Day 3 (29 March) 15 miles — Joining the Pack

Days on the Camino begin in earnest at 6:30. My blog’s draft gets as many revisions as necessary after a night’s sleep. My suitcase gets packed because it must be in the lobby by 8:00. Breakfast starts around 7:30 except when the hotel’s scheduled time is later.

As I was ending my breakfast this morning, our two Englishwomen from the previous night came into the restaurant. They were dressed to the nines for their next leg which was half of what we were doing today. Later, we met two young Englishmen who were walking twice our distance. The beauty of the Camino is that you can walk the Camino your way.

I met the guys shortly thereafter and we started out zekkoucho style (Japanese meaning with vigor — I learned the word from my friend, Aoyama, when we walked the 88 temples) to tackle the hill before us. The elevation gain was 500 feet. On the way, two Caminoites joined our pack.

Duna is a Shar Pei who walked right up the hill weaving around us while minding her own business.

As we climbed hill, Rachel from Thunder Bay, Canada who is all of eighteen provided silent cheerleading that boosted our energy as the hill became steeper. Knowing someone from Thunder Bay is like knowing someone from Greenland, eh?

She is taking a gap year after graduating from high school. She has applied to the University of British Columbia. Besides traveling, she is writing papers for a company that produces electricity from locally donated compost. The project is located in Uganda. Here is Rachel at the top of the hill. After walking with us for another mile, she bid us good bye. We saw her later at our cerveza stop. We are sure that we will see her again.

One of the wonders about long distance walking is looking back from whence you have come. Remember that hill with the castle on top from yesterday? Check it out in the distance. You can also make out the road that we had just walked.

Soon we entered the Provencia of Palencia.

The government of Castilla y Leon could not leave well enough alone. Here is a billboard next to the stone marker that I am sure they are proud to display.

It was now 2:00. We had waited to have lunch until the town of Boadilla del Camino. We were searching for a place to eat. We were desperate and on the edge of leaving the town. I was ready to break out my dried soybeans and raisins. A local driver went by us and luckily stopped about 20 meters away. John asked him where we could find some food. We should have turned left instead of right at the juntos in the town center. The albergue was off the Camino route but next to the main church. Dah, pilgrims of old had to eat and sleep after saying their prayers. We knew we reached the right place — BAR! The door was open.

I enjoyed our three course meal plus vino. Soup with garbanzo beans, marinated chicken, and homemade custard. All for 14 Euros. We engaged in serious conversation about how walking after eating is helpful for digestion and maintaining weight. I wonder how many more times we will discuss this topic. Will this prescription work for us?

We had three miles left to go. Who knew that the Canal of Castilla was nearby. A tour boat streamed by with the tourists filming us and we them. The scene reminded me of Henri Matisse’s painting of the Canal du Midi. As we crossed the canal at the point where we entered the town of Fromista, we saw a cascading flow of water where there were once locks to lift and drop boats through the canal. The canal’s construction started in 1753 and it was finally operational in 1849. Can you imagine if a construction project in the US lasted 96 years?

We were pretty tired when reached the town proper. We went our separate ways to our hotels. Luckily, we had rooms. In the square that my hotel fronts, two Spanish women whom we had met before on the road said that they found no vacant rooms and were forced to walk to the next town to find accommodations. Even in March before the start of the season, reserving a room ahead of time is a must.

Here is the Iglesias St Martin of Tours which is a stone’s throw from my hotel to the left in the photo. The church will be tomorrow’s meeting point.

Time for a good night’s sleep after dinner. What happens if I don’t walk afterwards?