First Half

Holamig@s
We've just arrived in Leon and for once have time for an update. Sorry about the lack of blogging but we have spent many hours on the road and at roadside establishments watering the horses...

Monday: Absolute destroyer - day of travelling without having slept the night before. Don´t underestimate how tired you will be when you arrive! At Pamplona bus station I met Toni and Santi from Fuenlabrada and Victor from Barcelona among many others. These have been my riding companions for the week and it hs been great fun.

Tuesday: Roncesvalles - Cizur Menor 52km (4h 24'). First day of riding which saw Toni being sick after the first big hill, Santi falling off 3 times and nowhere to eat after breakfast until 4pm in Pamplona. Absolutely rained down persistently from 11am. Victor is the king of the hills while the rest of us get off and push, earning himself the title of "El Capitán Pedales". Beautiful route through woodland, alongside rivers and streams. Up and down... Great!

Wednesday: Cizur Menor - Los Arcos 75.7km (5h 56'). Another good riding day with better weather now. Santi hs to get a pannier for his full sus bike after we ran out of grips (and patience!) trying to hold the fruit basket (see above!) on to his original rack... Reception at Los Arcos municipal hostel with jet washer, our own dorm with internet access.... Nice! Great organ in the church apparently...

Thursday: Los Arcos - Santo Domingo de la Calzada 85km (6h 27'). Another good day of riding with some serious hills of pebbles and rocks where pushing the heavy bikes uphill is the only way to go... unless your name is Victor...

Friday: Santo Domingo de la Calzada - Burgos 79km (5h 41'). A hot one today. I got a bit burnt on the left side as you do travelling west... Dave arrived in high spirits and then there were five. First night in a hotel which was a pleasant change but the municipal hostels have been great...

Saturday: Burgos - Carrion de los Condes 88km (4h 54'). Flatter country and slightly cooler weather today. Dave had a bad fall demolishing some fencing and falling into the drain works in the centre of Burgos before getting a nail through his Armadillo tyre 10 minutes later! Baptism of fire in the land of El Cid... Looks like we're heading for a right carry on... ha ha ha

Sunday: Carrion de los Condes - Leon 100km (5h 15'). Much flatter today and not much to see. As everyday, we´ve met many people en route always saying "Hola" and having a word where possible. Great to arrive in Leon in such good time. Knee suddenly started playing up over the last hour but hoping things will be OK for tomorrow. Bit worried about leaving the bikes outside the hostel which seems quite far away from the centre but there was CCTV from the hostal and the services there were great. Here we shared a room with 3 lads from Algeciras who we would continue to bump into now along the rest of the route to Santiago.