memismsblogs

Today was mostly a fantastic day for a walk. It was cloudy most of the morning and just a little chilly. We only saw our first shadow at 10:00am after walking about 9km. We started the day with a 7:00am breakfast at our Casa Rural, Veredero, which I highly recommend. Other than WiFi, the hosts and place were outstanding. At breakfast,we ate with two Americans and four Taiwanese. I impressed the Taiwanese and even the Americans by speaking fluid Mandarin although the Taiwanese noted that what I was saying was usually only used at Chinese New Year when giving hong bao (traditional red packets of money as a gift).

We got on the trail by stepping out the front door of our accommodations at 7:50pm. This was the first time we left Castrojeriz without the need for a torchlight for at least the first 2km. After about 3km on a flat plain, we have a pretty steep climb for 1km and I always enjoyed seeing the twinkling lights of Castrojeriz behind us and then the sunrise over the village. This time, the. Clouds hid the sunrise but it was already up well before we got to that climb.

One other thing about that steep climb, even though it’s only a kilometer of constant up, lasts of pilgrims struggle with it. Melanie and I were also puffing by the time we got to the top but many pilgrims stopped for rests several times or walked extremely slowly. Maybe we are using our experience and the climbs or long stretches just don’t seem as bad as I remember. That’s good, right?

After doing the Rocky dance at the top of the Philadelphia Library stairs, I mean the meseta plateau, I only had to wait for 15 seconds for Melanie to join me. A few minutes later, we were walking down the other side which was much steeper than the ascent. I should also note that just before we walked up the rocky tail, a couple or e-bike “pilgrims”, went up the same trail. If the had tried to pass me with the usual “ding ding” which means get out of our way, I may have accidentally pushed them over the edge.

We visited the Ermita de San Nicolás which is a very small chapel but has been used as an albergue for centuries. It’s pretty basic without electricity or plumbing but it does have bunk beds and a roof so we classify it as “somewhat fancy”. After that we crossed into Palencia and soon reached the village Itero de la Vega. Just as you enter the village, there is a large bar / cafe with a lot of indoor and outdoor seating. As the first place for food or drink (or toilet) in the 11km after Castrojeriz, they have a thriving business. This is our fourth time there in 14 years but the barman didn’t even recognize me or remember what we drink.

After a quick Aquarius, sandwich and chat with other pilgrims, we walked out the gate and started to put on our hats, gloves, walking poles, etc. when an old toothless Spanish man came over and asked if could help us. He must have been over 80 years old but we must have looked like rookie pilgrimso. We chatted with him and his South African wife while walking up the way for a very little bit because the uncle was very, very slow. He asked Melanie why she came to Spain and was walking the Camino. Melanie answered “because I wanted to meet you and it has already taken me two weeks of searching to find you. That brightened them up considerably. He was a pilgrim but I don’t know where he was heading today. I hope it wasn’t outside the village limits. As we walked ahead, we heard the wife had noticed the cafe they had just passed by because of my yapping. His wife asked him if he wanted to have a coffee and he replied “yes, but first, let’s sit down and rest a bit. Melanie wanted to get a photo with them. She reckons that will be us in ten years.

The approach to Frómista is along an old canal for the last few kilometers. Recently, they started running a boat up and down it and pilgrims were allowed and authorized to get on it. You could still say to the Cathedral staff that you walked the whole way. Melanie and I would never take a boat like that on a walking holiday. Would we? Today, with nothing left to prove, we both said about the same time “keep your eye out for the boat. If we can run back to the jetty in time, let’s do it!” It never showed up. We can still call ourselves puritan pilgrims.