Day 15: Burgos to Villadolid 87.5 miles. 3615 feet of climbing. Frosty morning.

The road giveth.  And the road taketh away.

Much of today was riding through these small Spanish villages.  We'd see people who seemed to come out of nowhere, walking along the roads as they approached these villages.  In all cases, the tallest structure would be the church steeple.

That was the kind of day we had today.  I love the British word knackered, which means "beyond tired."  Knackered is how I'm feeling right now.  I got all of about 3 hours of sleep last night and, by this afternoon, I was feeling it.  Now that I'm sitting down, I'm REALLY feeling it!

Where there's a rock, there's
a church bell or steeple.

It was actually a great morning.  Chilly, with temperatures not yet out of the 50's, but a bright and sunny morning.  The first few miles were a climb out of the city of Burgos, but then we were on a freshly-paved road with a very nice tailwind (our first of this entire trip mind you) for the next 20 miles.  Absolute heaven!  There is nothing more satisfying that riding on a totally smooth surface.  And the tailwind was a happy addition.

We road through farmlands and the Spanish countryside, occasionally riding through or near very small villages along the way.

By about noontime, the winds had changed.  They were now either in our faces or strong crosswinds. But that wasn't the fun part of the latter half of the ride.  We had three nasty little climbs, not mountains, but steep hills with equally steep descents.  That's normally the part of the climb a rider would look forward to.  But, in this case, the road surfaces were just awful.  Cracks, potholes, badly paved (or more likely, neglected) road surfaces that made the going very slow.  No one wanted to pop a tire in a pothole.  The only way both up and down those hills was to go very slowly to avoid potential disasters, especially on the steep downhill sections.

Stopped to take a shot of this cute cemetery up on the hill.
Okay, trivia question:  Why are some hay bales either square or rectangular shaped while others are circular?

Eventually, we got out of the countryside and into Valladolid proper.  We rode along the Rio Pisuerga, in a park that runs alongside the river through much of the city.

Loved the bird's nest on top of the steeple.