Day 21

Left our little village at what is now our regular time of 6.30am. For 6kms we travelled on the white path, but next to the highway, the sound of the few cars unknowingly camouflaging the sound of my loud unattractive voice exercises. We soon reached the village of Carrion then on to a wide pathway and away from the traffic, 17kms walk without any place to rest

The wind blew at our backs and with the thrust of the nordic poles as well we flew past many of the walkers so a good chance to meet others. Subtle messages are given if people don’t want your company, a classic happened today when someone who didn’t seem to want to talk said: “you’re faster than us, buen camino” so we buen camino’d. Another made a query about Parkinsons, a great clue, so for some time we talked in English and Spanish to three very present Spanish women. They told us that the mountains flanking us well to the north were the Picos de Carrion, their white sides glistening from afar; while the ones behind were the even more impressive Pico de Europa. The women were local to the area so it was enlightening to talk to them and they promised to post after checking my blog out

We remet our Irish, Kiwi and Welsh companions, and two French women who turn up everywhere we do, and we can’t talk about it because we don’t know each others’ language. We were met at our new lodgings by the warmest and friendliest hosts in Spain which is so welcome after a long time walking. Many of the pilgrims are in bad shape and at the ‘real’ end of the day it’s hard to tell who has Parkinsons and who hasn’t. Fortunately, I’ve got a sign on my back

Mountains in the distance

Sunrise

An opportunist cafe on the 17kms leg

Local flowers

Our new home

The three Spanish women