Struck out from Porto, back into my now beloved Spain.  Wow, Spain has been such a surprise package, I had read so much negative stuff about it I expected to be mugged, pulled over in the car, everything stolen from the car…etc.  Whilst I’m sure such things do go on, and I did lose my wallet to pickpockets in Barcelona, that it absolutely the last bad thing that has happened here.    We were headed in the direction of San Sebastian, so thought we would break the journey’s back, and stop at Burgos.    A second breakfast stop at Verin, just back into Spain for some supplies, which ended up with freshly cooked Octopus from a street vendor for lunch.

Burgos is a way stop on the Camino de Santiago, and although I had a go driving this leg, Steve saw a few pilgrims enroute.  I was glued to the road.  Our hostel was one that accommodated pilgrims, and had a separate wing for them, which was fitted with room darkening blinds, and offered massages for weary feet.    Our room unfortunately had one of those safety lights that illuminate the place like the MCG on a night game.

We have implemented a system where the least amount of luggage must be taken out of the car at each stop, so the beast stays put in the back, along with non necessary food supplies and baggage.  We are mostly (as I’m sure you have noticed) wearing the same clothes, so apart from toiletries and our tech bag – not much has to come in from the car.

As I was auditing the things that we needed, I could hear carols being sung, so we were anxious to get out and explore.

OMG – a skating rink.  Small, and commercially sponsored, yes, but still.  And it was C.O.L.D.

As in gloves and beanie, and coat and scarf cold.    Cold, but impossibly beautiful, everyone walking around rugged up.

Negotiated our way to the hotel receptionist’s advised eating venue, which was of course closed.   Not to worry, we found another place which was our first experience of PINTXOS.  Pintxos is the Basque equivalent of Tapas, however everything is on display, and you choose what you want.  You then pay for whatever you eat.  You are supposed to eat them standing up at the bar.  We had done enough standing up, so found a chair, softies that we are.

We followed up with a visit to the hipster bar for a beer and a bucket of gin and tonic.  You will see on so many tv shows and movies, where they enter a bar, and take off scarf/gloves etc.  We actually had to do this, although I had to do it blind, as my glasses had completely fogged up, street cred took a hit with that one.

I had so many layers on, I could not put my arms down to my sides.

As we didn’t have to check out until 12.00 pm, we explored a little further and successfully took a semi video call from Pam and Pete.  I say semi, as they could see us, but we couldn’t see them.  We were at our glamorous best, after a fight with a rogue shower head, however Pam and Pete tell me they had never looked better.