internet last night, none tonight. Maybe tomorrow?? Should I start with today or with yesterday? Guess I should keep things in chronological order, so I’ll start with yesterday, which began hard and ended easy; so easy, in fact, that we just kept going. We left Sarria probably at about 9 a.m.-- cloudy and a bit of a mist in the air. I know that you are all probably tired of hearing about the mountains, but, once more, we were in those mountains -- climbing, climbing, climbing.-- about 40 kilometers to the top, most of it marked as a 7% grade. At about the half way point, a sign indicated that the pass ahead, “The Gateway to the Mountains,” was Open, suggesting that it is often closed. We soon discovered why it is often closed -- ... read more

Santiago to Palais de Rais, about 70 kilometers. I know that there are days ahead of us when we will be cranky because we’re tired or hungry or lost or whatever. But today was a great “first day on the Pilgrimage Route,” a perfect introduction to the next 1500 kilometers, from Santiago de Compostela, on the far west coast of Spain, to Le Puy, in central France. In the eleventh century, over half a million people per year traversed, by foot, this arduous route-- some for personal reasons, most for religious reasons. Today, we can attest that the route continues to attract those pilgrims. Much of the ride today on nicely surfaced roads paralleled the actual Camino de Santiago, with its hundreds of pilgrims with their back packs, traipsing from village to village, stopping here and ... read more

First of all, we want you all to know that we appreciate your e-mails and comments. It's great to hear from you!! Now, on to the blog . . . Adventure, adventure, adventure. Yesterday's new experience involved putting Lady and The Tramp on the train in Getafe (which stops for only a few minutes) and then getting them off in Madrid-Atocha, where the train again stops for just a few minutes, barely time to the get the bikes off. We figured the train would not be full as it was a Sunday evening, but such was not the case. It was packed with people with babies in strollers and old people with large suitcases and young people all dressed up for date night. And, of course, trying to keep the bikes from rolling or falling as ... read more