After our 07:00 am breakfast we set off for the town of Santa Croya de Terra.

The pressure of so many pilgrims chasing  so few beds demanded a slightly faster walking pace than usual…at the end of the day it was a perfect storm of tired bodies and tired brains, resulting in more forced errors than usual.

Error number 1 – Having sent pathfinder Dr John ahead in a taxi to check out the bed situation, Richard and Mark arrived after a 4.5 hour frogmarch – confident they were early enough to secure a bed each. They then spent the next hour or so aimlessly wandering around in circles looking for John , finally realising they were in the wrong village.

Error number 2 – Mark , tired and weary – jumped in the shower room first.Head still spinning and dried off after the shock of the freezing cold water –  he tried to open the bathroom door only to find the lock was stuck and the door wouldn’t move (where is locksmith Geoff when you need him) 

After a rather embarrassing cry of “help I’m stuck” the problem was soon sorted when he discovered it was actually a sliding door.

Error number 3 – Davin , having finished showering next door went to grab the mop and bucket as any good Pilgrim would do, however his usual razor sharp reactions  failed him as he proceeded to knock over the entire bucket of dirty water – what a plonker.

Error number 4 – well not so much of an error, more like “unexpected underwear in the washing area”…John and Mark were quietly washing their  smalls in the outdoor sinks and noticed an elderly Belgium Pilgrim hovering right  behind them . “Dix minutes” said Mark politely with a smile “non – cinque minute” said the Belgium guy. Both shocked at this unusual Pilgrim rudeness,  Mark and John just looked at each other and carried on. A second later without so much as a  “by your leave” the Belgium chap shoved himself between the two  of them and plonked his dirty washing in Johns bowl – then began to slosh it all about. He finally grabbed a handful of wet undies and proceeded to hang them out to dry – To cut a long story short , John just about managed to retain his composure, remain calm and refrain from knocking his block off.

Error number 5 – We all arrived at the local bar and asked for the lunchtime ‘menu del dai’, soon discovering a menu was unnecessary as it was Hobson’s choice of Ham egg and chips….and very  delicious it was too. Until that was Mark decided half way through his meal to knock a full glass of Vino tinto over , half of it landing in his plate and the other half in his lap…what a mess. The gracious and very smiley waitress provided a replacement meal within minutes.

We rounded off our rather eventful day with a super of Chick pea and tomatoes ‘a la Richard’ then all turned in early exhausted by our days escapades.