March 7, 2022
A perfect road?
Day 17 - Burgos to Trespaderne
Having had enough of the cold and generally fancying a bit of a change, we have changed our plans. Today we headed north towards Bilbao, where we hear it may be over 20c!
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We were still feeling real tired and just wanted some simple, even boring days, on real roads. Hopefully not too much traffic, get some miles under our belts. So it was with slight annoyance that our route out of Burgos soon hit ANOTHER camino! Calling itself the camino natural or some such, apparently linking Santander with the Mediterranean.
Luckily, it was incredible! Obviously an old railway line - we passed lots of sadly abandoned stations - it was an even better surface than the other camino, very smooth hard gravel, and practically flat the whole way.
Also, it passed through some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen.
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And then it got even better. We passed through a valley of orange and red mountain badlands, clearly the land of the tortilla Western (they filmed some in Spain too right?).
Did I mention the whole route was traffic free? Zero cars. We only saw maybe three local walkers the whole time. Despite this it was well provisioned with areas de descanso, as well as small towns every 15-20km.
After this we entered another valley where we could hear a river rushing close by, as we passed through tunnels under more astonishing mountains.
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However, despite being a perfect road, it wasn't quite a perfect day. It was again really cold, maybe the coldest yet - even I had to put my gloves and buff and rain jacket on. It also rained a bit.
There was a headwind too, at points, which combined with the slower surface, means our 80km was actually a pretty big day. We were doing fine until the last 10km or so where a downed bridge sent us on a detour, added some extra kilometres and put us on quite a busy road. Though it must be said, this road was also stunning, with sharp jagged mountains topped with improbable stacks rising on either side, and a beautiful green river underneath.
It's currently 10.30pm and I should be asleep already!
Today's ride: 79 km (49 miles)
Total: 549 km (341 miles)
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