Itero de la Vega to Carrión de los Condes (33.7km)

Today was a long day, probably the furthest we've walked yet. And when coupled with the wind that was almost constantly blowing directly against us, I'd say it was the most physically challenging day too. But it was fun, in a challenging sort of way!

I woke up at 6:30 today, feeling pretty tired. I wanted to sleep more, but knew I had to get up if we were to leave on time. The plan was to leave at 7:00, but it seems the earliest we can realistically leave is always 7:30. So, there we were at 7:30 getting ready to walk out the door. Margaret, Sam, and I had gotten up early, and Dan and Luis decided to sleep in. So those were the walking groups for the day.

The three of us headed out soon after 7:30. Since no nearby city had a single albergue open, with the exception of Frómista who was completely booked, we had to walk over 32 kilometers to reach a sizable town that did have an albergue open with plenty of beds. I've learned that anything over 30km is a long, long day. You're likely getting in around 9-12 hours after you started walking, depending on the amount of breaks you take and how fast you walk. I'm definitely enjoying the mix of experiences though. It's nice having some challenging days and some restful days. I think having both gives the full Camino experience!

It was another very windy and cold, cloudy day. I was able to wear three jackets comfortably today, and four once it started raining later on. But in the morning, it was just cold and wind. The three of us talked a bit as we left our tiny town and journeyed out into the rolling hills, but we spread out as time went on. We came up on a small hill, and had a nice view of the path behind us and before us. The wind was so strong on the hill that I felt like I was being dragged.

Wind is funny on the Camino. In ordinary life, you don't have to deal with it much, even if it's a windy day. You'd just experience it on the way from your door to the car, or your car to the store. Or maybe you'd get to experience it more if you take a walk in it, but even then you're only experiencing it for at most an hour. On the camino, especially on long days, you experience it for hour and hours and hours, with no true break until you find your bed for the night. It kind of shapes the day. It's so loud that you can barely hear other people, so you can't talk much. It's also somewhat distracting, and can make it hard to think. It dictates what you wear and even how you walk. If it's blowing straight against you, you have to put more effort into your steps and lean into them. If it's blowing perpendicular to you, you have to lean against the wind, and be ready to lean harder during sudden forceful gusts or catch yourself from falling during sudden still periods. And if it's blowing with you? One could only dream to be so lucky! It doesn't happen.

We continued walking, and I took the time to listen to a homily by Fr. Mike Schmitz on a book written by Fr. Walter Cizek, called "He Leadeth Me". It's Fr. Walter's story of being a missionary priest in Russia who survived 5 years in solitary confinement and over 15 years in Siberian labor camps. In the homily was a great lesson: expectations can be the enemy of reality. We often think "this wasn't what I expected" and are disappointed by reality when reality bulldozes our expectations. It got me thinking: what are my expectations for marriage? What are my expectations for mission? I want to be ready to accept whatever experiences God decided to give me through marriage and mission, and the rest of my life too, not only those I expected beforehand. Fr. Mike made the great point that focusing on expectations can cause us to miss God working in our lives. If we're so busy railing against our situation and saying "this isn't what I expected", we can miss what God is trying to tell us through the reality of the situation.

That reflection got me pretty far, and soon we came upon our first small town. It's a Sunday in winter, and we were at a small town, which meant we were more likely to find a penguin waddling around town than an open cafe. Still, I checked the only place that popped up on Google maps, just in case. You're smart enough by now to know how that went. So the three of us sat in the shelter of the church courtyard (want to guess if the church was open?) and ate our sandwiches. It was nice to take a break after two hours of walking, and the food gave us the energy we needed to continue on.

Another funny thing to note is how body temperature becomes so important on the Camino. I typically start the day in as much clothing as is needed to get comfortably warm in the morning. Within 5 minutes, I've usually removed a jacket, and within 10, my beanie or buff will come off. Often my hands will get warm and I'll have to remove my gloves too. I always keep them handy, though, because a two minute rest break will cause you to cool down and you'll get cold all over again. It's quite an interesting process!

After more open green hills, we came to a river. We walked by the river for a while, which was very blue. Here the wind died down ever so slightly, so we talked and I told some more riddles and jokes.

After a few more kilometers, we made it to the sizable town of Frómista! We talked to a nice lady in an information house, and found that they actually had a cafe open. Hallelujah! The three of us stopped in there and had a feast. They had baked goods and coffee, so we all got both for only a few euros each. Our table was soon covered in pastries and it was time to dig in.

After a good amount of time spent resting and eating, we took a look in the local church, which was open because it was a bigger city, and spent some time looking at the art and statues. They actually had two beautiful churches in the city, only a few streets apart. The Spanish are definitely spoiled with their churches!

Then we continued the walk. We had come 14km already, and only had 18km to go. As Margaret put it, 18km is an easy walking day. So if we imagined that we had slept in and just had a nice breakfast, it would be like we just have an easy walk ahead.

We followed the road for a little while, then found another little village. Here, we stopped for a quick coke inside an open cafe (a miracle, one that the entire town was intent on taking advantage of) and watched some horse races on the TV. Then, we veered off the main road to follow another river for a while.

Here, around 2:30, it started raining. So we all got our rain gear on and continued walking. We followed the river faithfully, since we all hate roads, but actually followed it a little too faithfully. The river route was a 1km detour, one we decided was worth it. But we didn't realize you could follow it all the way to the next town, at the the cost of a 3-4km detour. Oh well. The river was beautiful to walk along anyway. We didn't talk much during this portion, since the wind seemed like it was trying to blow us directly into the river and the rain was hitting our left side. I spent more time reflecting and thanking God for the good things in my life.

Funny note: only my left side was wet since that's where the rain was coming from. My right was completely dry!

After a long walk, we came upon this beautiful little convent in the middle of nowhere. It was a great place to take a snack break, drink some water, and have refuge from the rain and wind. Once we had spent a few minutes regaining our sanity, it was back into the wind storm.

From there, it was about 1.5 more hours of walking. That time passed quick with either talking or praying. Finally, it was 6:30, and we reached our albergue in Carrión de los Condes. I quickly dropped my stuff and showered, then ran to the nearest church to make it to Sunday Mass at 7:00. It was a very nice church, and the Mass was great as always. I spent some time praying in the church after, and a few parishioners wished me a Buen Camino.

After Mass, I found Sam, Dan, Margaret, Luis, Yondue, Woody, and two other Koreans heading to a pizza place for dinner. I joined them and had nice dinner out. I sat with Dan, Margaret, and Sam, and caught up with Dan, asking how his day was. Him and Luis had somehow actually beaten us to our albergue! The Koreans had taken a 40 kilometer day a few days back (crazy!) and had gotten into town earlier today. It's cool to see the same people over and over again, in different towns, even though you travel at a different pace. It was a good dinner and we all ate pizza and shared walking stories.

After dinner, I just did laundry and blogged. It's now midnight and I must get to sleep. Tomorrow is a beautiful 17 kilometers. That's half of today's distance! I can't wait to take it slow and mosey my way through the short day. But today has been a blast as well! Thank you, God, for giving me the strength to make it through such a day! I can't wait to see what else God has in store for me.