Thursday, 9/21: Today started with a weather front moving through the region which brought rain for the first half of the day. We opted to wait to begin our next stage to Calzadilla de la Cueza until 12:30 when the rain stopped. Fortunately the 41 km was doable in 3 hours, even with the 10 knot headwind with gusts up to 20 knots (it probably would have taken double that time without electric assist). The landscape was primarily fields as far as the eye could see.
A stop in Villalcazar de Sirga allowed a visit to the Church of Santa Maria la Blanca. A surprisingly grandiose church with reinforcements more suited to a fort. Built by the Knights Templar at the end of the 12th century, it also houses the remains of members of the royal family of the time.
We did not stop, but there was a lovely green space for pilgrims to rest in Carrion de los Condes in front of the church of Santa Maria de la Victoria.
Arriving in Calzadilla de la Cueza we found a a humble restaurant whose proprietors were originally from Las Islas Canarias and we enjoyed a dark rum from there with our coke zero before having dinner with other pilgrims as we compared notes of our travels along the trail.