Carrión de los Condes to Terradillos de los Templarios

As of this afternoon we've completed more than half the Camino de Santiago. It been an good 400 km. Hiking through the Pyrenees on first day is still my favorite scenery, but I've enjoyed the days since then too. We've seen some of our pilgrims enough times now to get to know a few of them and that's a good addition to the hiking. Today's walk was almost completely flat and we made really good time. We were checked into our alburgue about 1:00. I spent most of the afternoon talking with the other pilgrims while Corrie read and wrote. Some how today's 17 miles felt like we were taking it easy. 

Dawn behind our albergue this morning. 

This photo pretty much sums up the last 17 miles. It was a great day to walk with other people and talk. I've heard the area referred to as a dessert, but it seems more like Spain's bread basket. 

Very helpful signs in Ledigos... I'm not sure what's going on here. We went left but we didn't find the snow cave. 

We found an ISO 9001 compliant albergue tonight... I didn't know that was an option in an albergue, but it's a really nice place.

Frómista to Carrión de los Condes

Guest Post by Corrie Hruby

After yesterday’s long walk of 34 kilometers and finding out that the hotel we were staying in would be locked and alarmed until 7am this morning, we got a later start than usual out of Frómista.  Fortunately, today’s walk was a much more reasonable 19 kilometers and for about a quarter of the walk the path followed a small river with much more frequent shade than we’ve had for the past few days.  

I really liked this metal outline of a traditional pilgrim with the stars above.  We haven't hiked under any stars, but the sky last night was so dark and clear with so many stars!

Before we were long out of town, we came upon two people who had patches on the back of their pack.  Lots of travelers seem to have patches, but these just had a single large black question mark on a white circle.  I asked the first lady about her patch, and found myself walking alongside a very interesting teacher from Indianapolis, Indiana.  She and her co-hiker work at an elementary International Baccalaureate school, and it was quite interesting to hear about their school’s focus.  She also told me about the largest job fair in the United States for international teaching positions after asking me, “Do you see yourself always living in Alaska?”  It was a good conversation, and she was also interested to hear about my experiences teaching in Galena.  She was especially curious about the GILA boarding school since it’s quite unique.

Christie (left) is a Spanish teacher, and Carol (right) is an early elementary teacher at an IB school in Indianapolis.

We parted ways when Nick and I stopped in the first town to get breakfast.  It’s been a good habit to get up and walk a few miles before stopping for breakfast.  It’s nice to get walking done at the coolest part of the day, and it also helps break up the day.  

After walking along there river we reached Villalcazar de Sigma.  In this small town we had a nice stop for the café con leche that has become our regular coffee drink in Spain.  On our way out of town towards our final destination for the day, we passed a statue seated at a table.  With an empty seat right next to him and all the traditional symbols of a pilgrim, it’s clear that one is invited to be a part of this art.  The statue is of Pablo Payo, Mesonero Mayor del Camino de Santiago.  Or, the best innkeeper along The Way of St. James.  He passed away in 2003, but the statue of him is a good reminded of all of the excellent hospitality we’ve received along our walk.  Many Spaniards are not up at 7am for breakfast, so I know that the people who are up then and willing to sell us delicious tortillas and coffee for a few euros are just doing it for the pilgrims on their way, and we’re very thankful for them!

Having a short break with Pablo Payo

The last 6 km of our walk today was on a path next to a highway.  It was nice to be off the asphalt since cars were moving quickly and there wasn’t much of a shoulder.  Given the straight trail, lack of trees and abundance of pilgrims, there were many times that we could see the path stretching before us with pilgrims dotting it to the horizon.  It’s not empty to hike the Camino, but it’s also not so crowded that you hear others’ conversations most of the time.  I think it’s a good balance for a popular path, but it’s not a wilderness hike by a long stretch.  

The pilgrims go marching two by two...

The Camino is marked quite regularly by all types of yellow arrows and yellow shells.  When I saw this particular sign, it made me think that sometimes it would be nice if the best path to follow in life was this obvious to see!

Hontanas to Fromista

Today was slightly long than yesterday on the map. I thought we might stop early when we started this morning but we hit a pretty good stride in the afternoon and finished another 21 miles today. Tomorrow's route has a large gap between towns so it's either 12 or 22 miles... I think we will be happy to call it a rest day at 12. 

Our first land mark of the day was this old monestary in the early morning light. 

Looking back through the monestary at the sun rise. 

We delayed sunrise a bit longer walking behind this hill and it made a nice photo.

We didn't quite make it to breakfast before the sunrise. 

Today was mostly flat with one big hill after breakfast. This was looking back over the valley from the top.

This was looking down the far side. It was 12% grade gang up and 18% down. From the bottom of the hill it was pretty much an endless march across the plain. 

Looking back at the hill an hour or so later. You can just make out the trail coming down.

Corrie's innovative cape/sun shield. It seemed to help a bit with the heat rash on her legs. Also walking though trees in a few areas was really nice. 

Our afternoon marching friends from

Texas. 

Crossing the canal we walked along for a few miles. Looking happier than we actually felt.