Day 24

My night at Santa Clara Monastery was fantastic, I take advantage of a 9am checkout, as I am leaving a Nun who is cleaning one of the rooms wishes me a Buen Camino.

I take my still damp laundry to the Laundromat and manage to get the machine working first go! A quick coffee and chocolate croissant while I wait, there is also time to chat with Ron at home.

The weekly market is getting going in the square there are shoes, underwear and clothes, fruit and vegetables and roasting chickens.

This section of the Way comes with a warning, there are no services for 17km, very little shade and you must be prepared!

I have plenty of water and have bought a few snacks. Well actually a block of chocolate and an apple.

I have read there may be a mobile food truck at about the 10km mark.

I bump into a few pilgrims including the two ladies from dinner last night and the lady with the walker, I walk with her for a while but need to push on.

The food truck does indeed appear and I have a great cup of tea and a toasted ham and cheese sandwich.

The Way does not have to be steep or rocky to be hard, this part is flat and there is very little shade, I put my music on for the last 4km to get me there, I don’t have a bed booked so can’t get to the town too late.

By the time I arrive it’s nearly 3pm, the first place is full, the second is full, I find one I missed as I walked through the town, also full, I am starting to feel a anxious the next town is another 6km away. I try the fourth and last place in town, I walk in and there is a man being checked in, the owners looks up at me and in my very best Spanish I ask if a bed is possible, no reservation. “Sit down and I will see” he says. I sit my heart is pounding, I look up to my right and there is a print of a painting I know well it’s called After the Bath it is of two children standing in front of a fire. I have a version of it, I got it from my Nana, I suddenly feel calm. “Yes you have a bed” the owner says “I move some people around” FEW!

I am sharing my room with a guy from France and another guy from Belgium. We have beds not bunks and there are towels and blankets. A bit of luxury.

I have dinner downstairs in the restaurant, first, Garlic Soup this is a traditional soup made here with yesterdays bread, garlic and an egg added at the end it’s comfort food in a bowl for main I have paella it’s tasty and filling. I have the blanco wine for a change and it’s excellent. The owners wife does the cooking, they make a great team. The restaurant is full of pilgrims but I enjoy a quiet dinner by myself and am tucked up in bed early.

Distance walked 17.3km

Elevation 850m

Total Distance walked so far 384.3km.

Not that many pilgrims on the Way today, perhaps the bus was more appealing.

Best song of the day; Peace Train, Cat Stevens.

Xx