Formista - Carrion de Los Condes (pop 2300) 20.5 km October 12

We have a later (8:30) start this morning.  Today we have coffee before we head out!  The temp is -1, so frosty, but clear skies and so still.  A beautiful day for walking!  Leaving our village this steel cut out stands gaurd

Tonight at home, Karen (and many other relates)  are all travelling to Spirit River for the celebration of  my sister and brother in laws 50 th wedding anniversary.  The real anniversary date is November 22(the very day JFK was shot), anyways I was a vet sweet flower girl for my sister the bride.  While I am very happy to be in Spain my heart is with the celebration today!

We take an alternate route this morning which follows the river and is much quieter than following the highway

It is certainly prairie -like minus the grid, we even come into something  that looks foothill- ish

except for the ever present sunflowers. This field seems immature compared to some of the others

We see these little flowers poking through...is there such a thing as yellow crocus?

We continue by the river

And talk to some pilgrims having lunch by the river

We stop at Villalcazar de Sirga and have the lunch we packed this morning. Also at lunch we peel off a layer of clothes, turn our long pants into shorts, temp is up to a sunny 18 degrees.

  A few days ago we saw a deer in the distance and once we hear the killing of a wild boar, otherwise no wildlife other than feral cats and some dogs ( none of which even come close to being as adorable as our Maxine!)

When we get to our destination of Carrion de Los Condes we think we are brave enough to try an alburgue ....we check into Spiritu Santo Convent.  The guide book says it is run by the brothers, but clearly the sisters are doing all of the work

We check in (5 Euros each) and are given a tour with two other couples, all in Spanish , we tried to guess the gist of things.  Anyways , we are led to the matrimonial quarters where we share one large room with 5 other couples....oh my

We are considering this an adventure .....as soon as siesta is over we are going to buy Sid ear plugs. Two of the couples in our room are Spanish , one is from New Zealand, not sure where the other pair come from.

On our walk about after we get checked in we see a tractor and seeder parked in front of the convent

Sid notices the wear on the tractor tires....from driving on asphalt?

I feel like I could walk around the world!