Day 15, Sep 15, 2017, Fromista to Carrion de los Condes, 13.5 miles

We left Fromista around 8:45 a.m. and started our walk to Condes. It started off for the first few kms. right next to the highway. But we had been told that at the first village we could take a deviation that would lead to a pretty walk by the river for most of the way to Condes. As we walked, we caught up with Elizabeth and Luch from Toronto. This was their last day as they were stopping at Condes and flying back home tomorrow. We chatted with them as we walked into the village, Poblacion de Campos. As we entered, we were distracted by a whole bunch of cute little kittens. Elizabeth, Lisa, and I were predictably caught up with these little fellas. Luch walked on. We followed a few mins later and couldn’t find him. We assumed he had walked on to the prettier path and we went along there. Elizabeth thought she saw him further along and went ahead. Lisa and I were strolling along, enjoying this pretty, tree lined path when Luch suddenly came up behind us. We told him that his wife had hurried on ahead thinking that he was ahead of us. Turns out he was waiting at the beginning of the other path. :-( Well, he went on to catch up with her and we both continued chatting and admiring the lovely trail. There were beautiful groves of poplars and lots of birds that were out. There was no river despite the advertisement that this was the river path. Oh well!!

We went along for a few miles and realized that this path bypassed all the villages. We continued on, however, and after around 8 miles came to a turning that led to us joining the main path. At this point, there was an abandoned convent type building dedicated to the Virgin. We stopped here to sit in the shade and take a well deserved break. Elizabeth and Luch and Joanna and Damian were all there. 

They carried on while we finished our snack and started walking again. In a short while we came up to a little village which had a lovely little bar and toilets! Yaaay! 

Grabbed a coffee (first one of the day) and continued on to Carrion de los Condes, stopping on the way to sit with a Pilgrim. We were excited about this hotel because it was a converted monastery. It was called Real Monasterio de San Zoilo. 

We got there and found that it was huge, set in really beautiful grounds, and had an incredibly rude receptionist. It was a real pity that the first impression of this lovely hotel was of this obnoxious young man. Anyway, we went up to our room, which was lovely, and got ready and went down to the bar/restaurant for a beer and patatas bravas. 

Around 8, we headed to dinner with Joanne, who was also staying here. We had a really enjoyable dinner with her. She’s a very interesting person with varied interests and makes me look like a homebody with her travel schedule!! She’s a vibrant and fun lady who does some amazing volunteering along with spending a lot of time with her family. 

After dinner, we headed to bed as the next day was our first really long walk of 19 miles to Moratinos!