introduction and How many people have completed the camino in 2003

[Kay Young]

Thats interesting Maura.. I suspect that we just have slightly different
perceptions of the same conditions. Checking my diary, I see that we
arrived at San Juan de Ortega on 27 August at about 12.30 and that it was
full not too long after. I have to confess that we were of the early waking
brigade but that was as much because we are naturally early wakers and also
wanted to avoid the heat in August. We were actually not too worried about
beds as we planned to spend some nights sleeping outside (tentless)
sometime anyway. As it happened early the next morning as we walked in the
dark there was a spectacular thunderstorm with very dramatic lightening and
heavy rain so we were glad that we had found a dry bed. I was surprised
that many of the refugios  in the Burgos to Astorga stretch didn't fill up
until late evening and in some cases (Hospital San Nicholas and San Martin
and Leon stand out in my mind) even had spare beds through the night.
Kay (NZ)