Valdore to Gradefes

We’ve known what has been coming for a while: the plains of the Mesetta. But each time we thought we had left the mountains, we turned the corner to find another spectacular scene before us. Early this morning, we started walking alongside and then through the middle of wheat and corn fields. We startled a deer before sunrise and stopped to watch him bound away. We strolled next to a roaring river and passed by a kayakers park that would have been fun to have seen in use.

Before Cistierna, we trekked through an abandoned mining town that was abandoned decades ago. The only occupants now are cows, lots and lots of cows.

At Cistierna, we stopped for breakfast at a cafe, went shopping at a supermercado for our picnic lunch, and ended our time in the town with a second breakfast at the cafe on the other end of the street.

After that first 12 KM, we still had 23 left to get to Gradefes. We now noticed that the mountains were fading into the background as we walked steadily into the plains.

When we finally reached this little town where we will crash in the local albergue for the night, we went first to the bar, because that is where you pick up the key in exchange for €5 a person. We weren’t even charged extra for the use of the washing machine. Everyone in the bar greeted us and we felt welcome in this town. Since there are no restaurants, and the bar doesn't serve food, (there is a restaurant about a mile from us that starts serving dinner at 9 pm), we went to the retirement center to see if they had food left over after feeding their residents. They had already cleaned up the kitchen but eagerly opened it back up for us and made us to-go containers of more food than we could eat, for half of what we would have spent in the restaurant. They even threw in extra servings of rice pudding. We then went to the monastery, not only to see inside but to get our second stamp in our credential for today. A pleasant nun conversed with us through a window as we obtained our ink.

We were glad to get back to the albergue and get off our feet as we walked for over seven hours today. Though hard, it was great to accomplish together knowing it was our last really long day on this Camino.

The second stage of this three-tiered pilgrimage is coming to an end. The last stage will be really different. Not only will our friend Christie be joining us, which changes the dynamics, but our purpose is changing too. Once we leave Leon Tuesday morning, we will be in full strategy mode, putting together next year’s guided pilgrimage for ten women who have gone through breast cancer.

But these last three and a half weeks have been for Bonnie and me. This year our Camino trip hasn’t been about walking to a cathedral, grieving the loss of a friend, or adjusting to a major change of life. We have done those pilgrimages before. This year was about continued, personal growth - putting ourselves in a place to process, to breathe, and to see what comes up with time and forward motion (with a lot of distance and elevation). Today we spent a good portion of our time together talking about those things that have come up, the adjustments we have made during the pilgrimage, and what our strategy is for applying this growth back home.

Bonnie is a good listener and it is easy to be vulnerable with her. It was good to verbalize what I was thinking and feeling and have her process it with me, and, I believe, vice versa. It made me really grateful that I wasn’t walking alone this year. I don't feel undone or afraid. I just feel incredibly privileged to have this time to walk across a country, surrounded by natural beauty and in the company of someone I love.

We also talked about tattoos. Czytaj więcej