{"id":2824,"date":"2014-04-30T19:18:19","date_gmt":"2014-04-30T18:18:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/?p=2824"},"modified":"2026-05-23T09:06:05","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T08:06:05","slug":"an-immediate-change-of-spanish-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/2014\/04\/30\/an-immediate-change-of-spanish-plan\/","title":{"rendered":"An Immediate Change Of Spanish Plan"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Happy
Happy lion on Burgos Cathedral wall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

We gazed out at the grey cloudy skies as we ate our full English breakfast aboard the Pont Aven.\u00a0 We were close to the coast of northern Spain and the weather looked disappointing.\u00a0 Suddenly I had an epiphany, or was it just a very clever thought?\u00a0 Why hang around in the north, why not get down to Madrid and head for the south and then work our way north as the weather warms up? \u00a0We looked at the map and we made a cunning new plan that really seemed to make a lot more sense than the previous one.\u00a0 As we drove off the ferry we looked for signs for Burgos in Castilla Y Leon\u00a0and followed the road south.\u00a0 As we increased altitude across the Cordillera Cantabrica, we saw snow on the high peaks and found ourselves in a bit of a foggy spot; but then the sky cleared, the sun came out and we felt we had made the right decision.<\/p>\n

\"En
En route to Burgos<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

We turned off the freeway at Aguilar de Campoo (great name) and headed down the N627 to Burgos.\u00a0 We passed some interesting scenery on the way, but there was no time for deviations, we were on a mission.\u00a0 At Burgos we found the Fuentes Blancas campsite and decided that it looked like a good place to stop for a few days.\u00a0 Having spoken Italian to the first Spaniard I met in Santander, I tried to practice what we needed to say in Spanish, it would probably work better for us while visiting Spain\u2026\u2026!\u00a0 We spent the evening setting ourselves up and adjusting clocks, cooking a quick dinner, researching our new route and listening to our first cuckoo on this trip.\u00a0 We\u2019ll now aim for Segovia, Madrid, Aranjuez, Toledo, Cordoba and Seville, plus any other interesting spots along the way.\u00a0 Then we\u2019ll drop in to Portugal at the bottom and work our way north.\u00a0 Hopefully by the time we get back up to the north coast of Spain the weather will be far more agreeable.<\/p>\n

\"Buildings
Buildings in Plaza Mayor,Burgos<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Tuesday was one of those days that are annoying, but on reflection we achieved a fair bit.\u00a0 We needed to get a Spanish sim card to add to our already collected English, German, French, Italian and Australian ones, plus a Spanish plug.\u00a0 The cycle ride along the banks of the Rio Arlanz\u00f3n was a lovely way to arrive in the city centre and then we found our way to the information centre.\u00a0 Armed with maps, we searched out the nearest Vodafone office and ended up in an Orange office where we purchased a sim card for our mi-fi.<\/p>\n

\"Arco
Arco de Santa Maria<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

After spending an hour in their office, we still weren\u2019t confident that it was working.\u00a0 So at a different information office, we spent another hour trying to set up access to free wi-fi within the city and then trying to get our mi-fi working.\u00a0 With one very confused computer and our two very jumbled brains, we opted to take a break and have a nice lunch sitting outside a restaurant in the Plaza del Rey San Fernando.\u00a0 There looked like a lot to see in the city, but until we\u00a0could get\u00a0our internet access sorted, we probably wouldn\u2019t relax, so we cycled back to the campsite to check our instructions for set-up.\u00a0 I got a second lot of washing done, while Rodney cycled the 3.5 kms back to the Orange shop.\u00a0 He spent nearly\u00a0two hours queuing and trying to get through to the staff that we needed an APN for Orange.\u00a0 In total frustration and unable to extract the number from them, he ended up buying another mi-fi to put the sim card in, so that we can at least use the 2gbs that we bought earlier.\u00a0 Curling up on our sofa and watching an episode of Downton Abbey had us back in happy mode before bedtime.<\/p>\n

\"A
A chappie looking a bit more relaxed than we were, but I guess he didn’t need wi-fi…..<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Tourism went back to the top of the list for Wednesday.\u00a0 We cycled the promenade back in to Burgos and enjoyed our first taste of churros con chocolate.\u00a0 The pile of churros was huge, and the hot chocolate was really thick and dark and absolutely delicious, ok I\u2019m now in the mood for Spain.\u00a0 We found our way up the hill to the Castillo de Burgos, passing numerous roofs with resident storks nesting on them.\u00a0 They are such big birds and their nests are huge, it really is quite a sight to see.\u00a0 The view from the castle was also quite a sight.\u00a0 We looked down on the Gothic cathedral, the third largest cathedral in Spain and over the city to the fields and hills beyond.<\/p>\n

\"Stork
Stork nest on a chimney.\u00a0 Hope no-one lights a fire below…..<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Looking
Looking out over Burgos from the castle<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Pilgrims
Pilgrims leaving Plaza de Santa Maria<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Before the shops all shut at 1:30pm we nipped in to a supermarket for supplies and then wandered over to the massive cathedral.\u00a0 It\u2019s a fascinating muddle of styles inside; some awfully gaudy, over the top baroque and some absolutely stunning ceilings and paintings.\u00a0 After an hour we were frozen stiff and burst back out in to the plaza to find a caf\u00e9 for a warm drink, before cycling back to Eileen for dinner and a movie before bedtime.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Barmy
Barmy Baroque<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Lantern
Lantern and ceiling in the cathedral<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  We gazed out at the grey cloudy skies as we ate our full English breakfast aboard the Pont Aven.\u00a0 We were close to the coast of northern Spain and the weather looked disappointing.\u00a0 Suddenly I had an epiphany, or was it just a very clever thought?\u00a0 Why hang around in the north, why not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2827,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-europe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2824","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2824"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2824\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8342,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2824\/revisions\/8342"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}