Last night Jeff and I walked around the village and found Mark and Helen in a supermarcado doing the same as us, buying a couple of cans. Tea bags are hard to find, so I was happy to find some here.They had booked with their friends, dinner for 7.30. Jeff and I wanted to eat earlier as wanting to relax in our fancy hotel room. We headed back to the bar we found when we first arrived. Bacon and potatoes for a main meal, and a plate of cheese  washed down with wine. Not a lot to eat, really. Back to the hotel and enjoyed an early night and a great night sleep 😴. This morning we were told, there is a wave of tourist companies with large numbers of people, and this is causing accommodation problems. We need to get a day ahead, or drop back. I don’t want to do either. Most of these tourist groups only walk for about a week, so I’m thinking when they get to the next large city, they will disappear. Leon is a few days away, so hopefully it will be more to our favour then. In the meantime, hopefully the camino will provide as we haven’t been able to book anywhere beyond tomorrow. Even though we didn’t leave till almost nine am,the wind was cruel. The walking wasn’t much fun either, as the road was littered with tourists. Jeff put on the pace. I followed, and in the first km we mowed down most of them. Then a fork in the road. Walk along the river on earth track,add one kilometre, or stick to the road on pavement. A very easy decision. All of a sudden, not a person in sight, and the silent bliss of running water and birds chirping. Even heard cuckoos again. After some kms,looking across the meadows, you could see the masses of people in the distance trudging along the road. Only five pilgrims were to be seen on our route. The wind was still very chilly, and I even thought of putting on a layer at one stage, but I didn’t want to stop. Eventually, we had to leave our franquillity and head back to the rat race. Thankfully, there was only six kilometres to go before reaching Carrion de los condes. And then the fun started. We found our accommodation, but one problem. Automatic check in. Press english, nothing happens, so we entered the booking number. No, door not opening. Tried lots of things

Jeff rang the number, not speaking de engwish. By now two other lots trying with out luck. So I rang, HOLA,can’t get in. In broken english, there in five minutes. So I got my flask out and had a cup of tea. When she arrived, the process for so called automation took at least another ten minutes. The machine probably cost 20 grand and even the lady running the joint struggled with it. Pretty soon there will be no one  here to do anything. Surprise, surprise,saw Bren as we were trying to check in, and he wasn’t in a bar. But he did say, catch you in the bar later, ok l yelled back. Thankfully, we had the tranquil walk for most of the day, otherwise it wouldn’t have been much fun.