Charlotte Birch

As I lay in bed posting this, my phone says we walked 23.53 miles today. The stage was probably 21-ish miles; the rest came from local walking to breakfast or dinner.

Perfect weather. (And while it wasn't too hot, I have to say my merino wool T-shirt and Lume deodorant are no match for the Camino. ) More views that are hard to convey on camera (see one picture where I circled the pilgrims walking wayyyy down the road).

More uphill and downhill (steep!) on the Meseta. Sites and towns passed include the ruins of a 14th century monastery; another church dedicated to Mary--this one Our Lady of the Apple (!); and the town of Castrojeriz, which sadly was mostly closed early Sunday morning, depriving us of a civilized bathroom break.

We stopped in one town to rest and buy snacks (and, OK, to have one Radler, since we had 8 more miles to walk!). Then stopped with Ricard, a pilgrim from Barcelona, in the last town before Fromista to give our legs a rest (and, OK, to have another Radler) before covering the last 5+ kilometers, which turned out to be a beautiful walk along the Canal de Castilla leading into town. Also enjoyed seeing a family of birch trees on the way into town since today is Joe's bday!

So, we left at 7:30 am and arrived a little after 5 pm--how's that for a Sunday stroll? Our hotel is just what you'd want after a long day: clean, air conditioned, well-appointed. We showered and walked down the road to eat yet another *pilgrim's menu* meal, which really is a bargain: 18 Euro gets you a three-course meal, bread, water and wine (1/2 bottle allocated per person). We dined with Tony, a widower from Dublin whose wife died suddenly at 56 (six years ago) and whose three adult children (21, 25 and 30) live with him. Perhaps that is why he's walking the Camino? JK, M & M! 😉

We will take it easy tomorrow, seeing the famous cathedral before walking on to our next stop. Until then, three random observations:

1) It takes a good 30 minutes some mornings to get our Camino feet. Things are a bit stiff and wobbly before the blood gets circulating and muscles relax.

2) There seem to be roosters in every town; between them and the church bells that ring on the regular, it would be hard to oversleep around here.

3) There is an inordinate (and sad) amount of graffiti everywhere, even on Camino signs posted in the middle of nowhere. And I'm not talking street art; it's just random, untalented doodles. If it were up to me, I'd sentence any punk caught scribbling along the Camino to walk the Camino.Read more