But check out the views of the town and surroundings...
From high atop the hill behind the town, we also got a closer look at the storks in their nests...
And just for the fun, the picture below gives you an idea of the kind of places we stay in at night. The stone walls keep out both noise and heat very well...
The other thing very striking about this town is that the old section is in a sad state of disrepair. As we left, I noted this striking example of the sad state of affairs in this place, although there are many newer buildings being constructed on the other side of the highway running through Belarado...
As for our trek today, the weather started off cool and windy, and we wished we had worn our small cotton gloves. But the clouds in the sky that you see below had disappeared within the first hour...
And before you know it, skies were blue once again...
We walked through 4 villages today, taking a coffee break as needed and buying bread and fruit for our picnic lunch later in the day. After we left the 4th village, we were in for a steep climb. Looking back as we climbed, you can get a sense of how high up we were...
We thought we had reached the top at one point and took a couple of pictures to celebrate our victory!
But our feeling of victory was short lived as the climb continued for a long, long way. As we climbed, the vegetation changed along the way...
After we had lunch at the very top, where it was so cold and windy that we had to put our jackets back on, we had more ups and downs to contend with as you can see in this shot taken by Jeff...
The heather all along the way was spectacular too, but hard to capture on camera. Here are the 2 sisters enjoying a closer view...
From this point on, it was a quiet and beautiful but very tiring walk to the village of San Juan de Ortega, with its total population of 30 people! Still, it has a brand new casa rural for tired pilgrims, and who needs more than one bar/cafe anyway? Most pilgrims went one village further, where there are more beds available. Dinner tonight is at 7, and our bodies are telling us already that it will be lights out soon after! Tomorrow will be the last of a 10 day stretch, and we'll be spending a rest day in the city of Burgos.
Distance today: 24.3 kms
Time on the road: 6:25
Total distance to date: 264.3 kms
Walking days remaining: 24
Wow, I can't believe your walks up and down for miles... and then have the energy to tour the town, and still look relaxed... amazing. God bless.
ReplyDeleteYou are in our prayers.