Day 14 - Atapuerca - 20km

Started my climb over the Montes de Oca mountain range at 6AM this morning, and 12km and 4 hours later I found myself on the other side. Put my feet up in a cold fountain, in a place called San Juan de Ortega.

Today's walk wasn't as hot. Crossed several pine forests, it was cloudy and there was quite a nice breeze. My feet are finally starting to act up though, so I'm down with fatigue a lot sooner as well.

After a total of 20km I decided to call it a day in this town called Atapuerca. Which apparently is famous for a great archeological find: Bones of the Homo Antecessor, a prehistoric version of us. And this town apparently has some importance in Spanish history: There was a battle here in 1053, that cost the Kingdom of Navarra a lot of power. Or so my tour book tells me.

I skipped their Stone Age Open Air Museum though. Went straight to a refugio, which is a former farm building, with the old straw roof still on top. A former stable now serves as a dormitory. Nice atmosphere! I took a shower and the shower head came down right on top of me. I tried to explain this to the owner but he only speaks Spanish, so I tried to re-enact the event, and of course the head came down again. He got it :)

Cooked dinner with two guys, one from Spain and one from Korea. Got fresh vegetables, but there's no cooker in this refugio, so we had to resort to this camping gas burner. Which resulted in a total mess. But we had a lot of fun doing it ;)

And guess what... A hail storm. Out of nowhere. Ice falling out of the sky. Lasted about 30 minutes. And then the sun returned. Total weirdness. The eco system must be drunk.

My Polish friend took a bus to Burgos, the next big city. I think I'll walk with the Korean guy tomorrow, he seems nice.

Good night!