Day 18 - Friday, 9th May, 2014 - 23.5 km
[Getting ready to leave the Convent at Carrion]
Today was a deceptively short day, made to feel like a long day because we tackled the first of the long stretches of the Meseta, where there are no villages for 17 km. The track is straight except for a slight change of course at the beginning and it was clear sky at the start of the day and therefore likely to be sunny and hot all day and the after lunch section of about 6 km was likely to be very testing.
We had had an amazing night at a Covent run hostel in Carrion de Los Condes and all slept very well. We had been joined by a very friendly French girl called Nolwen, who was ending her Camino at the end of the day and was trying to decide whether to spend the day in Carrion sightseeing, or whether to join us for our hot walk for her last day. She decided to be with us, which was a bonus and our group rose to a temporary five in number.
[The Pilgrim statue at the crossroads - Carrion de los Condes]
[The old monastery at the edge of Carrion de los Condes]
[The long 17 km route to Caldadilla de la Cueza]
[Nolwen at oasis stop on the middle of the route...]
[...talking to Eila]
[The long 17 km route to Caldadilla de la Cueza]
[Nolwen at the end of the route and the end of her Camino]
The straight track that undulated across the countryside ended in a small village called Caldadilla de la Cueza and I knew from last year that it boasted one of the most over crowded dormitories of my experience. The village seemed to be run by two brothers, who ran the Albergue as well as the hotel and it seemed that they had deliberately changed the Camino yellow arrows painted onto the road surface to lure pilgrims past their hotel so as not to miss out on custom! Nonetheless we had a good farewell lunch there with Nolwen before she got her taxi to connect with train and air travel back for work in Brussels on Monday.
We then walked the next 6 km to Ledigos a small village where most of the houses had walls made of mud and straw in the old way. We were lucky because although the bar/hostel was very busy, we were led to the last single beds they had in an airy loft full of single beds.
Special note: it was today that we crossed the half way mark between Santiago de Compostela and St.Jean Pied de Port.
Buen Camino.
[Dormitory at Ledigos]
