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So today is what we call a ‘kitty’ Camino – not too determined, more like a meander, lots of looking and socializing. Perhaps the choice of kitty Camino related in part to yesterday’s over indulgence in distance and GnTs. It resulted in the novel experience of walking with a hangover.😜

We took the off road route and picked up a gaggle of pilgrims all up for a chat and a walk. We marched along and conferred on choice of route, life and jobs.  I spoke to Torr, an Aussie comedienne from Perth, and Tony caught up with Jacob, the son of a yabbie farmer west of Perth on a gap year between school and uni. we were an international contingent of aussie, kiwi, Canadian, Spanish snd Irish.

Today was a BIG day. We walked 30 kms, yet again, the furthest so far. We made it to half way. Yep we have completed 50%, celebrating with a photo and a chocolate -hand made by nuns in the shape of match sticks. Work that out! And we finished the day, having dinner in a 300 year old underground winery in a tiny isolated town in the middle of nowhere – with all of our friends, see below🤪. We did this section with our Canadian friends, Deb and Allan.

A great day. Lots of conversations on the state of the world, economic models, space junk, Elon Musk and great authors. Must read a book called, Walk Away. A science fiction view of our near future of educated people walking away from the established system and setting up their own sustainable communities.

We have a new term, a beastie Camino. That is when you take an aggressive approach to your day’s walk and give it your all. Today was beastie. We started off doing 17 in four hours. 4.25 kph. Seriously beastie. This stretch was a wasteland of NO toilets or amenities.

 

 

 

Today was a day of music. We had a easy day of walking, reaching a beautiful little town dominated by its church and a albergue run by nuns. We decided to see if we could get in. We arrived about midday, early, and queued to sign in.  We were the last two accepted! We were lucky.

So the nuns have a singing session before dinner. We all sat in the foyer and listened to the nuns sing songs in Spanish, English, Korean and French. We were asked to introduce ourselves, say why we are doing the Camino and then offer up a song of our own. A lot of reasons were shared. See below. But you guessed it. Neither of us had a song to sing. I sang chorally but individually was too much to ask. The Koreans, on the other hand, sang with such conviction and pleasure.

Reasons for doing the Camino:

1. to help decide whether to retire or not
2. to deal with grief
3. to walk
4. to think
5. to do something after the death of their spouse
6. to take the ashes of a family member to Finnisterra
7. To find a wife (who is Christian and will do as she is told)!!!
8. To become a better man so the wife will fall back in love with him!
9. To contemplate faith
10. to decide if a calling to the priesthood is the right thing to do.
11. to do it because it was recommended
12. to have an adventure.
13. To find the old me
14. For God
15. For my mother
16. My mother told me to
17. My mother did it so I thought I would too
18. For my husband who died before we could do it together
19. To manage depression
20. To get off canabis

After our singing, we then headed to the church to listen to a free concert for pilgrims of classical, Spanish guitar. Wow. I was so moved by the emotion of the music and the incredible skill of the guitarist. The acoustics of the church were superb. A special experience.

Today was the furthest we have walked with our packs. By the time we arrived my feet were very sore.  Tony was also feeling it with a sore heel and hot spots threatening to ripen into blisters.

So today I spent the day climbing up, along and over mesas! Along the way I listened to my Spanish lessons, doing my best to train my ears. I’m getting better with the dialogues on the tapes but when I get the chance for an authentic interaction, Anxiety interferes and I can’t understand a thing! So funny. But with a bit of space and some time to think and respond I’m getting there. At the albergue when I arrived, I was able to ask where could I wash clothes. Baby steps.

 

So it was a day of thinking again but this time, it wasn’t philosophical or deep. Rather it was about ones’ basic needs. So using a bit of creative license and the metaphor of a train, I’ll share my experience.  Every morning the train is at the terminus, but you never know if it will run to schedule. Before breakfast and definitely before you leave the albergue is an ideal schedule. Once you are out on the road, you never know if there will be a train station.  And you never know if there is a schedule. And then, just as you forget about worrying, you get the feeling that a train is coming! You need to find the train stop… quickly. But there are none. Only miles of exposed path and then … a grove of trees.  It’ll do. It is the next best thing to the train station. So with resolve, off I go, quickly. Checking I’m not visible, I get down to business! Fear of being seen adds a degree of stress to the exercise as does the fact that the knees are now unable to bend. I force them. It is at this stage, once a little bit of relief has arrived, that you take a moment to take in your immediate environment. You discover slowly, as you can’t quite believe it, that you are in the middle of multiple, recent and historic train crashes. There are derailed train carriages all around you. And, as a act of homage to civilized behaviour, each carriage is asymmetrically festooned with white but stained tissue paper. Everywhere. Many, many others have been here before you.

Taking the high moral ground, I was outraged! How could they do this? Have they no shame? Why didn’t they have a plan, a sustainable method to save the environment? Well, you may ask, do I?

Well, actually I can smugly say I do. I do have a system. It includes rubber gloves, biodegradable plastic bags, and a train shed…. a bright orange ex-Gatorade powder container. The perfect size vessel to truck out the train carriage and it’s decoration. When I get to town, it is a simple process of disposing the train carriage in a public bin.

So I can proudly say that my planning has paid off, multiple times (!), as my train schedule is all over the shop.

So, in summary, there is a problem on the Camino. No public toilets and lots of  human litter.

 

 

So we have completed 322kms in total as of today.  We left early and walked by moonlight with a light display all of our own to top it off. We were surrounded by windmills with red and white flashing warning lights on three sides flashing every second. It was quiet and beautiful.

Our bed for the night is in a town with a 9th century Roman castle on the hill. Our albergue this time is a municipally run one – 5 Euros per night!!

On the walk today I meditated on the ‘ties of obligation’. My Camino is devoid of ‘to do’ lists. While this should feel great, I feel a bit lost without the list. I get a certain satisfaction from crossing off an item and moving onto the next one. It also anchors me to obligation, a familiar, safe place but also one with burdens. So I walked, noting I’m burden free but, at the same time, missing my list of obligations. There must be a happy place somewhere between the two. I think I’ll walk a bit more and consider this.