September 8 Atapuerca

The sound of the church bells got Mario up at 4am and getting back to sleep was virtually impossible, especially with the bells going off every 15 minutes. Well at least Julie was sleeping through all the noise, and eventually Mario will get used to the bells. We were off by 7:30am, along with a wave of peregrinos exiting Belorado. However, this morning was especially difficult finding a bar that was serving breakfast. We went through two small villages, but could not find an open bar. The third village we were lucky, and there must have been already 20+ hikers occupying every table and chair in the bar. Everyone is desperate for that first cup of coffee in the morning. The terrain changed again, going from a relatively flat farmland to more mountainous landscape. The views in the distance were spectacular. Today was the longest walk to-date (30km), taking its toll on Mario's feet. We came into San Juan de Ortega, however the report from many walkers was poor maintenance of the albergue, hence we continued onto Atapuerca – a much smaller village, but with three albergues to choose from. Atapuerca is known for its archaeological digs, and I'm sure the albergue we are in is from the medieval era. We were fortunate to get a single room on the top floor. This was a most interesting room, with century-old beams exposed on the ceiling. This was definitely a medieval experience! See Pictures>>