Day 25: Lerma to Burgos

May 17, 2023

The breakfast room felt as if it was full of apprehension as our fellow cyclists consumed their eggs, bacon, pastries, fruit, and yogurt. Ah yes, apprehension of today's winds that are projected to be stronger than yesterday. How could I forget? Sigh! Such is life on the road - take whatever Mother Nature brings and ride the bike. Sounds good to me. So, with a smile we set off to be blown along the various routes of the day.

Departing from Lerma. Photo courtesy of Steve R.

We met up with another tandem on the trip and took turns pulling each other along the road for the first 20 or so kilometers. It helped the time pass as we hassled with our headwind. But the scenery was quite entertaining - I guess our heads were held higher than yesterday. Why not, the sky was blue and it wasn't quite as cold as yesterday. Or maybe we are just becoming more accustomed to Mother Nature's whims.

To our delight we spied a field of red poppies.

Then we came across the "Leaning Tower of Stork". It appears that there are 3 or 4 levels to this particular stork nest. We also noticed that the "tower" is being braced by a cable.

One third of the ride had past when we entered the village of Covarrubias. Unlike yesterday, we decided to visit this village as we had been told about the timber framed buildings and its Northern European princess Kristina. This stop didn't disappoint.

A bridge built in the 1500s with its flowers.

This building has a string of bota bags attached to it!

I couldn't resist this sign . . . a burro pulling a cart!

Intriguing store front - we were too early and they weren't open yet.

These guys were all over town - garbage cans.

A cross bow on the top of the fortress wall.

The church where Princess Kristina's tomb is located.

After enjoying a charming village with its buildings shielding us from the wind, we set off again.

A little green plot was visible as we climbed out of the village of Covarrubias.

Statue of El Cid - we are riding along the Camino del Cid at the moment.

Our next stop was the village of Mecerreyes where we found lots of bronze sculptures and an open village church.

El Caminito (we are seeing a lot of walkers doing the El Cid walk).

The church was just letting out from the mass service, so we were able to go in.

The church was small but quite ornate. A lady was closing up when we entered, but she turned the lights back on for us. Chuck sang and this little church had great acoustics. The lady clapped and praised him. Afterwards she showed us the Sacristy. As we rode away, she was locking up the doors. Timing was great!

We had a climb after leaving Mecerreyes and were rewarded with a sign.

And then we stopped again . . .

The village of Cuevas de San Clemente had this comic for a mural. We filled our water bottles from the fresh water fountain.

And another village stop . . .

Our next stop was the village of Cubillo del Campo and this sculpture was in their village square.

Across the valley written in white is "El Cid".

And we visited a couple more villages on our way to Burgos. About 18 kilometers out we decided we should probably quit diddle dallying and get a move on and finish this short ride today.

Entry gate to the walled city of Burgos.

When we rode into Burgos following our Garmin route, we entered the city wall (shown above) and this was our first sight:

We were pleasantly surprised that today's winds were not as bad as expected. We seemed to have a lot of wind breaks along the way, whether is was hillsides or trees or buildings. The sun and blue sky must have done a lot to improve our moods, too. We really enjoyed today's route!

Tomorrow starts the "Vuelta de Burgos Femmes" and many teams cars were seen. Some folks came across the Movistar team and got a photo of the ladies before they went out on a training ride. Chuck and I saw the Trek Segrafredo vehicles and then we found (by chance) the parking area for team cars.

Remember the plane trees of yesterday? They get even better in Burgos. We can only imagine the canopy come summer!

Tomorrow is a layover day - will we ride in the wind again? Will we go to the race start? Will we visit the cathedral? So many options!

That was a wonderful day! After all that worry the wind didn't bother us very much. Yeah!!

Today's ride: 70 km (43 miles)
Total: 613 km (381 miles)

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