Day 24

Población de Campos to Carrión de Los Condes - 18 kms
4 May 2019

Another beautiful day - we had a cold start, just 1 degree when we set off, but it warmed up as we walked. We had two route options today - one which went along the road all the way to our destination Carrión de Los Condes or the other route, called the green route, which went through farmland and then on along a river edge for quite a way. This was the route we chose. It was so beautiful. We have often thought that we had seen little birdlife, there are always birds but just not as many as we thought there would be - although cuckoo birds have been a constant which we love. Well, our walk today changed that. We were greeted by the birds from the very start of our walk and they were with us all the way, we even heard a woodpecker at work. Accompanying the birdsong was a musical stream. Our walk took us through the small village of Villovieco, up past the Hermitage the Virgin of the River and into the village of Villalcázar de Sirga. From there we had to join the route along the road to Carrión de Los Condes.
On our walk we had a break on the river edge sitting on a fallen log that someone had carved Buen Camino and a scallop shell into it, and another break at a cafe in Villalcázar de Sirga where the lovely lady of the cafe told us that a painting competition was being held today, that we would see many artists painting the 13th century Templer church of Santa Maria la Virgen Blanca. The paintings would later be judged with a 1st prize of €120 and 2nd prize of €60. She also said that the paintings would be put on sale after they had been judged - I wish I could stay longer so I could buy one or two. It was so special to see the artists at work. Unfortunately the Hermitage of the Virgen of the River and the Templar church were both closed when we were there.
I lost my sun hat back in Frómista and I was concerned that it would get too hot before we got to our destination of Carrión de Los Condes, luckily it didn't get very hot and even luckier one of the first shops we came to when walking into the town was a shop selling pilgrim gear. As everyone says - the Camino always provides.
Carrión de Los Condes is a lovely town, we'll have dinner at one of the many cafe/bars in the main plaza.

Looking back at Población de Campos as we left it this morning.

Once again the morning light was so beautiful.

At Villovieco

The walkway along the river path

Hermitage the Virgin of the River

Pappy has a cute house today, it's a shame it's in the middle of nowhere though. He won't have much to do to the house itself perhaps but he will have to make some gardens.

A bit further along the way was this building...

 ...it was locked but this is what we saw when we peeked in through a tiny grill.

As we came into Villalcázar de Sirga we looked in this building. It was called a Palomar which translates as dovecote. It now houses photos of the Camino.

Inside the palomar - the dovecote

The 13th century Templar church of Santa Maria la Virgen in Villalcázar de Sirga and some of the artists...

And on to Carrión de Los Condes

In Carrión de Los Condes

The Church of Our Lady of the Camino in Carrión de Los Condes

Santiago, St James, in the church.

Some pilgrims take their dogs with them, I think it's hard on the dogs.

An update on the distance to Santiago 

Afternoon in the plaza in Carrión de Los Condes

A gorgeous green park in the town - green areas have been quite rare so far