Day 14, Sep 24, 2017, Castrojeriz to Fromista, 15 miles

Last night we had so much fun at dinner. We met up with Thadderine and Simonette, two sisters, who are from San Francisco and Ohio respectively. They were so much fun. They are two of ten sisters and have three other sisters and one friend joining them in Leon to continue on to Santiago! We had a lovely conversation and then after dinner, our lovely Raquel took us downstairs to the bottom of the posada to show us medieval stables and cellars. Posadas are historical buildings that are converted to hotels in Spain. They cannot have elevators and air conditioning/heating etc. because of this. The cellars here are part of a network of cellars in the old city. Apparently this was common a 1000 years ago! It was all very cool!

After dinner it was early to bed. We left after breakfast for Fromista. We had a fifteen mile walk and we decided to take it slowly. We started out with a steep climb (12% gradient going up and 18% going down) and a sharp descent. It was actually not bad and we loved the views. It was cool at that time of day and not a strenuous climb at all. 

We walked down 

and continued on flat land for several miles until the hospital of San Nicolas de Puente Fitero, where they wash the feet of the pilgrims. We didn’t go in, but admired the lovely building before moving on. Shortly after, we crossed from the province of Burgos into Palencia. The river Pisuerga marks this border. Next we hit Itero de la Vega,a small village which had a huge cafe. We took a nice long lunch break here and rested our feet. Continuing on, we walked through a lot of flat farmland. Sunflower fields with dead sunflowers, other fields just ploughed but empty, and some with legumes planted in them. I found out that because of EU subsidies, the farmers actually get paid if they DON’T harvest sunflowers. Crazy world!! 

It was hard walking because the path was rocky and very dusty. There were a lot of flies too which gets tedious super fast. But still, we did have fun. We met up with other peregrinos from previous days. We also came across a small grove of pine trees and decided to sit there for a little bit. Drank our water and rested in the shade for a few minutes. Then trudged on until we hit the beautiful Boadilla del Camino. It’s a tiny village but quite charming. It also had an albergue (simple hostels for pilgrims) and restaurant that boasted lovely grounds, an unfriendly cat (are there any others in my life????), a pool, and a clean bathroom. 

We also got a pequena cerveza con limon each and took off our shoes and rolled our feet on our little spiky ball. It was heavenly. We certainly have discovered that it’s these little things that make a difference in how quickly we recover from our long walks. 

We continued on walking along the beautiful Canal de Castillo. This was build in the latter half of the 18th century to transport cereal and other farm produce out of the province. It’s lovely, surrounded by legume and sugar beet fields and we also were thankful for the shade! I tend to get very drill sergeant like about the walk and want to rush from point A to point B, but thankfully Lisa stops me and gets me to look around at the beauty surrounding us and actually enjoy the walk - which is precisely the purpose of the Camino!!! 

Just before we entered Fromista, there was a little lock and it was all quite picturesque. 

Our hotel, Hotel Dona Mayor, was about a mile into town. Lovely place and two wonderful things - an elevator and an early dinner!!! At dinner, we met Glen, from Kentucky, whom we had met in Atapuerca. He stops in Leon and we chatted with him about his home and work and granddaughter. He said that he flipped 51 houses in one year!!  Honestly, who would have thought that there were people moving to Louisville, KY and buying homes?!!!! He told us that he also owns a chain of 17 beauty salons and likes to travel. He also adores his granddaughter, which was very endearing to see. We had an excellent dinner, as usual. If nothing, we eat incredibly well on the Camino. Then upstairs to blog and go to bed! Tomorrow, it’s on to Carrion de los Condes. Incidentally, Lisa calculated that we have walked 190 miles up until now.