Third day of the mighty Meseta!

The best and greatest dawn on the Camino so far, and one of the most beautiful I’ve ever seen. A few of us set out from Castrojeriz in the quiet dark pre-sunrise, down gently from the edge of town to the rio Odrilla and from there straight along a former Roman road that’s survived steadfastly long after the empire that built it.

Up a hillside path that lead steadily thru the lightening morning and onto the small plateau of Alto de Mostareles at 900m high, and a short wait for daybreak was rewarded with a honey-coloured eruption of light from the east, almost directly behind the hill of Castrojeriz. Mesmerising.

A short walk across the hilltop and then even grander views to the west and across our path for the day. Back down to the general plain of the Meseta and then almost a second sunrise as we walked for a while in the lee shadow of the Mostareles. Broad sunlight hit as we journeyed the bright kakariki green of these farmlands, warming the chilly morning a little.

Everywhere the signs of spring growing louder and louder, with trees starting to turn from blossom to leaf.

Coffee and a short rest in Itero de la Vega, then back into the countryside again. Some absolutely wonderful walking to be had, with nearly all on pathways thru fields rolling away endlessly on a green wave to the sea-blue horizon.

Another small and charming town, Boadilla del Camino, with another great bar open serving coffee making it the rare Camino day with two. Then on for the final few kays to home for the night, Frómista, partly alongside an old canal towpath. A cute town and another nicely-sited municipal albergue with an internal courtyard and really lovely hospitalero / warden.

Some discussion while having the now-classic Camino combined lunch-dinner at a bar led to a calculation that we’ve now walked 349.3km, leaving about 420-400km to go (sources differ on exact distance).

Stats for today:

• 24.2km
• 231m ascent
• 242m descent
• 2,000 years since the causeway out of Castrojeriz was constructed