Carrión de las Condes to Calzadilla de le Cueza

May 24 - Carrión de las Condes to Calzadilla de la Cueza
That's  a mouthful isn't it?  And somehow appropriate because it was a day that no one seemed to enjoy. It should have been a  good day and an easy one. Only 17.5 kilometers, sunny, flat, straight, no mud. But everyone hated it including us. I don't know why it was such a hard day for everyone and there's sure no logical reason. But it was mind numbing, body crunching, soul deadening hardship for everyone it seemed. Maybe it was too straight. For sure you could see everyone for miles ahead. The road was in this case 'jaw droppingly flat' and jaw droppingly straight. It was nicely groomed I guess, although I prefer ungroomed paths because they are more interesting. It was like being on a pilgrim treadmill all day with everyone else. The young man who  was sleeping in the bed above me commented when he came in "Boy am I glad to be off that death march!" And we all knew exactly what he meant because that's kind of how it felt. Weird actually.

We got to the albergue early in the afternoon and did the usual preparations for the next day - washed, washed clothes, got our stuff organized and then went down to the bar/cafe and had some lunch. The albergue had a nice courtyard and a swimming pool in the backyard and we spent time sitting in the sun, putting feet in the ice cold swimming pool water and just relaxing. The energy was frenetic though, especially among the younger crowd who were drinking too much, talking too much and more loudly than usual and not settling down. And in fact, in spite of all of the time available for relaxing the unsettled energy stayed in the air and carried into bedtime. Generally everyone settles down quickly and and it seems to only take a few minutes until we're all asleep. But not this night. There was teasing, joke telling, rude comments back and forth as guys ribbed each other about one thing and another and just general rowdiness.

Two guys decide they were going to get up at three and start walking. It was a great time to do it because it was a full moon and another fairly straight road so it must have been fun for them. I got out and looked out the window right after they left and it looked fabulous outside - very light from the moon and wide open prairie spaces. I envied them their moonlight walk but have to admit I would have been afraid to do it myself unless there was a bit of a crowd.