Day 9: Villambista - Atapuerca

Via ESPINOSA DEL CAMINO, VILLAFRANCA MONTES DE OCA, SAN JUAN DE ORTEGA and AGE'S
Approx 24km

Today started out nicely, having breakfast with the rest of the gang from last night - feasting on freshly baked croissants, juice and coffee. I set off alone after breakfast and spent most of the day by myself. Most of the path today was through a forest with a very long and steep incline, which wasn't very fun first thing in the morning! However, I made it, every painful step of the way. At this stage, blisters are appearing on top of blisters!




It was a nice enough wander I suppose, although for much of the day I felt like I could really throw the towel in and head for civilisation with a hot bath, clean clothes, moisturiser and a cuddle!!

I stopped for my lunch in the middle of the forest on a nice elevated bit of moss. It was so quite and eerie, I went from being relaxed to being petrified and back again in a matter of minutes!! Apparently the forest was once a haven for theives, and I can completely understand why! Plenty of places to hide and no one around for miles!

When I made it through the forest, the next town was full of my 'amigos' sitting in the sun outside a bar. I was happy to join them for a much needed cold drink and soaked in the sunshine for an hour or so before heading off again.

The rest of the gang were headed to Age's tonight, and I decided to walked a further 2.5km to the next town on, Atapuerca. I felt that I needed to seperate myself from the group and have some time concentrating on my thoughts - although once I got there I felt pretty lonely!



I was a bit cranky and out of sorts today, with silly things getting my nose bent out of shape - like, someone was in the shower when I wanted one. Dumb! I was very much cheered up later on when I went outside to sit in the last of the evening sunshine and saw a tiny little puppy chained up in the yard. He belonged to the girl running the Albergue and she told me he was a baby - only 4 months old! I sat down and played with him for at least half an hour. He cuddled up to me in my lap and it was just what I needed to put the smile back on my dial. So, so cute, and the absolute highlight of my day.

Atapuerca's claim to fame is a site not far from town where the oldest human remains in Europe have been found - from what I could understand they are from the Neolythic period. A group of people from the Albergue were going on a tour bus to see it and invited me along. I was all set to go when I discovered that the tour was only in Spanish and I wouldn't be able to understand anything, so I gave it a miss, and regretted it later when I saw the photos!

There were only 6 of us staying in the Albergue tonight, and I was at a bit of a loose end about what to do for dinner, when the rest of them invited me out with them to the local restaurant. The group consisted of me - the only girl and an Italian man, a Spanish man, a French man, a German man and a Spanish man who lives in Germany. It was a joyous meal with so many languages flying around and lots of smiles and kindness. I was especially taken with Jose, the Spanish/German. He sat next to me and we spoke in a variety of broken german, broken english and some help from translators! He seemed like a very special man, who made sure I had enough wine and food and was involved in the conversation the whole time. He blew me a kiss on my way to bed, which was just so sweet. He finished his journey the following day, so I wasn't to see him again much to my dismay.