Weather With You

CAMINO FRANCÉS – Day 15: Wednesday 23 April 2025 – CASTROJERIZ to FRÓMISTA (25 [+6] kilometres)

The weather gods must be on my side. Clear blue skies greeted me at dawn this morning (due to the oddities of the time zone, sunrise is not until sometime after 7.00 am here), and so it remained all day on the Camino Francés. We have a settled period in prospect for the days ahead and, after a week of cool headwinds that gusted quite strongly at times from the west, we now have stillness. The air remains cool, and the visibility excellent, so today’s conditions were perfect for walking, and the only issue over the next few days might be the heat, as temperatures are set to climb.

Word reached us over the last two days that those who started their Camino trek a week or so ago, and subsequently, have experienced a whole different set of weather conditions over the Pyrenees. The high ‘Napoleón Route’ that most of us took on Day 1 is snowbound, and now closed, after two walkers had to be rescued suffering from hypothermia! I had unused layers of clothing, gloves and a hat in my pack, but I am glad that my gear was not tested by such extremes on my own crossing. There is also snow, we hear, on some stretches of the way ahead, although those parts are over a week away on the high ground that we must cross to the west, and the expectation is that the hotter weather will clear our path by the time we get there. Clearly the rules of the mountains apply even on pilgrimages.

Here are my pictures from today’s exertions.

Today goes down as a fabulous walk over the high ground of the Maseta, with some unforgettable views. It must also rank as one of the more sociable days of my walk to date. I had barely walked a kilometre solo before striking up a conversation, mostly about music, with Kevin from the US (see photo below) that was still ongoing an hour or two later. After a brunch in Itero de la Vega, where our group’s various timings coincided to the extent that three tables were required, I walked with Susie from Australia until the village of Boadilla del Camino, and when we stopped for a water break a succession of walkers passed by, most of them known to us. I then joined father and son, Mike and Lincoln again, for the final leg into Frómista. A drink at our destination became quite a crowd scene, before seven of us went out for a ‘Pilgrim’s Menu’ dinner tonight (free wine and dessert with every main course ordered). In the process of all this I have added Austria and Hungary to my list of international Camino friends, making 26 countries now since the start of my walk. I say all this not so much to brag, as to give a flavour of the camaraderie available, indeed unavoidable, to all those taking on the Camino pilgrimage – if anyone is tempted, the journey really is a multi-national social whirl.

My Blog heading today ‘Weather With You’ follows the title of a 1991 number by Australian-New Zealand band Crowded House. The song was released as a single from their third studio album ‘Woodface’ that became a world-wide hit (including in the UK where it charted at Number 7), and was was written by brothers and Crowded House bandmates Tim and Neil Finn. The siblings had previously performed together in the kiwi progressive rock band Split Endz, where Tim was a founding member in 1972, before being joined five years later by his brother Neil on lead vocals and guitar, after frontman Phil Judd left the band.