Day Four
Carrion de las Condes to Pradoluengo
67 miles 3612 ft
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On a day which celebrates the 80 th anniversary of D-Day and the announcement of the England team for the Euros football tournament our day was very much reflective of what was going on in the wider world.
Whilst cycling across the almost endless Spanish plain we met Uli from Germany who impressively is cycling from the French /German border to Lisbon on her own where her husband will collect her- a trip of 2600 km. Of course the fact that she mistakenly called us handsome boys may be why we liked her so much. However serious kudos to her for such an undertaking unsupported.
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We were woken this morning by the sound of the cuckoo at 6am so were off and out before 8.30.
As we were still on the plain the roads were flat and straight as above. We did therefore take the opportunity to take small diversions off the route to visit the Camino villages where nothing much seemed to have changed since the Middle Ages although the growth of the pilgrims has brought money and reinvestment into these out of the way communities.
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Today was a busy day with the Chris pilgrimometer registering 419 pilgrims. The most on any day. Few looked happy and they were certainly suffering and taking their penance. Struggling across the featureless plain for several days would take joy out of most we thought.
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Each of these pueblos had a few houses, some lived in, some in disrepair, usually a massive church and perhaps other religious buildings and a population of less than 200.
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We mostly chose to ride on the road with the Camino path running alongside as our progress was obviously somewhat quicker. For once we made quite good time as our only distractions were calling in at these small places and getting our credencials stamped.
At one point leaving a small town a chap explained to Nick the new high speed train line had cut the path so it was best carry on the road until the next left hand turn and then rejoin the original route. More new infrastructure.
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Leaving the last small town before our coffee stop however the street we were on disintegrated into the pilgrims stony track and with coffee only five miles away at Itero de la Vega we thought we would risk it. The stony ascent was a little tricky but coming down the path was smooth gravel and even had a couple of irrigation sprays to cool us down on a day where the temperature rose to over 30. The most fun section of the tour.
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The coffee stop was again right next to the Camino path and a on a number of occasions tired looking pilgrims looked longingly at our ample spread of pastries and fruit. Today we were not so generous and did not share our feast.
The terrain started to change a little with more in the way of hills and valleys so we decided to leave the stony pilgrim route and kept to the roads zigzagging along river valleys and over small climbs
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In a very small village just off the Camino was a Sephardic Jewish centre in a village that had obviously been settled by the Jews for centuries judging by its name.
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As we returned to the Camino route at Castrojeriz we were reminded of the contrast in labour required to farm these days. One guy in a tractor with a special trailer collected and stacked a field in just minutes , but just the other side of the village an old boy with a walk behind grass cutter was sitting exhausted after doing his much smaller field with a lot more work ahead. The countryside towns in Spain are devoid of human beings because they are simply not required.
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After climbing the hill out of Castrojeriz we met Uli coming the other way on her epic journey and wished her well before carrying on in opposite directions.
Once again after a further stamp in our credencial the route wanted us to follow the stony Camino path but we decided to road it again. This saw a bit more climbing and the scenery looking more like the bad lands of Dakota with flat topped hills.
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Having been up and down a few times and with our lunch stop still 18 miles away we decided a call to International Rescue in Thunderbird Two to change the location was in order and cycling onto the next village the camper arrived with lunch five minutes later.
The next part of the route would take us through the pretty but busy city of Burgos. It was quickly decided to skip a section so we all piled into the camper after lunch to start the other side after a quick restocking at Lidl’s in town. Seeing the amount of traffic and unkind large road we were due to ride we decided it was again the right decision.
Chris decided that he would sit out leg three and starting off in front of the Guardia Civil ( one of whom was happy to give me a high five!) Nick. Dom and Neil set off for the climb up past a dam to our campsite at Pradoluengo
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Having climbed up we then had an exhilarating descent complete with a few hairpins before a short climb back up to our very nice but almost deserted campsite and a swim and shower. We were once again accompanied by the sound of at least two cuckoos as we started our dinner.
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Dinner today was Salmon and a cucumber salad Nigel claiming to be no expert at cooking fish. I seem to recall him cooking an excellent whole fresh salmon in Norway!
The weather has remained warm and we expect it to be like that again tomorrow although a big Atlantic storm threatens to wipe out the Pyrenees and some of the early French days. Fingers crossed that’s wrong
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I finish today with an appropriate photo of cornflowers and poppies together. The symbols of remembrance for France and the UK respectively.