Day 42 - Rest and reflection

“I walked 5miles to school each day, uphill both ways” - said every parent ever

Day 42 - The Little Fox House - Morpeguite

Today Tracy and the last pilgrim (Jude) left, leaving me in charge of the house and cats. As there are no other pilgrims scheduled for my time here, this has turned in to more of a house and cat sitting gig than a volunteer one. I did have to change the bed today that Jude had been in, ready for the next pilgrims at the beginning of November - Carolyn and Jenny, actually! Have fed the cats twice and went for a walk. Otherwise, a quiet day after the ladies left. There wasn’t even the constant sound of rain as other than a sprinkle (and really high winds), there was no rain today for the first time in over a week!

So…..for YEARS I have laughed at the quote above and thought “yeah, right. Not possible. What kind of a fool do you take me for?” Well, a big one as it turns out. What was I thinking? Of course my parents could have walked X km or miles to school, uphill both ways. I always assumed if you went uphill to school, you’d go downhill coming home. Right? Well, kind of. Today I walked 1.3km to the store and back, uphill both ways! It is possible and I am an idiot for not realizing it sooner. After leaving the house, I went to the main road and did a slow incline uphill. Slight downhill before the road levelled off a bit. The, another uphill. After this, I went downhill, then levelled off again. Store was here. So coming back, I had to go along the level bit, then uphill to get to the next level bit, then up a slight incline before going downhill again. Uphill both ways!!! Duh!

I had grabbed some extra stuff to make a huge salad today (and some junk food for the evenings!) but didn’t end up having it. Will likely have it for lunch tomorrow, but I have way too much food (that I bought and brought) for the amount of time I am here. I was just so excited to be cooking for myself!! If I do another Camino (Keith and I are considering the Portuguese for next year), I am making sure that at least half the albergues have kitchen facilities. I miss cooking and it is usually much cheaper. I just haven’t wanted to be stuck carrying (or transporting) groceries from place to place. Looks like I may have to for whatever I have left over though!

Rest of the afternoon and evening was spent just sitting quietly, reflecting, chatting with the girls and watching a movie on Prime. Nice quiet day.

House is cold and damp, but I hung out in the kitchen and study where I was able to have a propane heater on (after 5pm) to help keep the chill out. Going to be an early night under the warm duvet for me!!Read more