Atapuerca to Burgos

We left the Alburgue in Atapuerca early in the morning and began walking to the "big city" of Burgos. It was a beautiful morning and our walk was not too long since we had done a few extra miles the day before. Got into Burgos at about 12:30 and decided to stay at the same hotel Stevie and Conner were staying as we have been walking with them for the last couple days and we will probably not see them again after Burgos. Conner is finishing the Camino in Burgos to meet his wife and kids in Madrid for a vacation with them. Stevie is going ahead to meet a friend in a few days who will walk with him a little while on the Camino. Two days ago Ben started getting blisters and although we have applied Compeed they are not getting better. In addition, his ankle (the one HE DID NOT BREAK) is hurting him. He needed to put his brace on this foot. We decided to stay in Burgos an extra day for rest and to check out alternative transportation. We have decided to rent 2 bikes and bike the 100 miles through the Metesa to Leon. This is a good option since it takes about 8 days of walking to Leon. We can bike it in about 3 days. This gives us the 3 days we needed to make up to get to Santiago by the 30th or the 31st and gives Ben's blisters to get better. Also the Metesa is flat (perfect for bikes) and it is suppose to be in the mid 90's in the Metesa this next week. The final benefit is Ben has been wanting to bike a little since we are constantly being passed by people doing the Camino by bike and it looks fun. We pick the bikes up tomorrow morning and we drop them off in Leon on Friday. This is a better alternative then taking the bus which a lot a people are doing to avoid the Metesa. Conner went to the bus station this morning to get his ticket to Madrid and he said the line was was long with Pilgrims getting bus tickets to Leon.

We had a good dinner last night with Conner and Stevie and then found a bar (Irish of course) and watched the final round of the World Cup and drank lots of Guiness beer. Slept in late today and found the bike shop, had breakfast, went to the Burgos Cathedral and took a tourist tram around Burgos. Spectacular Cathedral and a beautiful city. I am glad we spent the extra day to explore. Hopefully we will have an extra day to tour Leon which is suppose to be a great city. We are having our final dinner with Stevie and Conner tonight before we all go our separate ways. We will miss them.