Our goal was to hike 25k to Fromista for lunch so we stopped for a snack between Itero and Boadilla del Camino. We probably should have gone ahead and stopped here for lunch, but we wanted to try to stay on schedule. The last 3 km before Fromista were a slog and both of us were starting to hurt. Fromista was exceptional and had the coolest church we have seen yet, San Martin. Our book said it was a perfect example of a Romanesque church, and it was right. Beautifully preserved/restored with amazing detail and carvings. I doubt we will see one better. We actually even paid to go inside. And we did all this before lunch.
After spending 20 minutes trying to decide on a place to eat, I go and screw it all up. I ordered a pizza which took 30 minutes to get. It was good, but it wasn't even what I ordered. I ordered a hawaian pizza and they brought me some sort of veggie/meat one. It still sucks not to speak Spanish well. I did pay on my own though without Rachel so I am getting alot better. I should be self sufficient by the end of the trip. We left around 3pm so it looked like another 7pm arrival time for us. The road to Carrion was tedious. It was a gravel path along the side of a paved road. I would have loved to have had a bike. We put in 5km easily, but then Rachel started to struggle after another 3 km. At the 34 km mark Rachel was completely exhausted and hurting. Luckily we were coming into Poblacion de Campos. We figured we could get her a coke and a rest, and then move on.
We plopped down in front of an alburgue that wasn't in our book. They were playing reggae beat music and there was a garden with hammocks hanging from the trees and real grass. I knew that if we went in for a drink we were done. We are looking in our book, figuring out what accommodations might be ahead and this guy comes from across the street. He speaks English and invites us in. Turns out he is a peregrino as well. That is all Rachel needed for her to call it a day at 5:15 and 10k short. There were two black lab puppies and a couple of other dogs running around playing. It is like this oasis has appeared out of the middle of nowhere. Everyone was lounging around, listening to music, and chilling.
We met serveral people, Fermin and his girlfriend Doris from Miami, Andy from England, a couple of hippies from Germany and Italy and the laid back owner. Rachel nicknames the place the land of misfit toys. Doris and the hippie girl from Germany both have tendonitis, there is another girl named Rachel who is having knee problems and has been sick. My Rachel is just exhausted.
We had an excellent time sitting around, lounging, sipping vino tinto and speaking fluent English with people. Fermin and Doris are fluent in both English and Spanish, so they do some translating amongst the group. Fermin was laid off and Doris quit her job to come on the camino. We drank two bottles of wine and then went to bed. I am worried that we are only on day 2 and are already down 10 km. I don't know if we will be able to make up for this much lost mileage, but it it was completely worth it for the fantastic evening.
