A Peña, Spain

We started a couple kilometers outside of Sarria this morning and made a wonderful day of about 13 miles to our own stone cabin in the countryside.

Many "rules of thumb" are thrown at you by "they" when you plan to walk the camino. One of them is to prepare yourself for meeting the onrush of "new" pilgrims in Sarria. You see, in order to get official recognition for walking the camino, you must start around Sarria to complete at least 100 kilometers.
So today, we saw many, many, many new pilgrims. All in bright clean clothes, carrying very little in the way of backpacks. What we are told to prepare for is our sense of judgement, that somehow these new pilgrims just dont understand how tough it is to walk all the way from France. Now, I'll admit to being as petty and judgemental as just about anyone, and believe me, ive had time to witness it, so I was prepared to meet the challenge, or at least witness my failure.
Surprisingly, on this day, I was charged by the energy, the optimism, the clean clothes. They lifted me.
5 days and less than 100k to go and I was buoyed by the spirit of these new pilgrims, buoyed by the spirit of the camino. No judgements, just joy.
The camino provides.

Then we had beer and nice dinner.
Tomorrow, we do it again.

Posted by Jim.Read more