Stage 11: Santo Domingo to Belorado 23 kms, 4.5 hrs, 27C

Today was a bit different than yesterday...no cute little nuns and for the first time the last part of the walk was less than enjoyable as the trail ran parallel to a major highway. This is why we brought our iPods...kick up the volume and presto...no trucks! We walked that way the last 10 kms and it helped to pass the time. Sue and Nicky, you picked a good stage to miss.

We did bump into Sarah and Neil sitting together in a small village as Neil applied ice to the bottom of Sarah's foot...he was taking some ribbing for that, but it's the solution that works. Annemarie did much better today and it was probably her best day of the Camino. She has a few blisters, but we are dressing and padding them carefully and this seemed to work pretty well today. Tomorrow we will walk only 12 kms as it was difficult to locate adequate accommodation and we are really trying to avoid the dorm bunk beds as long as possible. Short 12 kms tomorrow and a long walk into Burgos the next day. To make things interesting, we are expecting rain and some intense thunder storms in the afternoons. We expect to take a break of some type in Burgos then a short stage to again prep for a bottle neck area which we can hop over the following day. Its busy out here!

A few photos from yesterday ...

Then again, the start of the day today was great too as we got in the middle of a flock of sheep on the trail...the sheep started to follow us and realizing that they would follow anything that moved, we stopped much to the relief of the herder and his beautiful dogs. He gratefully gave us a wave and turned the flock around.

And then there were a few nice dogs along the way today; C, E & B for you...

And just a few shots from the walk today...

And something to finish the day...hey Caitlin, sitting here with a nice couple our age from Dublin shooting the breeze and they warn you about their young Dublin lads who have a touch of the Balarny!

That's Tiger on the left...

Buen Camino.