Wow I feel rough… Hardly any sleep and up by 5am… I know I know serves me right!
It’s 6.15am, before I’m ready to leave. I drink as much squash as I can, it’s gonna be a long day. At least today feels a little warmer. We follow the road out of Frómista and as I look back the sunrise is beautiful, shades of red and orange. Slowly the sun begins to rise from the horizon, I feel a little better already.
The farmers are already busy in the fields, harriers pass overhead and birdsong echoes from every direction. Within an hour we pass through Población de Campos and as we turn to follow the river, most of the other pilgrims take the new slightly shorter route along the road. The old route is by far the more interesting route but we are plagued by gnats & midges along the river bank. Despite the irritation I spot a heron overhead, (it has some reddish colours to it), I also see cuckoos and some kind of warblers singing loudly from their reed hiding places.
We pass through a couple more villages before arriving in Carrión de los Condes.
I had toyed with the idea of continuing on to the next village, but considering I’d walked 20km already and the next village was a further 17km, I decide to stay here. The town is small but has a grand church at it’s heart and the albergue next door is run by nuns.
We have to wait for the albergue to open so we go for a coffee. After checking in, we explore the town.
After the conversation with Carlos, Neville & Jonathon yesterday, I have suggested to Gus we set ourselves a new target. We have walked 40km in a day, I now want to see if I can do 50km. My plan is to set out early (very early) from a town just over 50km before León. If we get tired we can always stop before but otherwise we get to León and then have the next day to explore the city…!?! Me and my hair brained ideas…
Please feel free to pass my stupid idea on to friends who may want to sponsor or donate to UNICEF to help motivate me.
To those of you who have donated recently I’d like to thank you very much. Its such an important cause and your donations mean I must be doing something right!