Boadilla to Villamentero 13.5 km

When I arrived at my hotel in Boadilla, En el Camino, it was buzzing with people waiting to check in. I was too exhausted to stand in line after my long day’s walking, I just ordered a G and T and relaxed in the bar, waiting for the line to diminish. It didn’t diminish! More and more kept arriving. They were checking in for both the Albergue and the hotel. When I finally plucked up some energy and checked in, I discovered my backpack had not arrived: the pilgrim’s worst nightmare. The young boss of the place, whom I remembered from last time, immediately started phoning up Jacotrans. It turned out that the people at Albergue Ultreia had locked the door and didn’t hear him knocking. My backpack was still in Castrojeriz! They promised to send it on the day after to my next destination, Villamentero. Still - this meant I only had the clothes I stood up in for the night and a few meagre things in my day pack.

At dinner I sat next to a Frenchwoman and attempted a conversation even though our grasp of each other’s language was very weak. She is walking with a dog, poor thing, and collected up all the leftover chicken bones on our table. He would have an absolute feast.

The hotel was situated just opposite the church. I took this photo just as I was leaving at 8.30 am.

The trail today followed the line of the Canal de Castilla, a feat of Spanish engineering dating back to the late eighteenth century. It looked beautiful this morning on another clear, sunny day. Just outside Fromista, there is a staircase of four locks:

There was plenty of water today and the excess was pouring through the sluice gates and lots more down the spillway. But I don’t suppose there is much canal traffic these days.

Fromista is an interesting place, mainly because of its Romanesque church, now deconsecrated and turned into a museum.

This is an artist’s impression of the style.

Inside, there is an abundance of carvings, designed to teach Bible stories to medieval peasants.

After a coffee and a muffin to keep me going, I set off on the long hot walk to Villamentero. This is the part of the Camino with the “senda” which follows the endless straight road and has little shade. At the village of Revenga I stopped for lunch (shandy and sandwich). As I was leaving the bar, a maxi taxi pulled up to collect a group of pilgrims bound for Carrion. I cheekily asked if they could drop me off along the way, thus saving me the last 2 km. My lucky day! The taxi driver was a bit surprised, saying it’s just down the road, but at 1.30 pm it was getting really hot.

But the best part of the day was arriving at Casona de Dona Petra in Villamentero and finding my backpack waiting for me!