8th May 2024 Villalcazar de Sirga to Calzadilla de la Cueza

We started the morning off with a 6km walk to Carrion de los Condes where Steve was going to buy some trail runners in an attempt to keep his foot pain away.  The pain is only there when he wears his boots but disappears completely when he isn’t wearing them or is wearing his crocs.  The walk was really nice and we came to Carrion de los Condes about 0930H and the shop didn’t open until 1000H so we just had a coffee and sat in the sun before heading into the shop where he found some pretty quickly. The town was quite a long one and, on the way, we dropped into another small shop to buy a bocadillo as there was a 17km stretch where there were no services.

 We then had another coffee and loo stop before hitting the track again and walking the long way to Calzadilla de la Cueza, a 17km stretch of walking past fields of rye and barley with the wind making the most gorgeous patterns, listening to the many birds happily singing in the trees and about halfway along a small food truck.  We got there just in time as it was almost 2pm and that was his signal to go home for lunch and a siesta.  The food truck was amazing – like a shipping container with a lift-up side which provided shade when he was open but could be filled with all the tables and chairs and dropped to ensure everything was safely contained when he wasn’t there.

The day went by remarkably quickly as we just chatted and enjoyed our time together. Calzadilla de la Cuerza remained hidden until we were almost upon it and wondering where it might be as it is in a bit of a depression/small valley.  We arrived at the bar where we had to check in and they arranged for someone to transport us, and our packs, to our room about 200m down the road.

The room was clean and had everything we needed so it was time for showers, washing clothes and luckily, there was a clothesline just near our room so the washing dried pretty quickly in the sun.  We headed back to the bar for dinner before strolling back to our room and heading to bed.