Day 4 Frómista - Carrión de los Condes: Single Step Forward to a Life in the Past

The Way of Saint James after my 5 km "warm-up"

Trust Your Intuition and Your GPS

I started this morning looking forward to a bit of a short day of 19 km / 11.5 mi which was good because my backpack was noticeably heavier. It was Sunday and everything in Spain is closed on Sunday. You want to eat. You want to drink some wine. You buy it on Saturday and carry it with you. And since the concept of buying food while being concerned about the weight was totally foreign to me, I bought a little more than I needed. 

I left my hostel and heading in the direction of a sign saying "P.Camino de Santiago". I went about 2.5 km / 1.5 mi when a little voice in my head said "Are you sure you are going the right way?" No sooner than that, a cyclist comes out of the morning fog and exclaims "No esta Camino de Santiago." along with another paragraph or two in Spanish that I did not get outside of the words "Derecha" (Right) and "Izquierda" (Left). I got the message I was going the wrong way. I pulled out my Samsung Galaxy, turned on the GPS and verified I was not heading West. I turned around and 45 minutes later I was seeing yellow arrows and way markers. My short day was not going to be so short after all. Oh and there was also a persistent head wind blowing. And there would be all day because today's route was pretty much straight along a highway on a mesa with no protection from the wind.

Sunday Ghost Towns

Templar Knight Castle / Church in Villalcazar de Sirga

So I am walking into the wind carrying close to 13 kg / 30 lbs and though I am going to walk through several villages for such a short distance I notice something. They are all eerily void of human life. There are no cars. There are no open windows. There is nobody out walking. Most all these villages date from the 11th century but were essentially decimated in the 18th century by war, famine, disease and emigration that these maladies bring. I presume the Spanish economic crisis and Winter season is the primary reason they are near ghost towns today.

Medieval Bridge Leaving Villalcazar

These villages have many Pilgrim miracles associated with them. Many are associated with healing. My favorite has to do with a showdown between Saint James and the minions of Hell itself. Apparently the Pharisees and Jews hired a magician Hermogenes whose powers were of the Devil to use witchcraft and magic to fight the Saint's miraculous powers. Hermogenes first subcontracted the work out to his mortal assistant Philetus who crossed this bridge en route to Santiago and alas was converted to Christianity after witnessing the Apostle working miracles. Hermogenes decided to take ownership of this key project objective if you will. He enlisted demons to bring Saint James to him. Alas, the demons took Hermogenes to Santiago. Once in Santiago, Saint James treated Hernogenes well, set him free of demonic oppression and gave him a blessed walking staff as holy protection. Hermogenes, like Philetus before him, was a convert. He burned his library of sorcery as sign of his true conversion. This is the subject of many a classic painting.

Subtle Reminder that there is a long way to go

Still a long way to go

After passing the last ghost village the Camino offered up one of the first road signs with a mention of Santiago.... and that I still had 463 km / 287 mi to hike. I only had to cover 6 km / 3.7 mi more today. One step at a time... One step at a time...

A Welcome Site: Pilgrim statue at entrance to Carrión de los Condes

Entering Carrión de los Condes

After a day that was longer than I anticipated, filled with km after km of flat, indistinguishable terrain, empty villages and persistent headwind I finally came upon my destination. I was proud of myself for having the mental fortitude to keep putting one foot in front of the other after my early morning directional snafu.

Medieval Bridge over Rio Carrión to Monasterio San Zoilo

I also was a bit worn out having to carry the extra weight and eager to take my backpack off and take a hot shower. I explored almost 30 minutes for a bed and only found closed hostels. I sat down on the Plaza Mayor (Town Square) and checked a website so see if this city was large enough to have a listing. It had a monastery dating from 10th century that was now a converted luxury hotel. That was a modern day miracle to weary pilgrim such as myself.

The only catch was that it was 1 km / .62 mi from the town square and I had no guarantee it would be open. It was and I soon found myself in a very nice room at an even nicer price. I showered and enjoyed my dinner of wine, bread and the 3 C's (chocolate, cheese and chorizo). I had no problem falling asleep but had no idea what a harrowing adventure awaited me.

Did I Regress to a Past Life?

Once in a deep sleep, I commenced a very vivid dream. I was living during Roman times and my Dalmatian Suzy Q and Basset Hound Sweetpea were both with me except they were my children. We were going about our daily business in a market. I was a Roman of some means but I enjoyed visiting the market myself; I took in the sights, smells and people watching. All of a sudden, there was a great commotion and people were running for their very lives. I distinctly remember the panic and terror. I took cover in a sheltered area of the market but soon discovered that in the chaos that my children had become separated from me. Soon the immediate threat appeared over and I began searching for my children to no avail. Stories were emerging that a wild tiger had escaped and ran rampant through the market. Eventually word spread that my children were found. I was elated until I came upon the reality that they were found among the victims. I languished in deep despair and ran through the scene in my dream state over and over wondering what I could have done differently to spare them from that fate. I then awoke in a deeply traumatized state. I even checked the internet to see if there was a tiger attack anywhere in the world and perhaps I heard it on the television before I fell asleep. Obviously, there was no real life tiger attack that made the news.

And Then an Apparition?

Shortly thereafter, I experienced a second startling event on this night. I saw a near full-body apparition float across my room from the hallway to the cloisters outside. The apparition appeared as a monk dressed in a robe consistent with medieval times. I don't recall being frightened as much as startled and amazed. The apparition made no contact with me and carried on as if I was not there. Yes, I looked outside and saw nothing. 

Wood carving in San Zoilo

I really do not know what to make of the events that night except they happened and remain an indelible memory of my Camino. I left the next morning to a beautiful statue of the Archangel Michael giving me the a-ok sign. Symbolically, he was facing west towards Santiago.

My Tunes for the Day

My taste in music is quite eclectic. Marina and the Diamonds. It was new to me. The tune had a perfect beat for a hiking cadence and is excellent ear candy. So easy to fall in love with Marina especially a bo like myself who likes the look of danger.