We didn’t need to get to San Emiliano that early so we sat down at the cafe/bar drinking our usual ‘cafe con leche, grande’ when a fellow at another table starting chatting with us. First he asked about the wi-fi password, which Colin remembered but I didn’t – I only had to use it the first time and since then my i:pad logs in automatically.

Anyway, the guy is originally from Belgium but now lives in Marseilles so he can see his two daughters, who were with him. They’re leaving for Portugal later in the day and will likely pop in at the horse show first. We had lots to talk about since we spent six weeks in Belgium in the spring.

The two little girls – about five and seven, maybe – loved Mo, as most children do. She’s so patient as they pat her and coo at her – she never gets growly or snaps at anyone, although she will chase a cat if it runs from her.

Just before noon we headed out to San Emiliano, which is under 10 km from the campground. It’s a nice looking little place – just big enough for several cafes/bars, a couple of banks and a supermarket.

It was pretty crowded because of the horse show so we had to park quite far up one of the roads but it wasn’t too bad. We found the showground easily enough – as an english lady at the campground said ‘just follow the crowd’ – no problem!

The show was awesome – lots of booths setup selling everything horsey, as well as booths for local specialities of chorizo, cheese, etc.

The horses were in several different roped areas, mostly mothers with littles ones, but also some stallions. They were taken in groups to a lower ringed area where they were judged, with the winner getting gold ribbons.

It rained off and on and we were glad to have our umbrellas. We had a nice lunch under a canopy – bacon sandwiches with fries, washed down with some very nice chilled red.

When the rain had stopped for a bit we walked around some more and saw some of the stallion judging. One of them got a little fiesty and we wondered if the owner would be able to control him – luckily he settled down.

A large ‘brindle’ (?) coloured horse won, and we think he knew he was special.

Other than with the stallions they only have to have a halter and rope on a few of the horses – once the ‘lead’ horse is taken somewhere the rest all follow. As the competition ended many of the horses were led right down the road.

I believe there’s a fair amount of buying/selling/trading of the horses in addition to the show. Once almost extinct they’ve made a comeback – they are Hispano-Breton and are used as work horses as well as for meat.

When we left San Emiliano we passed the campground and followed the road we’d walked on the other day as far as the village of Abelgas de Luna – not that much to see there.

They kindly put the Vuelta on the tv for us again in the bar so we could keep current with the progress of the race.

As I was lying awake early in the morning not knowing what time it was I heard a distant noise that gradually got louder and louder. It consisted of bells with occasional shouts, baa-baa-baaing, and the odd moo. Apparently a group of men were doing a mass move of sheep and cows and it took about 20 minutes for the whole group to pass. They were very near the campground – likely on the small side road that goes into the hills behind.

As I finally looked at the clock on my i:pad and saw it was only 7:30 I promptly rolled over and tried to get a bit more sleep. It had been a chilly night and even with my fuzzy black blankie on top of my sleeping bag I wasn’t really warm.

Having finally arisen just after 9:00 I had a really nice hot shower, then tapped on the campervan door to see about morning tea – Colin and Mo were still abed, although at least they were awake.

After breakfast we got the bikes off the rack, assembled the Mo-bile and went for a little ride. Just a few km up the main road – which is quite nice to ride on – we crossed the Rio Luna to check out the village on the other side – not much to see there, so back to a coffee shop we’d passed.

It was lovely – sitting outside on chairs on the grass, under some nice large trees – almost like being in someone’s courtyard. And the very creamy coffee was delicious.

Rather than heading straight back to the campground – we’d only ridden a few km – we continued down the same main road until we came to a junction. Not knowing what was ahead or how the road was we turned around back to the campground.

After another nice shower we had a late lunch picnic style outside at the table. Colin had gotten a crusty baguette for himself from the bread-man that delivers to the campground every morning, and we’d found some lovely cheddar cheese at the last store we’d shopped at. Together with some sliced veggies it was a tasty lunch.

We saw a poster on the office wall about a horse event of some kind coming up in the nearby village of San Emiliano in a couple of days and have decided it would be nice to go see what it’s about.

The next day instead of going for another ride we opted for a long walk. Colin had picked up a couple of maps from the office and there are trails all over the place around here.

I wanted to see if we could reach the lake so we hiked up the small road that runs by the campground – we did have great views of the Rio Luna just below us but didn’t go far enough to see the lake. It was starting to get quite hot and I was starting to get hungry so we turned back.

We saw a ‘for sale’ sign on one side of the road – it looked like there were at least two little cabins and a bit of land – hmmm!

Back at camp I cut the day-old baguette into small rounds and fried them up with a bit of onion. Some nice cherry tomatoes and the chorizo we got the other day, along with the cheddar cheese made another great picnic lunch.

After spending some time down at the bar – me drinking cold red wine and using the wi-fi – we had a quiet afternoon before going back to the bar for our dinner. The nice dutch fellow that, along with his wife/girlfriend, help run the campground put the race on for us – it’s the first day of the Vuelta a Espana and is the Team Time Trial. That didn’t last long, however, as several local men came in and the tv was quickly changed over to one of the soccer matches that were on.

It was later than I thought when I got up – I hadn’t heard the 7:00 alarm which was apparently because Colin’s phone had run out during the night. We had a kind-of-weak cup of tea as we were down to our last bag, then got on the road west towards Leon.

We followed a somewhat familiar route – past Najera and Burgos, then continuing west past Sahagun until just south of Leon.

The Camino de Santiago was almost always nearby, going alongside us, then crossing over to the other side, while occasionally veering a little south or north from the motorway.

Miss GPS managed, once again, to get us off track at the very end – we knew we were being misled and had to fire up Miss Wayz to get us back to where we were actually heading – the place that hopefully will be able to fix the fridge in the campervan. We don’t have a lot in the fridge right now since unless we’re hooked up to electrics it barely keeps things cool – the blue cheese is bluer than it should be, if you know what I mean!

We eventually located the place we were looking for – closed for lunch, of course. Just as I was looking up a phone number a lady walked up to us and told us a friend of hers ran the shop and he’d be back in about an hour, but we could wait where we were until he returned.

Promptly at 3:30 the fellow came back to open up the shop – he had a quick look at the fridge, then went indside and made a bunch of phone calls. The quickest he could get the necessary part was 10 days, so since we can’t possibly wait that long he decided to try to fix it himself.

I took Mo across the road to a cafe to wait while Colin assisted the very nice fellow. After about an hour they were done and the fridge is working – at least on gas, but not sure about battery. Colin came over to get us – we enjoyed some free tapas, including some local chorizo that the bartender was particularly pleased about.

We’d picked two campsites to choose from about an hour’s north of Leon – one right on a man-made lake/reservoir and the other just north of it. We passed on the first one – it looked very pretty but was squished in right between the highway and the lake.

The second one was perfect – very quiet, not too big, really nice people. It has a small bar with a nice outside sitting area, as well as wi-fi, although the signal’s not great.

After a nice hot shower and a nice hot cup of tea we locked the bikes and the Mobile to a tree, unhooked the electrics and drove into a town to get some groceries and find a bank.

We could find both about 25 km north in the hillside town of Torecilla en Cameros. We took a minor road in off the highway and wondered at times if we were going to make it through the narrow streets and closely packed cars – apparently there’s a much larger road in a little further along.

We stopped and asked a local man where the supermarket was and he told us in pretty good english to cross the bridge, turn right, park the campervan and walk up. His instructions were good – we turned a corner and went up and over a very narrow, steep stone bridge, turned right and found a nice little parking area about ½ mile on. After parking we walked back a bit to some wide stone stairs and climbed up to the ‘main’ road.

We didn’t walk very far before we saw everything we needed – cafes and bars, a bank and a supermarket that was actually open – it being the lunch hour by now. When we were doing our shopping it was kind of funny – we were looking at the veggies and talking about what we had and what we might need. I then asked the young girl for ‘dos tomate’ and she laughed and said ‘you can ask me in english’ but of course that was an easy one and she did understand my attempt at spanish.

We picked up a few other things, then retrieved Mo from where she’d been tethered outside and strolled back along the main road. We stopped at one of the cafes for a drink – it was a really nice little town, with lots of folks walking around or sitting together chatting. So nice to see the locals out and about and socializing during a weekday.

Heading back towards the campground we decided to continue on past it and check out the ‘Ermita de la Virgen de Lomos de Orios’ that was just 5.5 km further up the road. Along the way we had to stop for a flock of sheep – they were milling around on and beside the road, and two of the three large sheepdogs were actually lying on the road. They had no inclination to move until their owner made a hand gesture, then they immediatley got up and herded the sheep all to the side.

The ‘Ermita’ was in a very lovely spot but I’m not sure how old the building was, and the satellite dishes on one side kind of ruined the ‘hermitage’ idea of it.

The next morning was slightly brighter and eventually turned a bit sunny. We took our time packing up – I had to dry the tent fly out a bit and aired out my sleeping bag and tent.

We left the little campground around 12:30 – it was a lovely place and we were a bit sad to leave it. We headed north to Logrono to meet Ricardo later this evening, but with some time to kill we parked the campervan and walked into the city centre/old town.

We walked around some, then sat at a cafe and got a drink – once again incredibly tasty rioja. I had to restrain myself – with some effort – from getting into a verbal confrontation with four women at a nearby table. Two of them were smoking and I really, really wanted to say something like: ‘if you want to commit suicide by cigarette – go ahead! I don’t care! – but you have zero right to pollute the air that I breathe and give it to me second hand’.

But – I did restrain myself and chose to leave instead of having another lovely glass of rioja.

We went back to a lay-by and had a nice dinner of pasta and salad, then went out to meet Ricardo to pick up the three cases of rioja he’d gotten for Tony. We met him and his lovely wife Christina and their bellisima daughter Lucy just at the edge of town. Ricardo’s grandparents owned a place there and they still have it which they use now in the summer.

We had a really nice visit over a drink, then loaded the cases of rioja up – Lucy had left to go out with friends – she’s fifteen now and getting her wings, so to speak. She’s a lovely young lady and seems very well brought up so I’m sure she’ll do well.

Had a great sleep and didn’t get up until quite late – it’s very quiet here – all I could hear was the distant ringing of cowbells and the murmuring of the nearby creek. No traffic at night either, and blessedly few squawking children.

After a late breakfast we took a ride down into the village of Villoslada de Cameros to try to find a bank – no luck, but did find a nice cafe for a coffee. It was a fairly busy square and many of the people that came and went through it had dogs. The little girls were all dressed in their Sunday best with cute little shoes and bows in their hair.

One of the little dogs sat at the door of the cafe and waited very patiently for his owner to come out – he was so cute (the dog, that is).

Many of the houses had banners/posters up of the madonna and child. At first I thought they looked kind of like a buddha, but on closer look we figured out what it was. The madonna looks kind of Chinese – with a very large head – and the baby Jesus looks like a teenager in miniature – altogether a bit freakish.

Back at the campground we did some laundry – free! Well, I’m not sure it was supposed to be but when I asked the lady in the bar she told me to wait an hour then ask again. We waited, and since the machine was empty we filled it up – I didn’t see anyplace to put coins or tokens so took a chance and pressed some buttons. Eureka – it started.

A little later I checked on the progress and the machine had stopped – full of water but seemingly dead. Colin got the helpful man with the long hair to get it going again – he kept saying it was ‘no problem, no problem’ and that it was the machine’s fault. Eventually the laundry was done – free in the end, and hung to dry on the rack.

Another dinner at the cafe/bar – this time they were out of the chicken sandwich I wanted as well as the lamb chops Colin ordered. We both settled instead for the scampi and chips – very nice and crisp again.

The wi-fi isn’t too bad up near the cafe so I was finally able to start posting again – over a week behind, but better late than never.

After another very nice quiet night I roused from my tent around 8:00 and did a tiny bit of chi gong down at the creekside listening to nothing but the water and the birds. We went up to the cafe for a coffee and some wi-fi, then a bit later went for a walk up the road.

It was a lovely stroll and we shortly came to a nice creek-side park with gravel path – there were signs every now and then with descriptions of the local flora and fauna. It was totally peaceful until two cars arrived and discourged about eight people, including two very loud children – how to destroy the peacefulness.

A small shrine just aross a bridge was our turning-around point. Once again it was the large-headed madonna with the freakishly old looking baby – funny but kind of creepy at the same time.

Back at the campground we stopped at the cafe – it was quite busy and so loud I almost went back outside, but it was too cold to sit outdoors.

A little later we went back for dinner, having to leave Mo in the campervan again. We had to wait until 8:00 to order, and once again they didn’t have what we wanted as first choice. However my second choice of pizza was the best pizza I’ve had in ages – very nice crust and with toppings of ham, artichokes and olives – a really tasty combination.

The morning was bright and sunny, although a bit chilly on the mountain. I took Mo for a nice long walk up past the barricade – the paved road turns to hard dirt/gravel after a short bit.

It winds around the side of the mountain going up at a nice easy grade – there are marked walking trails everywhere and some great views along the way with cattle and a few horses grazing in a field.

There are some lakes, but I only walked far enough to see a small slough before turning back to make some breakfast – leftover mashed potatoes with mushrooms, onions and cherry tomatoes all fried together.

The race wasn’t expected to finish on our mountain until at least 4:30 so we had a whole day to take walks or sit and read. Hundreds and hundreds of people had walked up from the lower parking area and were doing to same thing, although without the comfort of table and chairs.

We took a short walk down to the finish line – they’re erecting the barriers that come all the way to where we’re parked.

Just as we returned to the campervan we were told – very nicely – that we would have to move, but we should be able to get in right behind the large trucks that were unloading the barriers. No problem – they even directed us in so we’re almost the first in line for getting out later.

We had nice big salad for lunch, read for a bit, then headed back to the finish line just before 4:00. We wandered around ‘back stage’, then chose our spots.

I was just behind the barrier next to the podium stage and no one was getting in front of me as that area is roped off for one tv camera guy and he wasn’t in my way. There was a group of fans from Ecuador right across from the finish line and podium – all dressed in their yellow tops with a large flag in front of them – they were very enthusiastic.

I was able to watch the progress of the race on the jumbo tron to my left – the climb to the finish starts in the town of Quintanar de la Sierra and is about 13 km long.

The winner of the day – and of the overall race – was the young Colombian Sosa from team Evil – oops, I mean Ineos – unfortunately he rides for my least favourite team.

I quickly went ‘behind the scenes’ and got a nice photo of the winner giving his first interview, then hustled across right next to the fans in yellow for the podium presentations.

As soon as they were done we went back to the campervan, having already packed things up we were ready to go in minutes. Since we were at the beginning of the line we made it out in very good time – much quicker than we’d expected. We did have to weave our way through the throngs of people walking down to their cars, but we made good progress.

At the bottom of the mountain we had a bit of a navigation screw-up – I confidently told Colin to turn left when he was sure we should turn right. Oops – I was wrong and he wasn’t too happy about it, although we didn’t go far before we were able to turn around and get back to the proper route.

We made our way to one campground just outside Vinuesa that we’d thought might do, but didn’t like the look of it so kept going to another one further north. We turned up a small road at the village of Villoslada de Cameros and went 3.5 km before coming to the other campground – this one looked very nice so we checked in and hooked up the electrics. The fridge still isn’t hardly working unless we’re plugged in so it’s nice to be able to keep food cool again.

The campground is inside a ‘natural park’ and is on a nice little river – very pretty place. We went to the campground bar/restaurant for dinner and sat outside – for once Mo wasn’t allowed inside, but as it was a pleasant evening we would have been outside anyway.

Dinner was very good – although there wasn’t any table service. Colin’s food had appeared at the bar inside, but I didn’t get mine for awhile, and only after noticing it sitting on the bar and going in and retrieving it did I get to eat.

Anyway – it was good, and they even had ketchup for the fries, which were perfectly cooked – nice and crisp and not soggy or mushy.

Finally having a decent sleep I showered, ate a small breakfast, and we were on our way just after 9:00. We headed first towards Burgos to do the shopping we couldn’t do yesterday because of the early closing, then continued on to Lerma, where the race ended two days ago.

We then navigated our way to the town of Covarrubias where we hoped to stop for a coffee, but unable to find parking continued on our way along today’s race route. We passed the top of the only climb of the day, then kept going to the beautiful town of Santo Domingo de Silos.

We parked in the ‘bus only’ area at the bottom of the town – there were no buses there, but plenty of cars. It seems to be a bit more ‘touristy’ than some of the places around here – we passed a monastery/museum and found the square in the centre of town where tomorrow’s stage will start.

We sat down for a coffee – a bit of an ordeal as the staff wasn’t that friendly and other customers were considerably more pushy than Colin was in ordering at the bar inside. I was sitting outside with Mo when a large group of locals arrived and proceeding to drag tables and chairs and sit next to us – one chubby lady continually banging up against the back of my chair, but never once saying ‘excuse me’ or even acknowledging that she’d hit mine.

The coffee was pretty good, but I’d forgotten to bring my honey so had to make do with a small amount of sugar instead. After a nice glass of wine I walked around the village a bit while Colin stayed at the table with Mo and a cold glass of water.

On our way back to the campervan we stopped to look at a couple of statues and sculptures, then got on the road again back to the top of the one climb of the day. There was only one other campervan there when we arrived, although a few more cars joined us later.

There was a three man break a few seconds ahead of another, then two minutes later the whole peloton flew by.

We followed the race down the hill, and where they turned right we went left to scoot ahead to the finish at the Cuidad Romana de Clunia – Roman ruins on a hilltop.

We checked out several spots to take photos from, and ended up on the roof deck of the line referee’s truck – I just looked in the door and pointed up and the guy said ok! It was nice not to be crowded and it’s another different angle.

There wasn’t any room at the top after the finish line so as some racers were still coming up to the finish others had already turned around and were on their way back down.

For the podium presentations I moved from the truck’s roof to the ground at the corner of the podium stage.

It wasn’t too hard getting on the road, what with all of the team cars and buses in the same field as us – we drove to the town of Quintanara de le Sierra, intending to stay the night at the campground we’d been at last year, but it was full to bursting and we didn’t feel like squishing in.

The last stage of the Vuelta a Burgos is always a climb up the same mountain, so we just headed up to the top parking area and parked it for the night. We’d passed several other campervans along the way doing the same thing – they close the road fairly early on the morning of the race, but with our photo passes we still would have been ok.

Having had a not great sleep I didn’t get up until almost 8:30. After a quick cup of tea I proposed that we head up to the mountain top finish asap – we could always come back down if we wanted, but waiting too long and being turned back would be a big downer.

We managed to find the road to the mountain by following the race book we’d been given – it certainly wasn’t well marked with signs or anything. We ended up behind an suv taking a generator up, and were followed by another official vehicle.

From time to time we passed a parked campervan on the side of the road, and at one point on the narrow, twisting road we encountered two other large vehicles coming down towards us. The guy in front of us with the generator wasn’t pleased – we couldn’t pass each other and it was kind of a stand-off – we won. The generator guy waved his arm for the other campervans to back up and move to the right and we waited a couple of minutes before they gave in and did so.

The guy behind us got out of his vehicle and directed generator guy through, then did the same for us, including folding in everyone’s side mirrors so they wouldn’t hit each other. Colin cleared the second large campervan with just inches to spare.

After that it was clear sailing to the top of the mountain. Having the magic ‘press’ stickers on the window was again very helpful – we got to park right behind where the team vehicles are going to be as they arrive.

We wanted to see what actual finish area was like so walked up the road to the small area at the very top of the mountain. We think it must have been a military installation of some sort long ago but is now abandoned.

The views of the area are at times great, but it depends where the fog has moved to.

As we headed back down to the campervan we were greated by a strange sight – a row of young fellows stretched out and resting on the edge of the road, just like a bunch of lizards sunning themselves.

Back at the campervan we got out the table and chairs to read in the sun – had a bit of lunch and watched the fog roll around. Many cars have been coming down the hill to park behind us, and many people are walking up and down.

The race volunteers seem to have it fairly well organized – they’ve put orange cones all down the road with space on the right for the team cars to pull into as they arrive behind their racers. There’s no room for the team buses so the racers will either have to ride back down the 8km to the town, or get a ride in one of their cars.

At about 3:30 we started back up to the finish line to choose our spots. We ended up just a few feet past the line, right next to the video referee’s truck, and within sight of one of the jumbo-trons showing the race.

As the race approached the fog got thicker – at times I could barely see across the road. We knew exactly where the race was at and how far they had to go, but even then I could barely make out the first racer as he rounded the corner just below us.

Three minutes after the day’s winner had passed in the fog, it lifted and was almost clear for the last few racers.

By the time we were halfway back to the campervan to get ready to leave the fog had closed in again. All of the team cars had pulled in ahead of us awaiting their racers.

It really didn’t take long before we were allowed to leave – we just pulled in after the team cars and getting down the mountain didn’t take nearly as long as we’d expected.

We decided to go back to the campground we’d been in before near Cavia, and Miss GPS took us on the ‘scenic route’ but we eventually made it. We stopped at the Lidl’s just south of Burgos but it had closed early – festival day or something, we think.

The young lady in the campground restaurant was glad to see us – we headed straight there after hooking up the electrics. Had a glass of wine, then another very nice dinner with more wine. This place is great – the wine today was free! Or at least they didn’t bother charging us – either way it made up for the very slow service. They were rather busy so it wasn’t the waitresses fault – they’re all quite nice to us.

Having a bit of a drive ahead of us we left the nice little campground fairly early and headed to the town of Gumiel for the start of the second stage of the race. We arrived in good time and parked right in front of where all the team buses will be, then walked around the small town a bit.

It’s a lovely place and is all decorated for the race.

The sign-in and start will be in the main square in front of the big church – another excellent and photogenic location. We found a cafe that was open and had a delicious coffee before returning to the campervan.

While I had a small bite to eat – since I hadn’t had breakfast – all of the team buses began to arrive and park on both sides of the road just below us. We walked around and had a look at all of the bikes as the mechanics did last minute touch-ups on some of them.

We had to leave Mo-mo in the campervan again and she wasn’t pleased but there’s just too many people about to take her with us. Back at the sign-in the photographer passes once again came in handy – we got to go inside the barriers and mill about wherever we wanted to get our photos from.

The riders are all so good about posing for photo with kids or stopping for interviews with tv crews – really nice to see.

Once again they had the boring ribbon cutting ceremony – I wasn’t the only one bored either before the roll-out happened.

Team Ineos (formerly team Sky) being the divas that they are were the last to sign in and consequently at the very back of the roll-out. In my opinion that’s where they deserve to be in all instances.

Once the riders had all left we went back to the campervan and drove north to another lovely town, Lerma, for the finish of today’s stage. Since we had a bit of time we walked up to the finish line and had a look around, stopping at a nice little cafe for a late lunch.

We both ordered a different kind of pizza – mine had goat’s cheese, smoked apples and bacon – a delicious combination. The waitress kindly wrapped my leftovers for me as I couldn’t eat the whole thing.

We walked back to the campervan, which was parked in the shade for Mo, left her there and went back up to chose our photo spots. Colin opted for a place partway up the finishing hill, while I went right to the top. As usual the press-pass was very handy – I got to cross the barriers and get in just below the stand that had the jumbo-tron on it showing the race. It was sunny out and starting to get very hot – I didn’t want anyone getting in just below me and blocking my shots so I parked my backpack in the way and took shade from time to time behind a bus.

The stage was won by a rider from one of the smallish Spanish teams so the crowd was very pleased. He was followed very closely by the DD guy that won yesterday’s stage so he’s managed to maintain his overall lead.

Once the main group had finished I walked towards where the podium presentations would be but decided not to stay – I was very hot and tired. But I did get to see a group of folks that must have been doing a dress-rehersal or something come out of one of the beautiful large buildings on the square.

I headed back down to the campervan and we left fairly swiftly, having a bit of a drive north to catch the end of tomorrow’s stage near the town of Espinosa de los Monteros. We located a nice little free campervan place just outside the town – a nice, but rather long day.

We got to Burgos nice and early to pick up our accreditations – found the place without much problem, although at the end we had to ask in a photo shop where the office was.

We waited several minutes in the reception area before following a fellow down several long hallways to get to Teresa’s office. We gave her our names and she promptly brought us a large envelope containing our photo ID’s, stickers for the van, road books of the race but only one red ‘photographer bib’.

We did a bit of grocery shopping on the way back to the campervan, then went for drinks and dinner at the campground’s restaurant. I had some excellent seafood soup followed by meatballs with fries – it was supposed to be with rice but it was very tasty in any case.

On race day number one we headed into the city of Burgos nice and early to find a place to park to see the start, which is at the cathedral, as well as suss out where we want to be for the finish which is the castello on the hill right above the cathedral.

We thought we’d found an excellent place to park, then had a long conversation with one of the policeman there – even though we had an ‘official’ sticker and our badges he told us we couldn’t park where we wanted to. He directed us to a ‘campervan’ parking place a couple of miles away.

We drove to the parking area he’d directed us to and it was ok – right near the river and in shade for Mo. She wasn’t happy about being left behind, as expected, but we left her with water and under shade with a cool breeze.

Walking into the centre of the city only took about 15 minutes and we soon saw the cathedral. Burgos is one of the larger stopping points on the Camino so the scallop shells marking it are everywhere.

We got our bearings, had a nice cup of coffee, then got ready for the sign-in and start. Since I didn’t have a red bib one officious fellow wouldn’t allow me into the ‘inner area’ so I retreated a little bit back but still inside the barriers – the ‘guardia civil’ fellows didn’t mind at all.

After all had signed in they gathered at the start line inches from where I was. Several dignitaries lined up with a colourful ribbon and had a drawn-out ceremony of cutting the ribbon, then the race was on. Well – at this point it’s a ‘false start’ as they don’t really race until they’re out of the town, and they really bunched up as they went under the arch and across the bridge.

After the start was done we hustled back to the campervan to check on Mo – she was fine, but was really happy that we were back. We had a bite to eat, then headed up the hill to the finish at the castello. Since we had the ‘official sticker’ we simply followed the race route to the top, showed the race official and were told where we could park nearby.

It was perfect – a short climb up a small staircase and we were at the finish line. We walked around a bit, including down to the place where the podium presentations will be held. It’s a viewpoint looking out over the city, with the cathedral right below. The edge of the viewpoint is ringed by a stone wall topped with a beautiful series of cast-brass reliefs of all of the main/important sites and buildings in the city below – it’s really quite extraordinary and very interesting.

We then went to check out the castello. No luck – unfortunately they don’t allow dogs in – the lady was very sorry as she thought Mo was adorable, but no go.

Right at the entrance were two police, a man and a woman, each with a dog. We had a little chat with them and asked if they were sniffer dogs or attack dogs and they were sniffers – not for drugs, but for explosives.

We had a little sit-down at the cafe that was right at the top next to the finish line, then took Mo back to the campervan, which was once again parked nicely in the shade for her.

We both ended up sitting on the road just inside the barricades a few feet past the finish line. The racers came around a corner just below us and up the final bit of the climb – it was great. There were two just in front of the rest and it came down to a few inches for the winner.

Down at the podium ceremonies we once again got special positions because of our badges – we were right in front as all of the presentations were made and I got some really great shots.

As the winner of the first stage the same fellow from Dimension Data got several presentations of different jerseys and different coloured flowers.

Afterwards we had no trouble getting out of the site and back to the campground near Cavia. Back at the restaurant for dinner again we were told they were out of the excellent soup I’d had yesterday, but the smoked salmon and poached egg salad was a great alternative. A main course of teriyaki salmon steak was also very good.