Chapter 20: Fromista to Carrion de la Carros

Welp, this one ought to be a longer one. I’ve been tasked with catching us up, so catch us up I most certainly will.

We woke up to rain. This wasn’t a big deal. What was a big deal was the wind. The wind was horrific, and we walked up a mountain that pretty much soaked up all the steam we had.

On the way back down, we could see the next state in front of us, the State of Palencia. It’s a smaller one, and after we crossed a one-lane bridge and ate an apple, we were in the next state and found a great place for Lentil Soup and Coffee in this little town:

The walk after this was along a canal. The portion of the walk which featured a canal also featured a grouchy Becky, an ENORMOUS number of Starlings, and Gary, explaining in great detail how the Canals of France worked. It was pretty fascinating. Becky’s attitude tends to be altered by one of two things: lack of sleep or hunger. It was both.

When we arrived in Fromista, Gary became elated at the site of a boat and some lochs, which Becky also perked up to, and as soon as their shared love of all things Nautical began to level off, they again perked up at the concept of being able to siesta and eat.

The albuergue was unremarkable, to be honest. It was rickety bunkbeds and a seriously powerful heating system. The owner was lovely and so were the showers though. One thing about this trip that I have learned is to be truly grateful when showers are longer than 5 minutes and well organized. Shelving earns an A+. Hooks inside the shower earn a solid B. No hooks or shelving, or..well, places to put anything, that’s most common. Usually you have to figure out how to hop from the shower to the sink holding your towel while naked and also not giving everyone on the bathroom with you an eyeful. It’s tough, and I’m neither graceful nor chill. I have a LOT of awkward post-shower moments with non-english speakers in this country.

This place had GREAT showers though, and I was elated. After a brief sleep, which put Becky back to 75%, we went for food at THE BEST restaurant we’ve eaten at since starting this trip (in my humble opinion), where I had a superb steak, Becky had this:

That’s some kind of stuffed Squid. Why? I love this girl, but good lord…her taste in food is just…logic defying. We afterward shared this little delicacy though:

That’s a Limõn. It’s white chocolate in the form of a lemon, filled with yogurt ice cream. Un-be-lievable. So good.

After that, it was Sleepsville. This albergue was HOT. I slept…not amazingly. But regardless, the next day I was up and at em, and Becky was ready and rarin to go.

Our walk this morning was lovely. Actually, Gary, Becky and I all remarked at different times how absolutely perfect a day it was for a variety of reasons. Not hot, not windy, not raining, flat roads, good coffee pretty frequently, and honestly, good conversation. Everyone was pretty chatty.

After what seemed like barely a walk at all, we arrived in Carrion de la Comos. It’s a cute little town centered around…yep, a church.

We came across a place that was fairly priced that offered private rooms. Ours is the Marilyn Monroe suite.

Becky took a much needed siesta, and we went for dinner with Gary, who was still chatty and talkative. He asked a lot about Canadian history, which we tried to dredge up from our tenth grade classes. I feel as if we did well, and frankly, even if we made it up, he will probably never check to make sure. Louis Riel was the guy who invented the Telephone, right?

After dinner, we took a few stops for scenic purposes.

After that, it’s sleep time. I’m falling asleep as I write this, actually…so…I’ll leave you with a couple of shots just outside our window.

Goodnight all! We love and miss all of you! Tomorrow is supposed to be a good day like today. Wish us luck!