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I didn't say much in this blog, so the photos are somewhat unrelated... Long, flat road on the way to Atapuerca.

For the last week I´ve been on the plain. Fortunately, it hasn´t rained.

Crucified shadow. Inappropriate?

The walk has gotten a little harder (mentally…) and I´ve now got SH(IN SPL)I(N)T(S)!

This extremely cold spring is supposed to heal pilgrim feet...

I´ve just had a massage that I think was free, but I have´t yet walked out of the room that I had the massage in. I have bought a pretty sexy compression sock, and some hardcore Ibuprofen that I´m a bit scared to take.

... pilgrims, having immersed their feet in these icy waters are said to have a pain free walk from this point on.

So back to the plain. I have to say this part has been pretty constant. Flat and often a long straight line. An 18 km stretch with little topographical change proved quite the mental and physical challenge. The destination happened to be about 5m below the area of flattery so it wasn´t visible until 200m before. Me and the 4 people I was with actually jumped with joy when we started to see the roofs of the town below. We had run out of water, and despite it being only 15º, we were all sunburnt after having peeled down to our shorts and tees (in the morning it was scarves and beenies).

Big walk today. After 36 km, decided to try to push out 40km without knowing if the seasonal albergue was operational. This sign was a relief.

Since I started walking (I passed the halfway point yesterday) the trees/plants have started to shoot leaves. I think Spring is a pretty good time to do this. By the end, all the wild flowers will be out and the wheat will be a bit taller. Apparently the wind will make waves appear on a green ‘sea…’

I’m struggling struggle to remember stuff to write cos I´m taking in soooo much each day. Not least I´m having to have deep conversations in Spanish with only a 100 word vocabulary.

Halfway (depending on how you look at it). I don't like my hat. (It is WordPress' fault that this photo is on its side).

To answer some common questions:

*I´d love to set up a blog and add photos i´ve taken (4/1/2011: here it is, 8 months late!), but none of the computers have usb ports, so it´s too hard.

* I managed to push out a couple of 40km days and got ahead of fat, old (did i mention loud, snoring?) smoker. I also managed to get to the Correos (Post Office) at Leon to collect (from one window) my excess weight, and post (from another window) it on to Santiago. Again a 15 day deadline, but completely doable…

* I have made heaps of friends, and now know people in front and behind me. The reunions I´ve had with people I´ve only known for one or two days are really comical. There is so much emotion after you´ve walked all day after saying a big goodbye maybe two or three days ago, only to meet up  with a new (also exhausted) friend!

18km of topography like this.

That´s it for now.