Camino de Santiago in photos: Part 3: Goodbye OIlie and Selina :(

 

Radioactive mice 150m ahead. 

My favourite sign without a doubt. 

 

 

After nothing but fields for some time we came to this dead-end town. 

The town consisted of a creepy looking golf course and hundreds of houses which could all have been from a modern British housing estate. 

We didn't see a single resident while here and with the grey sky it all felt a bit Silent Hill.

Over the weeks, there had been an ongoing battle of the tents between Ollie and Selina and us.

Bonswali was much heavier than the tarp tent, but very rarely got condensation (Selina informed us that they had to do a morning mop up of the entire tent roof), was warm and most importantly NEVER fell down. 

Sorry Ollie, but the Vango Banshee wins.

Anouther detailed Camino map.

 

In the province of Burgos many of the trees were joined together at the branches.

I didn't spot this warning until I had eaten the entire packet in less than 24 hours:

"An excessive consumption may produce laxative effect"

I can confirm that excessive is one pack in 24 hours.  

Terrorist Camino chic.  

When we woke up on this morning there was the the first sunshine and clear sky we had seen for about a week. Being British, we all put our shorts and/or hot pants on and sun-creamed up. When we left our room all the other pilgrims were in full winter gear and asked if we were cold to which we replied, "We're British, this is nothing." Five minutes later we were all in full winter gear for the start of the coldest week of the whole trip. 
I did, however manage to burn my face that day. 

Insect orgy.

After walking in the freezing cold for half the day we stumbled across this manor house complete with red carpet, peacocks and a count. 

 

We enjoyed the rest of the sunshine with copious amounts of vino.

The most spectacular moon rise I have ever seen.

We snuck into the mannor house after dinner for drinks as the temperature dropped to below  zero after the sunset. The alcohol jacket was desperatly needed. 

The first day our tent froze. When I opened the door it was frozen into a solid panel and I had to open it like a car door. 

Sunburned and hungover.

PC!

This is the moment we realised that John Brierley's book on the Camino was incorrect AGAIN.

We often questioned if he had actually walked the camino, but his map of a 3km over three peaks that actually turned out to be 8km of flatness took the piss.

This was to all our friends and families.

Ironically the name of this town described how we all felt about how long the rest of the Camino would take.

This was the morning after the worst night's sleep I had on the whole Camino. 

It started with the Guardia Civil making us put our fire out, telling us that it was illegal to camp here. After some bad Spanish and a lot of smiling they agreed to let us stay for one night (it is actually legal to camp anywhere that is public property as long as it is 2km from a campsite). 

Losing the fire meant a freezing night and three hours of dinner preparation over the Happy Frog stove. Then just as we were going to bed a car pulled over and just shone its lights on our tents for an uncomforatble length of time. All night I was stuck in a dream that felt real where I could hear footsteps coming up to the tent and people trying to get in. 

No Bueno.

 Where some of the first homosapiens in Europe were found, Atapuerca.

Best play on words for a restaurant name on the Camino in Atapuerca. 

 Como means "I eat" in Spainsh.

No breakfast, and EVERYWHERE was shut.

Part of the Camino that the guidebooks don't tell you about.

What I imagine parts of WW1 looked like. 

The fog began to get so thick we couldn't see anything 20 metres ahead of us.

 

Frozen hair!

After the grimmest two hour walk down a dual carriage-way we finally made it into Burgos, where all four of us took a well earned rest and date day. Unfortuantly it was also All Saint's day and everything except bars and restuarants was closed. Needless to say we drank and ate all day.

Unfortunately this restuarant only served meat.

 

Fitness=Fear

 

We decided to buy a Spanish phrase book on the Kindle to help with our Spainsh and we found this little gem. 

I think this helps explains why we eat pretty much only tortilla bocadillos for every meal we eat out through the whole of spain. 

After a great day of eating and drinking we met Ollie and Selina back at the albergue. 

After much deliberation Ollie decided that due to the ongoing pain in his knee and money that they were going to end their Camino in Burgos. It was a sad evening. 

We decided to have one last day walking together and have a proper send off in the evening. 

Shortly after this Christopher (the guy walking to South Africa) came around the couner and we said our final farewell to him too.

Our final day walking with Ollie and Selina was a strange quiet and grey day. We were all wrapped in our thoughts about the ending of an epic adventure.

 

Ollie and Anthony's last day streak.

This was also the first day of the week long Leon stretch. 

A week of big skys, wind and constantly changing weather on the flat  Meseta. 

Many people miss this part out and we had heard a lot of negative things, but for me this stretch made you really feel like you earned Galicia.

 After a day of walking we reach the final village for the day, 

for our final farewell party.

Couldn't resit a trip to the local cemetry.

The village only had one place to eat, which turned out to be great. Plentiful food and copious wine all for eight euros. We met George and Madonna there. Two wicked travellers from Ohio who were just happy to be alive.

I met this guy in the local pub/restaurant. It was Halloween that night, hence the pumkins.

When we returned to the albergue after dinner we realised that no one else was staying in our room and we had it to ourselves. More beers and an epic night of partying began. I will leave you with only this picture which I think sums up the night well....