the doorway of Bag End

The last two days we walked two 12-mile stages. Yesterday we walked from Burgos to Hornillos (de something).

On the way out of Burgos we met an old man who insisted on showing us a beautiful gateway to an old college and a couple of other pretty sights.

The walk finally took us into the Meseta, the immense dry plateau that covers the upper central part of Spain. It´s about 300 feet of elevation, almost treeless, covered with wheat fields.

Hornillos is a tiny town. We stayed at a tiny hotel across the street from the one open store in Hornillos. As soon as we walked out of the hotel we ran into Martin, the Canadian soldier that we met in Burgos. I was surprised that he had stopped there but he was having foot problems. I think that he was lonely as well, because it turned out that he had left the group that he was trekking with because they were on a slower schedule.

We had drinks with him. He suggested wine with Coke!!! Rioja red wine. It sounds gross but it was pretty good. Like fizzy Sangria. Anselmo had one and then we chatted for a while, then went back to take a nap.

I watched "Atonement" on my Ipod. That was so sad! I was so upset when I learned that Cecilia and Robbie never saw each other again thanks to Briony. We had dinner with Martin as well and asked him all about soldiering in Afghanistan.