Spain Day 9 Burgos - Hontanas 31km
Slept well and managed to produce something of a breakfast from my leftover bread and pate and the subsidized vending machine. Set of before 8 into darkness and heavy clouds and made easy progress out of Burgos. I really needed to do something about the boot situation but again it was a sunday so i figured they could get me to Leon?!? Stopped in small village to find some picnic food and shop proprietor gave me a small Saint Apostal pendant as a well wishing token. Onto the meseta now which meant days of flattish straight tracks through nondescript fields and fields and fields of stubble.....a mental challenge rather than physical. This dull and featureless land was much like a desert with gently rolling dunes of bleached shades of yellow swallowing up everything within it. Saw signs to the small village of Hontanas, hopefully where i would find a bed for the night, indicating it was a mere 2km away, yet i could see no view of anything all the way to the horizon, just this ´desert´. Where was this town? Soon it was 1km, then 500m and yet still there was nothing but fields. Then, i almost quite literally fell into it. Situated in what could easily be described as a hole in the ground was the beautiful ancient settlement of Hontanas. Spent a leisurely afternoon watching the children playing in the street and the old men continually moving the street bench into the sun as it shone between the buildings. The speedy French guy, Josef, was also here as was the Polish family who invited me to join them for the popular pilgrims dinner creation of pasta with tomato sauce.Bit concerned about strange twinging in the back of my left knee, anything that is not a blister or muscle pain is always more of a worry as plenty of people have scary stories of the dreaded tendonitus which, it seems, can put you on the first train/plane/boat home. Went to bed whilst the sun was still shining, i´m sure some use could be made of daylight saving time here!
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