07/06/07
I made good time and arrived at Carrion in an hour and it is 5.8 km. On the way I realised I had not placed money in the donation box at the albergue. It was too late to think about it now, I was not going to walk back 5.8 kms but I did feel guilty! Carrion is a nice town and I took a few photographs here then took a coffee in a bar in town and met a few peregrinos I knew, but again I set off alone. 
The next stage to Calzadilla has no shade and no water, so my book said, and was 17.2 kms. The weather now had changed to warm and I knew this stretch from before. Just outside of town I stopped and took off my waistcoat and was fixing it on my rucksack when a cyclist wearing the usual crash hat, tight black pants and brightly coloured top, stopped turned round and came over to take my photo! After Holde I was not too fazed out by this. He smiled and said "You don’t recognise me do you? I am from the albergue the hospitalaria!" I realised then who he was and we shook hands and he wished me "Buen camino" and said he was keeping fit riding and would do a round circuit of some 20kms round and back to the albergue. Just as he rode out of sight I again remembered I had not paid for my bed! Too late again I kicked myself for not remembering! Soon I had to take a left turn and made good time down a pretty country road. A while later I saw my small road met with another road, here a lady was sitting on a small low sequía wall eating an apple. There had been hedgerows but little shade or anything to sit on and I asked if I might join her on the little brickwork wall and eat my apple too. Here we sat eating and chatting when suddenly a voice calls out to me and I see my hospitalaria friend riding back home on the other road. I shouted back calling for him to stop and he turned round and rode back to me. I explained I had not paid for my lodgings last night and was embarrassed that on seeing him again, I still had not remembered, now I asked would he take my payment back for me please. He said it didn't matter and not to bother, but I insisted and smiling he took the few Euro and we waved and shouted encouragement to each other as he rode off. I said goodbye to my new friend and continued my camino. The track became a rough un-surfaced road and went on for about 8 km from Carrión and here I found some enterprising person had set up a portable building as a café just a week before and they were doing extremely well. I also stopped and had a cool beer and a piece of tortilla and to my surprise the two Spanish girls arrived. I chatted for a while but then I moved off again to complete the second half to Calzadilla. It was very hot when I arrived at Calzadilla and finding a restaurant with a bar and outside a bright shade over some of its tables I decided to rest and let it cool a bit before continuing on. Yolanda and her friend arrived and we had a few laughs together, massaged our feet and relaxed.
We were joined by a few more peregrinos, many of whom ate in the restaurant inside. The girls were tired and I was the first to leave and as I left town I passed a donkey and three French ladies sitting in the shade of a few trees. I was to keep seeing them from now on. A donkey might carry their packs but finding grass, shelter and accommodation for him and them at times I think was a problem. It was quite hot and hard going but I passed Ledigos and got to Terradillos. I remembered stopping here before, in the albergue. I had told myself I should stop in different places this time, I thought maybe I could camp tonight, it was sunny and it could be a warm night. As always finding a flat spot and away from a village was difficult. The track was not as I remembered. It was one of the places where the route had been altered since I had walked before. I was tired when I came down to a little stream, its banks lined with trees and a small bridge over it. There was a well with a hand pump for drawing water, but a sign said it was not drinkable. I believed it, as the stream water looked a bit polluted too but it was a nice spot. Other little boards had poems and welcome sayings scribbled on them. On the top cover of the well stood a cold box, a bowl of fruit and other goodies and a donation or honesty box. I looked at putting up my tent here and thought it might just be possible but I was not too sure about it. I sat and ate my banana and drank some water as I rested on a bench in the shade, deciding what to do.
Just then an old car pulled up, inside was a young man and his wife and a small child. The young lady got out and started to replenish the oranges and bananas and I bought one from her and was given a beer by her husband James. We chatted for a while, they were both English and lived now in the next village and were doing this to help out their sparse income, while they rebuilt the old village house. I also had done this with my wife and young family in the 70's and knew how tough life like that can be, I also remembered the rewards of getting out of the rat race! But believe me, it takes a lot of guts! "We have a Mongolian tent set up in the garden come sleep in there" they generously offered. "It's what we used it when we first arrived" I was tempted but reclined the offer and said I would set up my little tent in the next field. "Ok, but if there is anything you want, call by, you know where we live, the house with the green door!" They piled back in the old motor and shunted it round, and bumped their way up the muddy track, going out the way they had come into this remote little stream valley. The first rays of sunset were casting across the meadows as I set up my little tent alongside the path in a field of cut corn a few hundred meters after crossing the stream and climbing out that little valley.
Villalcázar de Sirga to Camp Moratinos
The girls had gone by the time I awoke so I set off on my own. Soon I was walking the straight road with the path for us peregrinos on the right-hand side.
I made good time and arrived at Carrion in an hour and it is 5.8 km. On the way I realised I had not placed money in the donation box at the albergue. It was too late to think about it now, I was not going to walk back 5.8 kms but I did feel guilty! Carrion is a nice town and I took a few photographs here then took a coffee in a bar in town and met a few peregrinos I knew, but again I set off alone. 
The next stage to Calzadilla has no shade and no water, so my book said, and was 17.2 kms. The weather now had changed to warm and I knew this stretch from before. Just outside of town I stopped and took off my waistcoat and was fixing it on my rucksack when a cyclist wearing the usual crash hat, tight black pants and brightly coloured top, stopped turned round and came over to take my photo! After Holde I was not too fazed out by this. He smiled and said "You don’t recognise me do you? I am from the albergue the hospitalaria!" I realised then who he was and we shook hands and he wished me "Buen camino" and said he was keeping fit riding and would do a round circuit of some 20kms round and back to the albergue. Just as he rode out of sight I again remembered I had not paid for my bed! Too late again I kicked myself for not remembering! Soon I had to take a left turn and made good time down a pretty country road. A while later I saw my small road met with another road, here a lady was sitting on a small low sequía wall eating an apple. There had been hedgerows but little shade or anything to sit on and I asked if I might join her on the little brickwork wall and eat my apple too. Here we sat eating and chatting when suddenly a voice calls out to me and I see my hospitalaria friend riding back home on the other road. I shouted back calling for him to stop and he turned round and rode back to me. I explained I had not paid for my lodgings last night and was embarrassed that on seeing him again, I still had not remembered, now I asked would he take my payment back for me please. He said it didn't matter and not to bother, but I insisted and smiling he took the few Euro and we waved and shouted encouragement to each other as he rode off. I said goodbye to my new friend and continued my camino. The track became a rough un-surfaced road and went on for about 8 km from Carrión and here I found some enterprising person had set up a portable building as a café just a week before and they were doing extremely well. I also stopped and had a cool beer and a piece of tortilla and to my surprise the two Spanish girls arrived. I chatted for a while but then I moved off again to complete the second half to Calzadilla. It was very hot when I arrived at Calzadilla and finding a restaurant with a bar and outside a bright shade over some of its tables I decided to rest and let it cool a bit before continuing on. Yolanda and her friend arrived and we had a few laughs together, massaged our feet and relaxed.
We were joined by a few more peregrinos, many of whom ate in the restaurant inside. The girls were tired and I was the first to leave and as I left town I passed a donkey and three French ladies sitting in the shade of a few trees. I was to keep seeing them from now on. A donkey might carry their packs but finding grass, shelter and accommodation for him and them at times I think was a problem. It was quite hot and hard going but I passed Ledigos and got to Terradillos. I remembered stopping here before, in the albergue. I had told myself I should stop in different places this time, I thought maybe I could camp tonight, it was sunny and it could be a warm night. As always finding a flat spot and away from a village was difficult. The track was not as I remembered. It was one of the places where the route had been altered since I had walked before. I was tired when I came down to a little stream, its banks lined with trees and a small bridge over it. There was a well with a hand pump for drawing water, but a sign said it was not drinkable. I believed it, as the stream water looked a bit polluted too but it was a nice spot. Other little boards had poems and welcome sayings scribbled on them. On the top cover of the well stood a cold box, a bowl of fruit and other goodies and a donation or honesty box. I looked at putting up my tent here and thought it might just be possible but I was not too sure about it. I sat and ate my banana and drank some water as I rested on a bench in the shade, deciding what to do.
Just then an old car pulled up, inside was a young man and his wife and a small child. The young lady got out and started to replenish the oranges and bananas and I bought one from her and was given a beer by her husband James. We chatted for a while, they were both English and lived now in the next village and were doing this to help out their sparse income, while they rebuilt the old village house. I also had done this with my wife and young family in the 70's and knew how tough life like that can be, I also remembered the rewards of getting out of the rat race! But believe me, it takes a lot of guts! "We have a Mongolian tent set up in the garden come sleep in there" they generously offered. "It's what we used it when we first arrived" I was tempted but reclined the offer and said I would set up my little tent in the next field. "Ok, but if there is anything you want, call by, you know where we live, the house with the green door!" They piled back in the old motor and shunted it round, and bumped their way up the muddy track, going out the way they had come into this remote little stream valley. The first rays of sunset were casting across the meadows as I set up my little tent alongside the path in a field of cut corn a few hundred meters after crossing the stream and climbing out that little valley.END DAY 23 = approx. 35.3 km Sub Total = 238.3 km Total = 576.2 km
