Frómista to Carrión de los Condes, 20.3km, 4.25 hours, Hostal Plaza Mayor

It was a lovely day for a sunny walk with some shaded paths but lower temperatures than a sunny day in Spain usually produces. It was also a short day so we took an alternative route to add some distance. The next bed is 17km from here and the thought of a 37km scared both of us. We are good with a solid 20km day, particularly as it was so flat. Our total ascent for the day – total ascent, not net ascent – was 94m. Half of that 94m of ascent was probably an accumulation of all the curbs we stepped onto in the towns we passed through.

At last night’s dinner, I was sitting across the long table from an Oklahoman woman who was walking by herself so I mainly chatted with her about her Camino so far, as in “where were you on the day of the big rain?” and “was your walk over the Pyrenees in the blazing sun or the freezing rain?” Melanie was sitting across from Felix so she was getting all the gossip about our friends a day behind us. There was one sad piece of news that she learned but only told me today. On the day we left Burgos, a 50 year old pilgrim woman was visiting the cathedral when she had a heart attack and passed away. We don’t know her name so we don’t know if we had been walking or eating with her but it’s sad none the less. Muslims believe if you die while making a pilgrimage, you go straight to heaven. I hope that is so for Christians too.

As I bagan to type today’s story, I got a call from my son while he was driving George and Leo to “school” (it’s really to day care but they call it school to easy the transition in two or three years). My son reads the blog post to George every night for his bedtime story. He also shows George the pictures which he finds much more interesting than my blatherings. Apparently George saw the photo of Melanie with her new bumbag on and asked why Nana was wearing a black diaper. From the mouths of babes. We liked that.

One big change we have noticed around the Camino is the crops being farmed. Eleven years ago, we don’t recall seeing many sunflowers at all. Now it seems to be the main crop around the Camino. The are massive fields of them, even on the meseta where previously the predominant crops were wheat, barley and oats. I wonder why but we may have one hint though. One of the sunflower fields a few days ago had a sign on the edge of it with a single word… the logo of Cargill. They are a massive farming conglomerate that says they are there to help local farmers. They help local farmers kind of the same way that mortgage dealers helped poor families buy houses that they couldn’t afford just before the 2007 subprime mortgage crisis.

Finally, one note to anyone walking this Camino after us. The official Camino from Frómista to Carrión de los Condes is almost entirely on a fine gravel purpose built path right next to the two lane P-980 road. It’s a nice trail but you will go crazy walking the whole 20km on it. There is an alternative signposted trail you can take out of Población de Campos. That longer alternative trail appears on a map to be on another road but it’s actually a looser wide black gravel trail that seems better for hiking and it has no cars near it. Halfway to Villalcázar de Sirga (where the trails come back together), the trail moves to the other side of a river and turns into a dirt trail that had lovely shade and went right past the beautiful church Ermita de la Virgen del Río. Unless there was recently (or currently) a heavy rain, take this alternative.

Peace y’all. Goodnight George and Leo. Don’t let the bedbugs bite. Tell Mina and CC to scare them out of the house.