Frómista 17.3 miles

Our walk today was supposed to be 15 miles. It took us a while to get on the Camino path because we cluelessly followed the All Trails map instead of asking our hotel. I think there was a small detour getting into Frómista that added another mile. Luckily tomorrow is a shorter day. The Meseta got warm today but it was not unbearable.

My Camino brain permitted me from realizing that our Castrojeriz Hotel Quinta San Francisco is built on the ruins of the 14th century Convent of San Francisco. I did take a photo of St Frances of Assisi when I arrived yesterday but I never put it together.

Once we got on the trail and out of the town, our walk started with a 2,953 feet climb up the Alto de Mostelares. The view from the top was phenomenal. We walked through only two towns today and about the six mile mark we visited Ermita de San Nicolás de Puente Fitero. This has a very interesting history and I’m posting a link here for more information:

https://www.fundacionjacobea.org/camino-de-santiago/2000/

After the very long walk that ended along the canal, we crossed over the canal and we finally entered the town of Fromista, which is known for it’s Romenisque churches. We passed the first one while searching for our hotel, the 16th century Iglesia de Santa María del Castillo, built over the former castle (castillo); we saw the other two on our way to dinner. We walked into the Iglesia de San Pedro from the 13th century. Then we saw the Iglesia de San Martin, one of the jewels of medieval Iberia, built in the 11th century.

We want to get an early start tomorrow to avoid the sun. I’m getting a weird arm only tan.

Good night.