Leaving Itero de la Vega.
It's 9.00 o'clock and barely light!
Because of last night's rain the track is muddy, though nowhere near as muddy as yesterday's path!
Jill sets a cracking pace when she takes the lead, which is quite often in the morning as I spend quite some time fluffing around taking photos!
We had a bit of a hill, not too steep just a steady rise, to climb leaving Itero de la Vega, and then a gentle descent into Boadilla del Camino.
After the descent it was a pleasant walk into the village. There was one time when we had a heavy drizzle. Jill began the day in full wet weather gear, whereas I only had my raincoat on. When the drizzle started I just rolled up my trouser legs so I was wearing "shorts" and rolled them down again when it stopped. This means that thus far I have avoided wearing my rain pants. Mind you my bright red, wind whipped legs were a sight!
Entering Boadilla del Camino there is a nice little rest stop, with a sculptured pilgrim resting. In the summer this spot generally has pilgrims resting too, but not on a day like today! When I first visited Boadilla del Camino in 2005 there was a small municipal albergue and a large private one which had a swimming pool, and a very good restaurant. Now there are at least 4 albergue, and a lovely private one, complete with a bar, just as you leave town. This was where we stopped for lunch - homemade tortilla españa and homemade cake!
There is an interesting, maybe even grotesque, thing that Boadilla is famous for. It is the "rollo" which stands at the back of the church. In the 15th C the village was granted its independence. To mark this important event they celebrated by erecting a gibbet (rollo) so that they could hang wrong doers without any intervention from the nobles!
Leaving Boadilla the path continued wet and at times muddy, but it had a beauty about it that I loved even in the mist!
Not long after leaving Boadilla the path follows the Canal de Castilla for about 4 - 5 kms. This is still used for irrigation and is actually quite high. At one point I estimate that this road (and the canal) was as much as 8 - 10 metres higher than the paddocks on the left. This was one of four canals that were begun in the 1750's and took about 50 years to build.
The Camino crosses the canal on the outskirts of the town of Fromista. We leave it to continue for many more kms, but away from the Camino.
We had an easy day today. The distance was only about 14 kms but when we got here there no albergue open and so we are staying tonight in a hostal. We are in a twin room, have our own bathroom, get supplied with brekky and all for €25 each! This church is just outside our door.
This church above is often referred to as the "Jewell in the crown" of the Camino. It is the church of San Martin and is famous for its capitals, which after all these years are mostly intact. That's one in the photo below. I have discovered that this is a scaled down replica of the cathedral at Jaca.
I have been looking carefully at the pollarded trees - and yes - they do join them. This photo shows pretty clearly the joining of two different branches from two different trees.
As you can see from the photos, though most of the day was overcast, and at times drizzly, by the time we had arrived, completed our chores and gone out to explore the sun was peaking through the clouds.
It is New years eve and we are perched up in our beds writing and typing. I will be able to stick to my golden rule of making this the one day of the year that I am in bed before midnight. I suspect our lights will be out by 9.00 - a really early night! We need our beauty sleep as we have to be up for brekky at 8.30!
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