Carrion los Condes to Terradillos de los

A long quiet day - so I thought I’d write about some practicalities of the Camino.
The day first: very long (or at least it felt like it), very hot after about 10am and very few services. Although the monastery hotel was great and very comfortable we had a strange moment when leaving as the cold water was running very warm in our room - not great for filling water bottles - so went downstairs to ask reception to fill them for us. But the water there was also warm - not just not cold but actually warm. Then filled from the pilgrim fuente outside the monastery and that was the same - something very weird going on with the water system.
We had been warned that it would be 17km before we would be able to get anything - including water but in the end there was a brilliant, and very much appreciated by passing pilgrims, good truck with fab coffee and the best tomato toast.
Then more coffee at a tiny town about 7km further on.
It was a hard slog after that along a senda to Ledigos. Green juice at the hostel saved my life and it was great meeting up with Rachel again who is to be my companion on the lonely Via Romana for two days.
Hostal is a bit grim but tolerable - I’ve been spoilt by my night at the monastery.
Practicalities then: washing is done every day when we arrive using whatever is available. My stuff is almost entirely merino so I don’t really want to subject it to a community wash as I’m worried everything might shrink. Most people wash by hand in any soap that might be provided (none tonight), shower gel, shampoo or face wash. Seem to work okay most of the time. Then I dry stuff either outside - keeping a steely eye on the weather as we tend to have torrential downpours with thunder and lightning every afternoon from about 4. Alternatively I have an amazing travel clothes line which I can usually attach somewhere in the room and the stuff has always dried by the morning.
Breakfast isn’t usually available by the time we need to leave (usually around 6.30) so we carry with us nuts and dried fruit and sometimes fresh fruit is we’ve found some, together with a slightly fermenting yoghurt that we’ve managed to find the previous day and not been able to refrigerate in our dorm room. This is, to be honest, a great breakfast and we’ve eaten in some wonderful places. It’s always a retired that the pack is a bit lighter afterwards.
Will write about dinner tomorrow!!!Read more