Now we are in Puente la Reina, a rest day. We rode a massive 5 miles today, 22 miles yesterday. We stayed in Uterga last night, a tiny town the other side of Alto del Perdon, a yucky 2590' pass, with no downhill reward after, just steep riverbed, basically, more baseball rocks. We took a detour out to see a 12th century monastery, very beautiful and serene. I can really see why the peasants with barely two sticks to call their own would be so awed by the churches. We are in a running (haha)battle trying to stay ahead of the walkers, Carlos, Frida, the three gorgeous German girls, etc. We zoom past, they catch up, on & on. We are averaging about 25-30 kilometers a day, mostly due to the extreme variety of road! surfaces. The plan is to stick with the old pilgrim trail, and not zip down the highway, even if we don't make it to Santiago. If we hauled ass down the paved road, we miss a lot of history. Let me tell you, Roman roads are great and all, but going very fast is not an option. The little towns are quite lovely, lots of colors, wrought iron railings in front of the windows, covered with drying laundry. Almost all the windows just have massive shutters, no glass, and the doors are huge...it would take quite a few blows with a sword to open them, if you could. Almost everything has defense in mind, where a town is, where doors & windows are, you name it. We are in Irache this Monday morning, where the fountain of vino is. We stayed in a KOA type cabin, couldn't face the next 7 kilos last afternoon. I am finally feeling as if this is survivable, fun, even. There is a lovely sunrise coming up, time to pack the bike!

David Russell