Altapuerca 511 kms to Santiago

From June 29th
Mille and I started our walks at different times today. We have been doing this and then meeting at break points and chatting. After lunch I was  walking alone down a gravel path that  looked bleached white. Pine trees were thick on  each side of me. It was silent except for the occasional bird chirping.
I was wearing my newly acquired straw hat with cheetah print scarf wrapped around the outside. As I was walking a comes a guy on a bike "buen camino" we both say, then he stops 10 feet in front of me. He starts pumping up his tire. I notice it´s the guy I saw earlier at San Juan de Ortega. Tall, thin, with piercing blue eyes and disheveled black hair. It seems he has a slow leak in one of his tires. We talk for a moment and I wish him luck with his bike. He rides on  saying he may see me sooner than later. Sure enough a few minutes later, I catch up to him again pumping air into his tire. I´m just cracking up at this point and ask him to please forgive me for laughing at his misfortune. I walk past and he rides up beside me.  He wants to wait to change the tube until the next town so he pushes his bike and we walk and talk for some time. He´s from Manchester(best accent ever). Just graduated college where he did his thesis on a pilgrimage in England, which is where he ran across the Camino in Spain. He´s doing the Camino during his summer break then back to the UK to get his masters in international business. He can´t be a day over 22. 

We had a great time laughing at ourselves and our inability to speak Spanish well. He´s a quick witted man.  I eventually sat with him while he changed the tire, and we walked to the next town and stopped for a break. You could feel the attraction when we looked into each others eyes. He threatened to take me all the way to Burgos with him. But, alas, it was time to let him go. We waved goodbye, but not without him breaking down one last time in front of me. We were both smiling ear to ear and cracking up. I considered going to Burgos one last time, but that´s not what I wanted just then. There was a pep in my step as I walked the couple of kilometers to my stop for the night.