Villalcázar de Sirga

This will be a short entry as it’s very late, I’m very tired and we have a very long day ahead of us tomorrow.
Today started with a beautiful walk along a river - slightly longer than the regular route but avoiding the ‘senda’ which seems to be the Camino word for a path running right beside a road. Loads of birdsong and very loud front noises made it fun.
We walked for this part of the day with Sheryl and Janice and I loved hearing all about life and landscapes in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Stopped for coffee (very necessary) early at a little hotel that might be worth noting for future trips and then ate our breakfast at a table in a park a bit further on (our own yoghurts, nuts , fruits etc.
at about 11.30 we came to the end of the river path and found another cafe at Villalcazar de Sirdo for coffee and delicious watermelon.
Then came the trickiest part of the day - a long straight senda into Carrion los condes with looming storm approaching from behind us. Very hot and humid and my feet began to get sore so I was very relieved to get to the start of the town where I found a shady bench outside an hermita to change my shoes.
The town was celebrating Corpus Christi and the street were decorated with rose petals for the parade which included the children who had taken their first communion in May.
Ate tortilla at a very crowded bar in the square and then headed for our monastery hotel which is about a kilometre out of town.
Getting clean felt great but I’m really struggling with a large insect bite on my shoulder which is quite swollen and very itchy. When we headed back into town later to join the nuns singing at the Santa Maria Albergue I found a pharmacy open and the pharmacist looked a bit worried and gave me hydrocortisone crème. Doesn’t seem to be working yet but I live in hope!
After joining the nuns at 6 we went to mass at 7 and then hared back to the hotel for dinner at 8 (the earliest they do). Very very hungry but had a good actual vegetarian meal and feel better now - which is lucky as there’s nothing for 17km tomorrow when we start walking and we haven’t got much food left. Think I’ll be resorting to the energy bars finally! Still, at least my pack will the a bit lighter.
Huge thunderstorm raging outside at the moment - second one today. We’ve been so fortunate not to get caught in the rain today. Hoping the same for tomorrow.Baca lagi