Camino : Hontanas to Frómista

Today was a special walk day because my friend from undergrad, whom I had not seen for over 20 years, had flown in from Germany expressly to walk with me for a day.

We started at 7AM from Hontanas. He had originally planned to accompany me for three days and therefore had a backpack which was much heavier than it needed to be for just a day.

Our start coincided with dawn and we could see the beautiful countryside almost from the time we started to walk.

We walked at an easy pace, and before long, we arrived at the next town, the one named 'Convento de San Anton'.

The fourteenth century convent of San Anton, whose ruins were visible, provided care for the sick, especially those who were suffering from the 'fire of San Anton'.

The arch on the main doorway was very beautiful with six concentric arches decorated with pilgrim statues.

Continuing further, we saw the big hill we would have to climb after we reached Castrojeriz, which was 9km away.

The mature trees lining the path were beautiful and we carried on walking while catching up on the happenings for each of us over the past two decades.

In less than two hours, we reached Castrojeriz, and I was glad my friend had a good walking pace.

The Church of Nuestra Señora del Manzano or Iglesia de Santa María del Manzano, a 13th century monument was right in front of us.

Walking through the town, we noticed a monument that was over a 1000 years old as it seemed to be established in year 974AD.

The path continued with farmlands, trees, mountains, puddles, fresh breeze and our good conversation.

The hill was ahead of us, and it was pretty steep. However, we were quickly at the top for a well-deserved break.

From the crest of the hill, there were very wide ranging views of the valley below.

The various regions of Spain that I had walked through so far, had a lot of windmills. I was just a little sad that most of them were not moving most of the time.

We came to the hermitage of San Nicholas which was in Itero de la Vega, our next stop on the way.

Now we were in the province of Palencia, not to be confused with València.

Every so often, without warning, a signpost showed up, indicating how far Santiago de Compostela was. It was always good to see the almost 800 km getting whittled down, little by little.

In the farmland, there were two huge storks wandering around and feeding themselves. Since the farm was next to a canal, the farm was thriving. I could see the storks for over a half hour as the path was long and the storks too big.

It was almost 8 hours since we started walking and we were at Boadilla Del Camino,

We came to the Jurisdictional Roll of Boadilla, a symbol of the independent sovereignty of the town, thanks to a privilege of King Henry IV, confirmed by the Catholic Monarchs in 1482. On this roll, the condemned were chained, to expose them to public shame, before they were tried.

Most other pilgrims were done for the day at this point but we had six more kilometers to go to the bigger town of Frómista because it offered some really good culinary choices.

Part of the next walk was by a river canal and the scenery was continuing to be very pleasing.

Before too long, we were at the town of Frómista, and since my friend was heading back to Germany the next morning, we first went to the train station to ensure the specifics of his train.

Saint Telmo, from the 12th century, is the patron saint of this town and incidentally, today was the festival of Saint Telmo, which continues for the next two days.

Very young children where performing devotional, music and songs in the church in the middle of the town.

We had planned to go to Hostería de Los Palmeros, a Michelin rated restaurant and we were very hungry but our reservation was for 8:30 PM.

As we sat in the church, enjoying the music performance, the restaurant called me and said that we can come in earlier. The restaurant was in a very old building which dates back to the 10th - 15th century as an old hospital for pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago.

The restaurant service was impeccable and the sommelier was just fantastic. We had a full chef recommended tasting menu which lasted almost 3 hours.

Very tired, but well fed, we walked back to our hotel passing the very well lit ancient churches of the town and thousands of people on the street who were celebrating the festival of St. Telmo.

My friend had truly shocked his body with a 21 mile walk unexpectedly and his body rebelled by producing 10 or more blisters all over his feet. I was glad that he was only going to walk that one day and his ordeal was over.

He seemed to be in good spirits and we called it a day.