Yes, there was a screen on the window. Our first 6 kms were along a canal, and while the pic below is blurry, that's because the wind was so strong I couldn't stand still!
We arrived at Fromista in just over an hour, which was great time and an indication of how much we just wanted to get out of the rain and wind and have breakfast. Arriving into this first town, we had to cross a small bridge over the canal locks...
Rather than take the smooth path alongside the highway between this town and our next destination, we opted to take an alternative route on a 2000 year old Roman road (in spite of its roughness - see below)...
The stones you see sticking out above the surface are the original surface still from 2 millennia ago. Pretty amazing! After a brief stop for coffee in an outdoor bar, we continued along the alternative route but found it so muddy and slippery that we cut left and found our way back to the main Camino path along the highway. Did I mention that it was brutally cold too, and that our wet gloves didn't improve matters any?
20 kms after we began this day's journey, we arrived in the village of Villalcazar de Sarga. I took this picture of Diane's shoes and pants just too prove how muddy it was...
...and then we found a deliciously warm cafe where we had egg drop soup that warmed us up for the rest of today's journey. Our friend from Holland, Stefanie, took this shot of the 4 of us eagerly awaiting our soup...
After lunch, we visited the 13th century church funded by the Knights Templar, an order of Roman Catholic knights wearing white tunics with red crosses that defended Christianity in the Middle Ages from the rise of Islam and protected/promoted pilgrimages such as the way of St. James. This is the group that helped establish hostels and hospitals along the whole Camino. Because of their rising power, the pope of the time together with King Philip of France arrested their leader and the majority of the knights in the order and put them all to death. This massacre took place on Friday, October 13, 1307, and is the reason Friday the 13th was always considered an unlucky day. I took 2 pictures inside the church. The first was legal...
The second was not so much. There was a door marked private off one of the church's chapels, but it had a good size hole near the bottom, and being the curious person I am I could not resist getting on my knees and taking this picture of what seems to be the office of the church's priest??? Anyway, now you have a pretty exclusive photo!
I know, I'm bad! Leaving town, I sat down to give some advice and consolation to a fellow pilgrim who was just finishing his own lunch...
From here it was just under 6 kms to our day's destination. Happily, the rain had ended, though the wind stayed strong. The pics below were our typical view along that stretch, though happily the Camino does not usually go along a highway as it did today...
We are now in a small local hotel in Carrion de Los Condes, and after a quick change we warmed up in a local bar with a bottle of wine, where the hostess graciously offered us small treats of sardines and smoked ham on bread free of charge. This town has a population of about 2300 people, and we're hoping it has some good restaurants to feed tired and very hungry pilgrims!
Oh, and our "League of Nations" (countries represented by people we've met and spoken to along the way) has increased to include New Zealand and Ecuador.
Distance today: 26.5 kms
Time on the road: 6:35
Total distance to date: 376.8 kms
Walking days remaining: 20
Nicely done, Bert. I love the shot through the peephole. Hilarious!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing Bert! You sure give us a flavor of what your day was like! I like the smiles! On another note, being on your knees in church isn't all bad!
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