This morning was a bit overcast, but the day improved as it went on.  Most of the MH's of all nationalities which had arrived last night were nearly all gone by 10am.   In their rush to Portugal or southern Spain, they didn't know what they were missing.

Palencia has a fantastic Cathedral, a hidden gem, which even its own literature describes as 
'La Bella Desconocida' - the Unknown Beauty. It is very big -130m long,56m wide and 30m high- one of the largest Castillian Cathedrals.
However, when we set out to find it, we couldn't see it!   There were almost no signs , but we eventually found it down a maze of back streets in a really big square. It was mostly surrounded by modern flats and buildings, not at all what you would expect for a huge Gothic cathedral.
We paid our seniores rate of 3e each and the man at the cash desk was very surprised that we were from England.
We entered via the cloisters and were immediately struck by how high and light it was. We soon found that at around 11am we had the whole immense place to ourselves!

We have seen many cathedrals on our trip and are in danger of being  'Cathedralled Out', but we were very impressed with Palencia and in particular with the lovely stonework.   have a look at some photos:
 

As we walked back along the main pedestrian street in Palencia we met long crocodiles of schoolchildren, from nursery age right up to straggling teenagers.   They were carrying paper doves and handmade banners. We followed them to the Square in front of the Town Hall. It appeared to be some sort of Peace Rally.
As they passed us, several of the children called out ' hello, hello' - now how did they know that we were English?  
 


We left Palencia after lunch and made our way towards Burgos. We had deliberated over staying there for a couple of days, but we had stayed there in 2010, when we had the caravan and had seen the Cathedral etc, and to be honest the Campsite there is not that inspiring, so we decided to carry on to another site near the town of Santo Domingo de la Calzada.

However, when we got there it was just off the motorway and looked like a whole town of statics, AND it was charging the top rate of 19e per night!   So, we got straight back onto the motorway and went on to Camping Nazarrete, just before Logrono.
This was more to our liking - just outside a small town. only 50 touring pitches, a very warm welcome and surrounded by Rioja vineyards!
 
On the way to Navarrete we ran alongside the Camino de Santiago in several places. We are particularly interested because we have been to Santiago and know people who have walked the whole Camino.  

Also on the way from Burgos we climbed up through the Montes de Oca, once a thieves haven on the Camino. It was very misty and damp and all the trees were green with hanging lichens - very creepy. We were both spontaneously reminded of the road from Trondheim to Roros in Norway, where the trees were the same