Castrojeriz to Fromista

May 3, 2016 Tuesday

The Meseta on the way to Fromista    Walking Day #15

Another day on the meseta. From the elevation diagram, it seems we are in for a fairly major hill climb just outside of Castrojeriz about 3 kilometers. Again, walking over relatively flat farmland and over a small river, the hill emerged in our view ahead of us. As we got closer, it looked too long and steep to possibly the Camino path.

The view of the hill in the distance. It is the Camino path, and is very, very old, having been laid out over two thousand years ago by the Romans. So this ancient road over which many pilgrims, Romans, Roman soldiers, and many others have traveled will be a historic climb as we lay our feet onto the two thousand years of footsteps before us.

The climb is very steep, a sign indicated a 12% grade. And it is over a kilometer long. At the top, there is a place to stop with benches on which to put backpacks, sit, and relax. In that rest area I saw Meagan from Los Angeles now in her third or fourth day after starting in Burgos. She was suffering with foot problems and blisters, thinking that her boots were too tight. I noticed that she was using a liner sock with a thicker outer sock (the same brand, Darn Tough, that I use alone). I asked if she had considered removing the liner to see if that gave her more room in the boot, because I was walking with the same brand socks by themselves. She looked a little surprised and said that is too obvious that she overlooked it and would try it. [Note: I saw her again day later and her foot problems were dramatically reduced.]

The downhill back into the farmland was also long, and steeper than the uphill, a sign there indicated an 18% grade. Everyone was taking it slowly.

Soon, we were back on the meseta. Oh the lovely meseta. Long and flat and rolling and green. It does just keep going.

Over a small rolling hill and off again into the rolling green farmland.

I took a break at a small town of Itero de la Vega, and came upon two ladies I had met before, Elaine and Claudia. They met in college at Penn State University, and have remained close friends. Elaine lives in her home town of Pittsburgh, PA, and Claudia lives somewhere in the western part of West Virginia.

We set off walking together over the meseta for the next 14 kilometers to Fromista.  Claudia is also a yoga person, and she and I talked about yoga, meditation, and effect it has had in out lives, and the like. 

After crossing a river, we took a short break in Boadilla del Camino with 6 kilometers left to Fromista. 

For most of the way from there to Fromista, the Camino path follows a large canal. My guess is that the canal is for irrigation, but I saw no obvious places where the water was being diverted to irrigate the farms.

Here are the backs of Elaine and Claudia walking along the canal as we approach Fromista. This walk along the canal seemed to take forever. It was just long and straight and flat, and the path was rocky enough that it was a little uncomfortable.

But we soon made it to Fromista, and when we saw a sign that said that the Hotel San Martin (where we all were to stay) was 300 meters, we did not think we could go another 301 meters. And as I have said, I was too tired to take pictures, but Fromista is a charming town for one that has a population of only 800. And the large stone church is said to be an important one, but it was closed and locked.

Next: A couple days of health drama on the Camino