Pilgrims who make the Camino de Santiago between Burgos and León undoubtedly know Frómista, a small town known for the famous Romanesque church of San Martín, and they also know the canal along which the Camino passes in the kilometers before arriving at said village. Said channel, the Castile Canal, has a long past whose ups and downs reflect the history of Spain in the last three centuries.
The Canal de Castilla originated in the eighteenth centuryin the age of the Enlightenment. The Marquis of the Ensenada, Fernando VI's minister, as part of his projects for the modernization of the country, decided to promote this idea as a way of improving communication between the plateau and the coastal areas of the country. (Let us remember that before the appearance of the railway, the land transport of goods was terribly difficult, especially in a country as mountainous as Spain). His project, which began to be built in 1753, initially had four canals, which would unite Segovia with Reinosa, in Santander. In this way, the production of wheat from Castilla (especially from the Tierra de Campos region, in Palencia) could be exported abroad through the port of Santander.
As can be seen, this is an incredibly ambitious work, especially for the 1791th century, and it is not surprising that the work was paralyzed several times. However, by XNUMX a part of the Northern Branch was already completed, between Alar del Rey and Calahorra de Ribas. This section is the one that we can see today on the Camino when passing through Frómista.
The 1808 War of Independence interrupted the construction of the project, and at its end, the state of the public coffers forced King Ferdinand VII to grant the construction of the canal to a private company. The Carlist wars of the 1830s represented a further delay, and the canal was not completed until 1849, almost a century after its inception. By then, the appearance of the railway had already made the canal obsolete, and part of the initial project (the southern branch, which reached Segovia, and the part of the Northern branch that reached Santander) was never built.
Despite this, the canal provided an economic boost to the regions through which it crossed, thanks to the use of water for irrigation, as well as the construction of mills in its locks.
The channel today
Currently, the Canal de Castilla continues to supply water to nearby cities and irrigation to the fields, but it has also become a place for leisure and tourism. Its facilities (locks, mills, docks...) have great historical value, and the complex was declared A Cultural in 1991. In addition, a series of wetlands of great ecological value have been formed around the canal, with different species of birds such as the bittern or the warbler. Some sections are navigable, and in them you can take guided boat trips, as well as practice canoeing.
The Canal de Castilla and the Camino
The best-known meeting point between the Canal and the Camino de Santiago is, as we have already said, on the French Way, in the section between Boadilla del Camino and Frómista (There is also another meeting point in Herrera de Pisuerga, a town through which the Camino del Norte passes on the Besaya variant).
Our first view of the channel will take place shortly after leaving Boadilla, after walking about 1.7 km. From there, we will have the canal on our right throughout the journey until we reach Frómista. Shortly before arriving at said town, we can find the old lock keeper house, currently converted into a tourist office. To get to the town we must cross a small bridge that crosses the canal, and from it we can enjoy the unique perspective of the famous quadruple canal lock, the most pronounced unevenness in the entire journey of this one. We are sure that all the pilgrims have taken at least one photo from this place.
Boat tours
Another of the attractions that we can enjoy in the Canal are the river tours. In the same house of the lock keeper that we have mentioned above, we have at our disposal the ship "Juan de Homar", which runs the route between Frómista and Boadilla del Camino (round trip). This initiative began in the fall of 2018, and has continued to operate until the stoppage of activities due to Covid in 2020.
Looking ahead to the 2021-2022 Jacobean year, the ship plans to operate normally as soon as the Camino season begins, although with the restrictions on the number of passengers required for sanitary reasons. Her schedule, as we have been confirmed, will be:
- Departures from Frómista every day except Tuesdays, at 11:00, 12:30, 16:30 and 18:00. (In summer, the afternoon departures will be at 17:00 p.m. and 18:30 p.m.).
For more information, you can go to the Facebook page Palencia Tourism, or telephone number 673 368 486.
