4 August

Left the Olite hotel and into the countryside again. Today it started as grapes, miles on miles of them, beautifully tended although a different style from Blenheim...smaller lots, and drier.... Then into wheat country and huge piles of bales of straw. Mountains of it, to winter pigs no doubt. And lots of pigs of course. After the wheat and the fruit came the sunflowers. Miles of them all smiling in the sun and it was warm. Mostly. One patch of hilly road it got down to under 20 briefly, and then up to 33 again. After a rural ride to set me up for the day I hit the motorway along the route to Compostella di Santiago. After a small town Santo Domingo de la Calzada I was "on the road to Santiago" and it was for sure, walkers, not so many, bikers plenty of them. A wonderful ride walk whatever so I can surely recommend that if you have the desire to purge sins or loose weight or just walk and contemplate what life is about this is the place to do it. It was burgos that I stopped in the shade to check the map and to hear a very loud sound near me....and to my right the town crematorium at full noise......they must save the bodies for a while......makes you aware of what life really means.. ashes to ashes !!! So I had a wonderful lunch instead of sheeps intestines, never tasted so good ( I was expecting tripe)... Then it was motorway motorway to Leon. Trying to get to a BMW garage to see if I can get a repair to the steering. I can ride but it is like wrestling a bull every day as the bearing in the front forks ( for those that are more mechanically minded than I am )....have worn out and instead of leaning and turning I have to wrestle the bars to make a turn, good character (and muscle) building stuff ! I came to the town of Leon a number of years ago with a friend and we stayed at the Parador. First one I had been to. They are a chain of ex prominent buildings, Monestaries mainly ( do not get offside with the the ruler) that the government took over and they are darn pleasant places, well a bit more than that actually they are great. And spectacular really. Leon is a pretty pleasant city. Spain is a pretty pleasant place and the people are friendly even for a non spanish speaking colonial like myself. I get many pleasant exchanges and it is really enjoyable. Mind you I try to make a little humour myself for those that know me as the grumpy guy, and I did meet a fellow that his family call Uncle Grumpy which I enjoyed.(And he seemed like a most amicable chap to me !) Plus the food and wine is a bit above average. I found out about how Tapa's work and they are good. And on that subject Leon, Spain, France, everywhere I guess is full of older people. It is 70 years since many people were lost in a war. And medicine has improved a bit, not a lot since penicillin, but surgery has, for those that can afford it, so they are still here drawing pensions. Waiting in line. Leonardo has a picture in Florence that shows it in stark reality, but enough of that. So I had so much fun last night 3 beers and 3 wines and I was at peace with all, so peaceful in fact that I forgot to charge the camera battery. But here are some things I saw....