Well rested from my night in the nun’s care at Carrion’s convent I woke up early and eager to get going.

Unfortunately the convent had very strict rules and I waited patiently until the second hand hit the 6am mark before the head nun would unlock the door.

I thanked her and got on my way.

I started walking along the long path away from town – it was dark but way to see that the path this morning was going to be monotonous.

As usual I planned on stopping for breakfast and coffee when I reached the first town on the path… I just didn’t realise how far the first town would be on this particular day.

That mornings sunrise almost outdid all of my other Camino de Santiago sunrises.

Rays of orange, pink and purple lit up the sky and I stopped to watch the natural sky show beginning behind me.

Turning back to the path I had a full view of monotony.

I kept walking.

My stomach started to get impatient and I decided to check my guide book to see how many km’s away from my first coffee and tortilla I was.

I was relieved to see that there was a food truck 10km out of Carrion. I must have already covered the halfway point so I continued, inspired by the little vehicle that would feed me today.

I walked… And walked… And walked…

I must have been walking very slowly because the promised food truck was no where to be found.

After what seemed like a lifetime I reached the top of a small hill which revealed a town…

Angry at my guide book but very excited to see civilisation I almost skipped into the first cafe I saw.

Buying a big tortilla and coffee I feasted on what could now be considered ‘brunch’.

At some point that day I passed the halfway point on The Camino de Santiago.

At some point I also walked straight through the bigger town of Terradillos and spent the afternoon alone on paths surrounded by snacks… AKA Blackberry bushes.

I eventually stumbled upon a small town called ‘San Nicolás Del Real Camino’ knowing that I was halfway to Santiago… After a little searching I discovered the only albergue in town and was shown to a room with only one other pilgrim.

My roommate was a young Dutch girl who had injured her foot and had just finished her first day back on the trail after a few days off. Despite her setback she was incredible positive and we had a great chat and I enjoying the company of someone in my same age range for the first time in days.

The town was teeny tiny and throughout the afternoon a few more pilgrims trickled into the hostel until it was full. Our room became quite international with a Colombian woman, a Czech woman and a German man all joining. It was a very young dormitory.

After a relaxing afternoon everyone went down to the dining room to wait for dinner. I got chatting to a lovely Swedish lady who had recently lost her husband and then to a Danish couple who regularly run ultra-marathons – and were running the Camino de Santiago.

As dinner time approached the tables were set and the young crowd from my dorm ended up all together. The mood was very positive – that day marked passing the halfway point on the Camino de Santiago and everyone was feeling pretty wonderful about it.

The German man, Tom, was a strict vegan and as he quickly started to down Gin and Tonics he got more and more opinionated – which as an ex-vegan definitely created a guilty feeling in the depths of my soul as I ate my fish cross from his tempeh (that he had somehow managed to order in one of the Camino de Santiago’s tiniest villages).

He very quickly got drunk and although I had quickly started to dislike him I had to admit he was extremely entertaining.

Eventually he passed out on the table and later as he managed to get up the stairs to our dorm he loudly announced to the population of the albergue:

“NO ONE SNORE TONIGHT!”

It may have been a completely rude outburst but let’s be honest – we were all thinking it.

Tom passed out full dressed on his bunk… And woke us all up in the middle of the night in a very unusual way….