The Meseta Continues

Carrion de los Condes, Spain
We had the grand tour of Fromista last night as we went from place to place in search of dinner being served before 8 pm. We lucked out at 7 pm and were followed in by a gaggle of pilgrims on the same mission. We enjoyed a satisfying dinner with Dermott, a recently retired Irish CPA who lives in Australia. Funny how retirement and family concerns are the same regardless of nationality. In the morning we bundled up for the weather (46 degrees outside) and headed to breakfast. While the Floridians of the group were dressed in layers of wool and fleece with jackets, the Irish stood out in tee shirts, shorts and sandals. Just like a winter in Florida when the Canadians arrive. Morning rush hour began as pilgrims silently stepped out of doorways and got underway. Today’s trek, a mere 19.8km (12.3 miles) over flat terrain is like a walk in the park now that we have our Camino stride. We can afford to slow down for all those Kodak moments today. Although we are bone weary, we aren’t programmed for a rest day until we get to León. Ordinarily we would say to heck with that and just sleep in for a change. But we’ve heard rumors of a pilgrim tsunami behind us. Our timing was great for starting from St Jean Pied de Port as the pass through the Pyrenees was closed for a few days shortly thereafter. We’ve heard that anywhere from 450 to 600 pilgrims started in one day when it reopened. We definitely do not want to get caught up in that. Today’s walk continued through farmland. The amber waves of grain have been harvested but looks like there’ll be another cutting of alfalfa. We passed a mini forest that had obviously been hand planted as the trees were in perfect rows, evenly spaced like soldiers standing in formation. Mike thinks they will be felled down the road for timber. Made it to Carrion de los Condes in time for lunch and ran into our friends Natalie and Helen who we haven’t seen in 2 days. Made a stop in the grocery store to resupply trail snacks as tomorrow we have a very long stretch with no rest facilities.Lue lisää