We did manage to get in decent time and out on the road early this morning. We both had lots to do at home so we enjoyed a short, peaceful 12 kms before returning to work on chores. Short though it might have been, the sky was blue, the wind much reduced and the light ever so soft.
We climbed for the view across the Straights to the Olympic Peninsula. Still lots of snow and we can expect some flooding this next week as the temperatures are going to climb across the southern half of BC. The spring freshet is well underway.
We followed deer trails for a time.
And after descending we headed off into the trees again to catch the morning light on the fresh maple leaves.
I love walking through these trees with the ever changing light and the way it collects different details in the forest.
Then we returned home where the beginning of a nasty, but important yard project was waiting for me that would occupy the rest of my day. The 3m high back hedge was waiting. Time to reduce its height a bit, shape it up, clean out the ivy behind it and prepare the beds to receive a fresh layer of mulch. The camino was never this much work!!
And back on the Camino lots is happening as we depart Fromista and head out into a nicer looking day. Annemarie feels good to go again, though her toe is still not functioning well. One tough cookie that one. The stories I could tell you.
We stopped in Poblacion de Campos and as I pulled this photo in I realize that this is the small place that I stayed at in 2018. Believe me, there isn't much there except a few buildings and this hotel. This is where I met my Japanese friend who lives at the start of the 88 Temple Route and has walked the route. We spent the evening conversing with translator apps and my basic Japanese as he could only speak Japanese. We had a memorable evening together and our paths would cross again and again all the way to Santiago. He wasn't fast, but he was definitely a strong walker.
Ken, is that you and Marianne in the distance? I'm thinking that it is. Her red coat?
We passed through Villovieco and over the river (stream)...
....and stopped for refreshment at this kind of goofy open air place.
After which we head out into the lovely mud.
We had decided to take the longer variant to visit the Templar church at Ermita de la Virgen del Rio and as we left the main road route we discover that the variant trail was a quagmire of heavy yellow mud. Sticky, heavy yellow mud! You can only laugh, and we did, when you find mud like this!
BVut it was scenic that early October day.
I asked Annemarie to stop as she crossed this small bridge. I recall that she wasn't very happy with my request and that she wasn't saying very nice things to me!
The muddy route was about 5-6 kms long and I'd made a notation in my map book that was much the nicer route as it ran beside a small stream and was tree lined. That it was, but I hadn't realized how muddy it would be after heavy rains. The alternative was to walk along the busy P-980, something that I decided to do in 2018 knowing this muddy section would be waiting for me, likely covered in ice.
As I'm looking at photos to post here I see this one and realize that behind Annemarie in the distance is Ken slugging his way through the mud! Marianne would be just behind him around the corner. And suddenly I recall that this is where we made our first connection, the four of us. We'd seen the two of them several times, and Annemarie says that she had even spoken with Ken earlier. I'm pretty sure that Ken and I didn't speak before this, though I recognized him as a Canadian with his Tilley Hat. Maybe we said buen camino to each other?
Ken wrote this poem about that day;
4 October, Ermita de la Virgin del Río
Picking my muddy way
Along the Rio Ucieza
I pass another field of sunflowers,
Their black and heavy heads
Bowed as if in silent prayer.
Why might a sunflower pray?
To give thanks for the season’s rain and sun?
Or to ask for courage against the
Whirling combine, the oil press?
This morning, rain but as a result bought coffee and the best bocadillo of the trip at a bar. Talked to Neil and Sarah. Then into the rain, which eventually stopped. Now sun, wind like yesterday. Path along river joyously muddy. Walked ahead quickly to give Marianne space to think (or mourn) and enjoyed walking quickly, sticks keeping me upright, working on [and] then remembering poem that came to me when I saw another field of sunflowers waiting for harvest.
Marianne is on the phone with Thomas so I moved to a drier spot under portico here at Ermita de la Virgen del Río, which seems to be a partially abandoned convent. Next is Villacázar de Sirga, then Carrion, which marks, more or less, the halfway point between Saint Jean Pied de Port and Santiago de Compostela.
Another beautiful day and I feel so at peace with everything, including myself.
So we walked on past a decent looking bodega that was no doubt full of good wine. You find these all over the wine regions of Spain. Basically man made caves where the wine can be properly stored, aged...and enjoyed!
And then we reached the next town.
Where we found the Templar church. Oddly I have no photo from 2013, however, this is the entrance.
A simple church where our packs were not welcome to visit.
So we parked them and has a look around.
We took a short break to chat with another tired peregrino and then we pushed onwards.
I particularly remember the last 6 kms to our destination because the sky with the floating clouds left a lasting impression on me.
This photo is on our wall to remind me of just that. It was a pleasant warm day, well it was pleasant once we were out of the mud!
2018.
In 2018 I walked this section on Halloween! I was delighted to see the small kids preparing as I passed through Revenga de Campos.
Priceless! The sight of their excitement lifted my spirits considerably.
We, all of us, really did make the right decision to stay away from the highway in 2013. It was a bleak, dreary walk.
Almost to Villalcázar.
It was a mind numbing, chilly walk. 2013 seemed so far away, but as I write this post it's been really good for me to see the warm sun and colours from 2013. Camino therapy?: )
I passed this fellow, the only other peregrino I saw all day.
Arriving.
But, enough of 2018!
Here we are arriving, in 2013! Just in front of us is a lovely family of four from California who we were to connect with again and again all the way to Santiago. Really nice parents with two daughters in their late teens. I wonder if Ken, Sarah or Neil remember them, and if so, do you have their contact information? We kicked ourselves when we arrived home to find that we were without their email address.
Some peregrinos look so serious.
We were all so pleased to finally see a stork in one of the many stork nests along the Camino. I guess this one was confused and hadn't flown south to Morocco, where we's seen them wintering a few years earlier.
It was a pretty little town and we have good memories of our stay there.
A couple of nice churches.
And in 2013 a well earned rest and a bit of planning at the end of the stage. Note that Annemarie has her hand firmly on the Ipad!
In 2018 I didn't stop here as I was moving at a different pace on a somewhat different mission for Alzheimers Awareness, but I did stop for a hot drink and thought about our lovely visit in 2013 and the people we'd met. After that, I carried on down the road another 18 kilometres.
Buen Camino!
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