Day 15, Castrojeriz to Fromista

Numbers: 15.65 miles per Garmin GPS (see here for details). And, per Fitbit, 40,220 steps (so far) and 76 floors, along with 322 active minutes for those who might be interested. Also. I haven't posted the last few days of Garmin info but here it is for any of you interested in our paces, elevation changes, heart rate info. :-)

Yesterday. Here's the day before that. And, the day before that on June 16

Dave voice:

A little longer, but a good day nonetheless. A bit of a climb out of Castrojeritz, then an easy roll across more farm land. The Camino, as described before, is six to fifteen feet wide here and pretty good footing, in general. At each edge of the path are grassy sections which, if one is not alert, quickly lead to ditches of varying depths. During the rainy days, these were half filled with water. Now, not so much. The far side of the ditches is often decorated with blossoms, mostly a red-orange poppy-type flower that sometimes sneaks into the crops beyond. Good.

The road is deserted again, with only a couple of villages where one can buy "Café Americano" for a euro or so. This entitles one to possession of about three ounces of Nescafé or a little more if purchased "con leche." On the other hand, as we passed the Rio Pisuerga on our way into the village of Itero de la Vega, a young woman sprang from a car parked beside the road, threw down her cell phone and urged us to buy breakfast at the Tacho café where, for 2.5 €, one could purchase scrambled eggs, bacon, and bread. Café was another euro. The place was packed with pilgrims enjoying the sinful delights of bacon while a Miley Cyrus video ("Wrecking Ball," and there is no way that young woman’s teeth are her own) played on a TV in the corner, proof that the high points of American culture are everywhere.

This is our daily pattern now: long stretches with no other human in sight punctuated by snack stops loaded with peregrinos lounging at outdoor tables sipping coffee or (later in the day) drinking Coke Zero. We never see these people on the road and suspect they are shills of some sort.

We also make up stories (mostly salacious) about the few people we do see. Okay, it’s a sad life.

But wait, there’s more! We finally mosey into Fromista, a village of 754 that has managed to spread this modest number of inhabitants into a town without there being any reason for one. Directions to our hotel - a "hostal," evidently Spanish for a six to ten room place that probably used to be a single residence, (and often still is the residence of the folks who run it) are accurate and reinforced by bumping into our acquaintance from Norway, who says it is delightful. Turns out, she’s right, though for a reason we’ve seen a few times before, as follows. When we arrive, the 80 (or so) year old lady is unable to find our reservation so she turns for help to her 60 (or so) year old daughter. As we’ve found often, some folks in small villages are between low-tech and no-tech, and anything that comes through the Internet is a delightful surprise to them. In this case, the surprise was that we’d been penciled in for tomorrow, not today. Ola! The daughter shrugs and says (among many, many other things we do not understand) "De nada," Spanish for "Tomorrow? Today? :-) What’s the difference?" She then shows us to a room while rattling on in Spanish despite having been told that neither of us speaks a word of it. "De nada."

The highlight of all this isn’t the room, although it’s good enough: it’s the woman and her positive spirit. Perhaps she wasn’t listening when Scout said she didn’t speak Spanish, or maybe she didn’t care. Somehow, things would work out okay. She brought us complimentary drinks, a Coke and a cervesa, as a sign of welcome, gave us info about local restaurants and directions back to the Camino, all without being asked or knowing whether we understood a word. Like this lady a lot! There’s no good reason to visit Fromista, but if you do, we know where you should stay.

River Pisuerga

Dave along canal heading into Fromista

Selfie

Be prepared!

Camino sign with horsies

Delightful hotel, but smallest bathtub in the world

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