09 Sept

I didn't go far today (ok I just checked my speedo it was 55km,) but still I'm not very far out the other side of Burgos.

That's ok though, I've had a great day;

When I packed up and left this morning, I realised I was just off the Camino de Santiago, so knowing it led to Burgos I got on it. Bloody path goes all over the place though, no signposts and everyone I asked told me something different. My mistake was taking everyone's word- but why would they lie, and they blatantly must have known- they'd either just come from there or were on their way ther, and... anyway.

It was just on the outskirts that I made the best decision I made all day, and asked one more person the way to the centre- because this person was Maria- the best guide in Burgos, by all accounts, and some kind of angel too.
"Follow me, I'll take you."
I was intending on finding out a little about the Camino, maybe a map, but instead stumbled upon a lady who seemed to have devoted her life to telling people about it, helping people along it, and generally being an utter star.

Everyone she saw with a rucksack or a stick, she'd shout them down and check that all was dandy, advise them on where to go next; not satified until 100% confident that she'd helped them at least as much as they could have hoped for from anyone.

She gave me a tour of the University, (where she did her degree- on the Camino...) the building used to be the biggest hospital on the Camino, caring for and feeding the pilgrims. The whole thing was tastefully restored in the '90's and became the uni.

We went into one of the classrooms with whoops, screeches and laughter spilling out, and surreally there was a boy doing press-ups on the (absent) teacher's desk, everyone was soaking each other with massive water-pistols, and covering each others faces in thick black paint.

Is this what I'm missing by not going to uni?

I don't think i hid my suprise very well as I was promtly soaked. Closest I've come to a shower in days.

We explored every single crook and nanny until I'd been told everything about the place, felt silly in my cycling shorts, big mucky tent of a tshirt and visor, and really needed a wee.

The city itself is gorgeous, really green and cycle-path-y, with a beautiful cathedral. Every road seems to have a wide boulevard for walkers and cyclists running parallel, with a solid ceiling of sycamore branches. Easy to navigate, too, as long as you don't try and follow the Camino.