Boadilla del Camino to Carrion de Los Condes

27.9 km

For the first time in 50 days, since flying to Le Puy on the 1st September, we woke up to rain. When we went down to breakfast, Edward, the son of the albergue owners, told us that it would rain all day. Forewarned is forearmed, and so we ensured that all of our stuff was in dry bags, and we donned our waterproofs.

Equipped as well as we could be, we set out. Over the last five weeks, because of the strength of the sun, the stitching on parts of my boots has come away, and I have been wondering if I would stay dry in the wet.

Soon after leaving Boadilla, we came to the Canal de Castilla, (a great photo opportunity if it hadn't been so wet), which lead to the town of Fromista, where we stopped for coffee.

From Fromista, the Camino follows the main road to Carrion for 18 km using a track called the "Senda" which the guide book writers hate. On a wet and windy day, a hard gravel track on which you can notch up the km's, is perfect.

About an hour out from Fromista Lesley discovered she had a slightly dodgy tummy, shortly afterwards I discovered that I did as well! Fortunately there were a number of villages along the way with open bars!

Over the last week or two, basically since leaving Pamplona, I have been having problems with my left foot. Yesterday at lunch, we had been talking about the fact that we would soon be on the final leg of the Camino. I said "providing our feet behave themselves". This was obviously tempting fate, and later in the afternoon my foot problem flared up big time. It has still been with me today, and we are now wondering if we will actually make it to Santiago or not. We will just have to see if it improves or gets worse over the next few days!

Please don't think that it is beause we haven't had a rest day since Condom, as in effect we have had rest days, with our two very short days crossing the Pyrenees and our long afternoons in Pamplona and Burgos. Also, when we get to Leon we will be taking a full day again.

The reality is that I seem to have a weakness in my left side, evidenced by the broken ankle 4 years ago and the injury four days before we were due to fly out. This present problem is possibly related.

At about 3:30 we arived here in Carrion, and decided, because of our wet gear, which we needed to spread out to dry, and our dodgy tummies, to get our own room with a bathroom.

The truth is because the Spanish have an extra class of accommodation, called hostals, you can get a very high quality room for less than the 2 of us would pay at home to stay in a Youth Hostel! Note that the albergues (pilgrim accommodation) that I have been referring to as 'hostals' are not infact Spanish hostals - I have been using the term in the English sense.

After drying off and with our tummies feeling a lot better, we were able to go out for a pleasant pilgrims meal before coming back to our room to write up our blog and diary before we go to sleep.

In our room we have a TV, and it's obvious from the news that this rain is an unusual event and has affected most of Spain. Hopefully it will blow over and we will have better weather in the morning.

On the Camino in Spain.