Had a great sleep and didn’t get up until quite late – it’s very quiet here – all I could hear was the distant ringing of cowbells and the murmuring of the nearby creek. No traffic at night either, and blessedly few squawking children.

After a late breakfast we took a ride down into the village of Villoslada de Cameros to try to find a bank – no luck, but did find a nice cafe for a coffee. It was a fairly busy square and many of the people that came and went through it had dogs. The little girls were all dressed in their Sunday best with cute little shoes and bows in their hair.

One of the little dogs sat at the door of the cafe and waited very patiently for his owner to come out – he was so cute (the dog, that is).

Many of the houses had banners/posters up of the madonna and child. At first I thought they looked kind of like a buddha, but on closer look we figured out what it was. The madonna looks kind of Chinese – with a very large head – and the baby Jesus looks like a teenager in miniature – altogether a bit freakish.

Back at the campground we did some laundry – free! Well, I’m not sure it was supposed to be but when I asked the lady in the bar she told me to wait an hour then ask again. We waited, and since the machine was empty we filled it up – I didn’t see anyplace to put coins or tokens so took a chance and pressed some buttons. Eureka – it started.

A little later I checked on the progress and the machine had stopped – full of water but seemingly dead. Colin got the helpful man with the long hair to get it going again – he kept saying it was ‘no problem, no problem’ and that it was the machine’s fault. Eventually the laundry was done – free in the end, and hung to dry on the rack.

Another dinner at the cafe/bar – this time they were out of the chicken sandwich I wanted as well as the lamb chops Colin ordered. We both settled instead for the scampi and chips – very nice and crisp again.

The wi-fi isn’t too bad up near the cafe so I was finally able to start posting again – over a week behind, but better late than never.

After another very nice quiet night I roused from my tent around 8:00 and did a tiny bit of chi gong down at the creekside listening to nothing but the water and the birds. We went up to the cafe for a coffee and some wi-fi, then a bit later went for a walk up the road.

It was a lovely stroll and we shortly came to a nice creek-side park with gravel path – there were signs every now and then with descriptions of the local flora and fauna. It was totally peaceful until two cars arrived and discourged about eight people, including two very loud children – how to destroy the peacefulness.

A small shrine just aross a bridge was our turning-around point. Once again it was the large-headed madonna with the freakishly old looking baby – funny but kind of creepy at the same time.

Back at the campground we stopped at the cafe – it was quite busy and so loud I almost went back outside, but it was too cold to sit outdoors.

A little later we went back for dinner, having to leave Mo in the campervan again. We had to wait until 8:00 to order, and once again they didn’t have what we wanted as first choice. However my second choice of pizza was the best pizza I’ve had in ages – very nice crust and with toppings of ham, artichokes and olives – a really tasty combination.

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