Those of you who follow me on Instagram will know that this summer (2018) I walked 190km along the Camino de Santiago, from Burgos to Léon in Spain. This is the third leg of the Camino which I started in 2016 (if you’re interested, I wrote a Q&A post in response to some of the questions people had asked me along the way that year), I’m completing a leg each summer until 2020. This is Day 19 (other posts linked at the end of this post).
Camino Frances Day 19: Castrojeriz to Frómista (approx 25km)
The guidebook calls the first part of the day a “strenuous climb” but suggests that the view from the top will “be enough to revive any flagging spirit”. Uh, yeah. From past experience we know that when the book says something like this, it’s likely to be a bit worse than it sounds…
The day starts out flat…
But then you can see the hill ahead…
Doesn’t look too bad, right? Until you see this…
Um.. ok. That’s steep! It feels a lot longer, by the way…And the photos don’t nearly do it justice…
The views as you go up are stunning though (to be fair!):
Crazy as *I* felt walking, there were a fair number of people cycling up…
(yes, that’s the top in sight!)
And once you get to the top, it’s truly magical:
By this point in the day, it’s still early and you’ve only really walked about 5km but every one stops to catch their breath for a little bit. That felt like a LONG 1000 metres!
Fortunately, at the top, there’s a lovely long flat stretch…
This was actually pretty challenging – we all think about walking UP a hill as being difficult but the DOWN is a challenge too (so hard on your knees!). Fortunately, there was a mid-morning coffee stop at around 9km in Itero de la Vega. Kind Breakfast Bars, nuun, bananas and café con leche for the win!
After this stop, however, there are still over 15km to walk so you don’t want to get too comfortable… And the scenery is all very monotonous. Pretty but monotonous…
This was hard, mentally because there’s literally nothing on the horizon…
8.5km later, Boadilla del Camino appears
and chips and cerveza con limón beckon…
But you don’t want to linger too long because there are still 6km to walk…. At this point in the day, after roughly 20km, I personally feel like that’s enough walking – especially after such a hard start, so this day was a big challenge physically and mentally… Getting up after this little snack was HARD…
Fortunately the scenery into Frómista is a little varied…
Yes, that’s a canal you’re walking along…
And eventually, you end up in the centre of Frómista…
This was a hard day, especially walking on my own because it’s hard to keep up the motivation when the scenery just goes on and on and on looking the same for kilometres on end.. It’s a tad longer than other “longest days” on the Camino in the previous two years but not by much. It feels longer though… This was the latest I arrived at a hotel (2.55pm, thanks timestamp on iPhone photos for helping me out!) and Frómista is a small town so there wasn’t much for it but to admire the view from my room (after a bath, of course!).
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Disclosure: I researched Camino trips independently and chose the Camino Travel Center based on a number of features such as flexibility to accommodate a couple of “splits” in some of the longer days, price and customer service. They were, in fact the first company I came across in my very first Google search and the one I ended up booking with. From the initial inquiry to the actual trips, they have been a pleasure to deal with and we have been very impressed with the service provided (bag transportation) and the accommodation choices. I was not compensated to write about this trip in any way but I love sharing companies and products I believe in with my readers. I couldn’t recommend the Camino Travel Center more and, in fact, am booking another Camino walk with them for next summer (and every summer until I reach Santiago!).
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