22.6.24

A relatively easy day today.

22k under overcast skies keeping it cool. It felt nice to leave the Meseta or flat plains of wheat and maize between Burgos and Leon. So flat following endless straight paths and roads which drive you mad with boredom.

Now we're heading up into the foothills of the Cantabrian mountains. This is the last barrier between Castilla y Leon state and Galicia and our final assault on Santiago.

The change of scenery is quite missed by a young Korean fellow traveller who doesn't look up from his phone the whole way! We keep checking on him to make sure he hasn't careered off the path into a ditch!

I see the dark shadows of the mountains we must cross tomorrow and feel a kind of dread not because of the physical exertion but because 2 years ago, Siobhan and I walked from Sarria the last 100 miles into Santiago. Will there be any ghostly memories from the past? Has the Camino any dark lessons to teach me. On the way to Astorga, I found this on a rock,.maybe a sign;