The Ups and Downs of the Camino!

Stage 12: Belorado to Atapuerca (31 km--24 degrees)

 

We had a great supper last night at the neighbouring albergue.  We are starting to get to know many of the other peregrinos traveling at our pace.

Today we walked over 30 kilometres and so our day began early and we were on the trail by 5:30.  As the sun rose, we left both the weather and terrain of the past couple of days behind us.  Clear skies of cobalt blue and forests of pine and oak gave us a different perspective and helped us forget that we had a long way to go.  At various rest stops throughout the day we continued our conversations with the different people we have met and became acquainted with a few more.  We are starting to feel like we are part of a community and it is a nice feeling.  This has taken longer for us as we have not been staying in the large communal albergues and opting instead for smaller ones with triple rooms.  These allow us to get an early start without waking up a dozen or so other pilgrims.  It also means that the snoring is reduced to only three as well--another bonus.

We climbed and descended a couple of ranges of big hills and eventually found ourselves on a high wide open plateau with beautiful expansive view.  A few kilometres later we walked into Atapuerca, our home for tonight and, as we just found out, the site of a prehistoric archeological dig.  More on that later.