Storks!

Today we left Castrojeriz and headed to Fromista

It was pretty chilly as we left this morning but we knew there was an imminent hill that would warm us up! Castrojeriz is a unique stop on the Camino, which crosses the town for more than 1,500 meters, making it the longest urban journey on the entire Jacobean route. In terms of notable people, Constance, second daughter of Pedro I the Cruel, King of Castile, and Maria de Padilla was born in Castrojeriz in 1354 and married to John of Gaunt , Duke of Lancaster and third son of King Edward III of England.

Walking out of Castrojeriz, we could see the Alto de Mostelares waiting for us. The ascent was 130m over 1.26km and pretty steep in places. It was good to power up the hill and get the heart going so early in the morning! From the top we had great views back to Castrojeriz.

We then walked across the valley with wonderful colours of flowers all round us, even the edge of the path was teeming with colour. We could see the church of Itero del Castillo in the near distance, but we wouldn’t be heading that way today.

More walking through crop fields and flowery paths and we came across the Ermita de San Nicolás. This is an Albergue (hostel) now in the old church of the pilgrims’ hospital from the 12th century, and run by volunteers – it seems to get rave reviews, we also added another stamp to our pilgrim’s passport. We then crossed the Puente de Itero, over the River Pisuerga, which is one of the longest bridges on the Camino with eleven arches.

We passed (briefly) through Itero de La Vega and then back into farmland where there was plenty of irrigation happening. Some of this presumably came from the Canal de Pisuerga that we crossed en route to Boadilla del Camino.

As we passed through the village (we think this was a stopping point for today as the crowd thinned considerably afterwards), the most noticeable thing was the number of storks nesting on buildings. We counted 4 nesting pairs on the roof of the church and a further nest on the (water?) tower as we left the village.

Our final stretch of the day, before getting to Fromista, was alongside the Canal de Castilla. This was constructed between the last half of the 18th century and the first half of the 19th century and runs 207 km through the provinces of Burgos, Palencia and Valladolid in Castile and León. Its width ranges between 11 m and 22m and depth is between 1.8m and 3m. It is protected by a heritage listing now – parts of it are still in use, although there are only limited possibilities for navigation: it also irrigates 48 municipalities.

As we walked into Fromista there was plenty more evidence that the storks have occupied this area – they especially seem to like churches!

Tomorrow is a longer day, 38km, as we combine two legs of the itinerary and head to Calzadilla de la Cueza. This means that we will now be a day head of all the people we have been passing daily – it has been fun recognizing people, saying hello and having a quick chat where they seem receptive. So for the second half of our journey we will just have to pass and recognize new people 🙂