Camino Francés 2021 – Day 4 – Boadilla to Carrion de los Condés

September 4th 2021 – Day 4

• Boadilla to Carrion de los Condés
• Distance: 24.5 km
• Albergue: Hostel Santiago

From Boadilla to Carrion de los Condés, the Camino is relatively straight and flat however we are introduced to the monotone Senda del Peregrino – the walkway beside the main road. The temperatures were predicted to be close to 30c also. I had a pension booked in Carrion de los Condés so I was in no hurry. Chances were high that myself and Linda would walk together today. After two years in the donativo albergue – Santa Maria, I decided to give it a miss. Most of the Italians staying in Boadilla del Camino were talking about it the night before and how great the singing nuns were – and they are! So they planned an early start! However, I would leave it to Eduardo’s breakfast to wake me up!

6am came and went and soon the entire albergue left with just me packing my bits and pieces. Four years ago, I would be the first out of the room. But this is now. I had a good sleep though with few interruptions. I looked out the door – darkness. I went to the hotel where Eduardo was talking in Spanish to a local. He seemed happy to see me and escorted me to a table. The Spanish news was on – rolling news – it wasn’t long before news became old news. When Linda arrived for some breakfast, I decided to walk with her for the first few kilometres.

From Boadilla to Carrion de los Condés, the Camino takes you along the Canal de Castilla. It was cool, misty and the sun was rising from our rear. We stopped at a field of sunflowers to enjoy the colour before walking to Fromista. You could hear small animals move in the reeds along the canal which peaked my attention for a while. I am always fascinated by the lock at the Canal de Castilla. What a marvelous work of engineering it is. We stop for a bit here, take a few photos and gather our footing before crossing.

Frómista was within sight and after a slight diversion which was confusing, I stopped by Bar El Manchego and ordered a café con leche and freshly made tortilla – second breakfast. We met Iwona from Holland and Linda from Germany who had stayed in Frómista. It is a larger town to Boadilla but after all these years, I prefer Boadilla. When I had finished, I visited the ATM across the busy road before we decided on the correct way out of town.

It wasn’t long until we reached the main highway. I saw the cutout statue on the overpass – a copper cutout of a pilgrim walking in the sun! We crossed the overpass and met the P-980 and Senda del Peregrino. For the next 18kms, I would be walking along the side of a busy highway. Hardly perfect Camino scenery but you take the good with the bad. On the whole, the road was quiet but every so often, a cyclist would pass waving. The sun was out and Linda decided it was time to bring out Polly to protect her from the rays. A wise decision.

We had the option of taking a diversion through Villovieco to Villalcazar de Sirga and we had seen some pilgrims taking this route. It possibly offered some shade, I’m not quite sure? We passed through the sleepy village of Revenga de Campos which offered little. We were in and out in a minute. Villarmentero is home to the slighly unusual Albergue Amanacer which has farmyard animals roaming freely in the large yard. We have a drink however the geese and hens come too close for comfort at times. We left with selIos and smiles on our faces.

Our next stop was Villalcazar de Sirga with its large church. We were both feeling the strain of the heat so we decided to stop for a drink at the nearest bar. Something cold please! Arriving in Villalcazar brought back some good memories. I had stayed here in 2015 with some good people. Ilwona and Linda were underneath the canopy beside the bar and had were staying in this town for the night. Linda wanted to stay here for a bit longer so I finished my drink and marched on to Carrion de los Condés.

It was a tough slog to Carrion de los Condés – 6 kilometres – but I arrived just before 3 pm. I found my hostel, Hostel Santiago, tucked away behind the Iglesia de Santa Maria and I rested. It was well into siesta at this time. Later on in the evening, I met Linda for some food in the Plaza Mayor. We were joined by Laura and later on, Nicole. We all discussed the 17 km gap before Calzadilla de la Cueza tomorrow morning. A number of pilgrims were going to the local mercado for snacks as tomorrow was going to be another warm day. I ran across and bought some fruit and a few cans of Aquarius – one for each of us. I was looking forward to the next day.

Handy links:

• My Instagram for more photos from the Camino
• ClearskiesCamino.com links page
• Gronze.com – for open albergues and distances between towns

Buen Camino!