Just Humps

Tuesday:  15.04. 2014

Burgos – Fromista     80kms   286m

Why is it that when you have to get up at seven, there is silence in the hotel:  When one has no need of leaping out of bed, (us yesterday,) all the pilgrims in the hotel rise at 06.15 and assume that everyone else shares their enthusiasm for such an early wake -up call by ensuring that doors are well slammed and voices are kept to an absolute maximum. (Moan over – just don’t understand peoples thoughtlessness). Anyway they are no longer called pilgrims by us as we began in English with the word pilgrim, the French is pellerin and the Spanish is pelegrinos so these have all morfed into “pelicans!”  

Anyway, things were going well: we had breakfast , checked out, loaded the trailers and then my helmet decided that it wanted to be centre of attention by refusing to adjust to the size of my head. It obstinately remained at the appropriate size for a six year old until Mr. Fix It tore off the casing, revealed the required mechanism, twiddled a bit and stuck it on my head. Hoorah!                                                                          

Well, the way out of Burgos for us pelicans was a vast improvement on the way in. We followed a well organised cycle track along very lush boulevards until it finally ran out on the outskirts of the city and we took to the road. (And we had a toot and a wave from the police on motorbikes – that’s a first). For a few kilometres only, we shared the route with traffic which then joined the motorway and we didn’t!  Always keep on the right side of the law! Henceforward, we saw only a handful of vehicles all day!

2/3 of the Journey Complet

The sun has shone, the birds have sung their little hearts out and we have really enjoyed a day of peace on the roads and almost nothing in the way of climbing. It has also reminded us that we can easily complete 80 kilometres in a day and we now recognise that we have actually completed a lot of uphills! Today’s efforts were just humps.

And just in case you are reading this, Ailish, I have finally managed to find a general store which had stamps! So your card will probably arrive sometime next week!

And finally a note to all dog owners! Please keep them secure in your yard or garden. Two yappy Yorkies (Rats) literally leaped under the wheels of my bike almost killing themselves and possibly me in the process. I am still waiting for some PhD student to explain this weird anomaly of dogs being able to hear bikes from long distances even when the road is full of cars and lorries. Unrestrained they then proceed to terrify the cyclist depending on the size of the dog!

Otherwise a really super day and thanks to all those folk who have sent emails or  posted words of encouragement. Much appreciated along with the toots.