Day 14 - Burgos to Burgos (rest day)

     Today was a 'rest' day to explore the downtown district of Burgos, and to test to see if Jana's leg is improving.  We are about to hit the Meseta - a long flat plane, where the services are much more limited, the towns are more spread, and the lengths of the travel-legs are longer.  
    If we have to rethink our plans, we really have to do it from Burgos.

    We walked up to the castle (like everything else here, to the top of a hill) and used geocaching as a tour-guide around the castle and the downtown district.  We did a lot of up/down hill, for a total of about 6.5 miles.  At the end, it looks like 15-20 mile days are not likely.

    Jana is researching getting some bikes from between Burgos and León - probably E-bikes.  That is about 180 km, and would be about 3 days.  At that point, we can do another evaluation.  The trick now is to figure out what to do with our Suitcase - the shuttle service doesn't like to do more than 30km in a day.

    If we can sort everything out early tomorrow, we may be on the road.  If not, it may be another day in Burgos as we get this all mapped out.

    Many thanks to our Camino Friends for helping us walk through possibilities and offering their support.
    If this all works well, we should catch you on our way to León.

    Tomorrow's update should answer a lot of our uncertainty, and plot us a path for the next 4+ days.

    Fewer birds today (in the city), but I finally saw one of those infernal Cuckoos, that constantly, constantly cried their 'cuckoo' on the trail the prior two days.  Unfortunately, I spooked it before I could get a photo.  Overall, 25 species, with two new ones.

    Now for thePhotos!:

    Stepping out of our 'apartment' this morning, which faces the Cathedral:

    Walking towards the castle, there is an arch with some White Storks.  Later, we got a good view from above, including chicks:

    A wood-pigeon with a Camino shell-patch on its neck (noted by Jana):

    On the way up to the castle, we passed this compass rose - that also lists cities/distances for the cardinal directions (Boston 6875Km North [over the pole]):

    From this location, the overlook of the city was impressive.  You can also see in the lower two images that a detailed description of sites was provided (this is also where I took the 'above' view of the Stork nest.  It was not close.  The zoom on these phone-cameras is amazing:

    As we continued our ascent, a poppy picture:

    We got to the castle, and (as we knew beforehand), part of it is under renovation, so no entry allowed.  The frame for the reconstruction was pretty cool, and the side of the castle not under reconstruction gave a pretty good idea of the place.  We walked around the castle, and then did some geocaching and birding in the forest up top.

    A Common Chaffinch.  A lot of Chaffinches today.

    After one of our more difficult caches - Jana's pants picked up a lot of travelers.

    An apartment complex, with a turret in the front:

    There was a lot of fluff in the air today - almost like it was snowing at times:

    An interesting piece of artwork (a fountain).  See 2nd photo for the corners of the umbrella, where the water pours from (when the fountain is on).
    Also note that I seem to have picked up on the Glor tendency to have a finger visible in the photo, though I will attempt the excuse that I was taking the picture while also carrying a water-bottle.

    A couple of looks down side-streets from one of the intersections we passed:

    The San Lorenzo Church:

    Delicias del Bosque (and again, the fingers):

    There was a book-fair in this square today.  Each of those blue tents was a specialty type of book from a different bookstore.  And the shelves were FULL.  The effort to put these up and take them down...

    El Cid - Our high-school Spanish teacher (Sr Morales) would reprimand me if I did not include this photo.  The only general to physically lead his troops in battle (and win) after death.  There are a large number of El Cid memorials and statues here (and he is buried within the cathedral):

    You may have to expand to read, but this building is for Correos Y Telegrafos (letters and telegraphs):

    More snow (fluff):

    Another tribute to El Cid, along the riverfront:

    Do you know what a Spanish Mallard is called?  It's a Mallard:

    Along the riverfront (and in many other places), Spain grafts the branches of the trees together, wo all of the trees in this image are effectively a single plant.  That takes some serious planning and effort. 

    Burgos has a Rarolarium Curiosity Shop (kind of a mini-version of the Peculiarium in Portland).  After taking the first photo indoors, I was scolded.  No photos, but touching is encouraged.  For the photo I did take, expand and explore,

    A house sparrow picking bugs off of a car bumper: