Day 12: Bloody Sore (Tosantos to Atapuerca)

Hell fire, today was hard! I had an awful night's sleep and was in a right hole when we set off on a particularly dewy morning to Atapuerca.

With my breath rising in clouds in front of my head torch we arrived at a stuffy little cafe and paid €1 for the worst coffee I've had in Spain. Feeling victimised, we soldiered on with a blood red sky creeping up behind us.

The walk today has been the third worst since walking over the Pyrenees. My leg , which has been getting steadily better, for some reason just completely gave up on me today! I was back to my limping ways and dragging my poor left leg behind me like a lame dog.

A tall Bangladeshi man named Bashi caught up with us towards the tail end of our hike at a small cafe. He commented on my limping and asked if I minded people touching me. After heartily assuring him that I did indeed mind being touched by strange men I somehow found myself face down on a parched spit of grass and handing him a tube a vaseline. Whilst he straddled my right leg and provocatively bent my left leg to a 90 degree angle, he proceeded to dig his thumbs into the very depths of my tender hamstrings and rack them up and down like a Victorian washer woman! Had I not had a mouthful of earth to bite into I would have been screaming like a banshee!

Once I was released, and the pain gradually subsided, I have to admit that my leg did feel better! I am now going to have to find another willing masseuse to limber me up each night in the hope of releasing the tension in my tendons!

Following a long road with fast moving traffic that seemed to go on forever, we eventually arrived at Atapuerca. The Band of Beauties: Calamity Clara, Tarry-Pat the Rat and Bullet Bills had made yet another stage of the Camino. Our efforts today will be rewarded with a shorter walk to Burgos tomorrow so that we can have a better explore and hopefully set up shop in a glorious area!

Roll on tomorrow.