The Wind Swept Walk

It was a long windy day. The last two days have some of the longest walks of my Camino - almost 30 km each day. I have been walking for one week and almost reached a quarter of a million steps, over 100 miles walking about 6 hours per day. I now have 3 blisters on my feet, but they are treatable and do not seem to bother me when walking. Each day on the Camino you meet new people as well as old friends. Sometimes conversations are long, sometimes short, but everyone keeps walking. Today I stopped for lunch. I normally don’t, but today it was needed. I had a ham sandwich with tomato and olive oil and a beer. I had been walking 4 1/2 hours when I stopped and it was very refreshing. To my Baptist friends, I don’t believe I am backsliding, but a cold beer after a hot, dry walk sure does taste good. (Maybe my penance will now be to walk more miles?). The landscape is just as beautiful but it is changing. We have now enter the “rioja” region of the country and you see more vineyards than wheat fields. Today I met a brown squirrel who was begging for a snack. He/she was very good at it and attracted a crowd. I also came along a fence line that had all sorts of crosses- some made from thorns. Pilgrims thinking about the Lord. I stopped and explored a beautiful church in Navarrete. I was very dark inside with only stain-glass to illuminate the sanctuary, but the camera caught some nice picture. There was a carved image of Jesus after taken down from the cross. Most interesting. I talked with a lady today from Holland who is alone and is taking time to walk the Camino in the middle of her career. She has 4 daughters and her husband is with them for a month while she walks. (That man is a saint). She told me she wanted to test herself to see if she could physically do this, but also she was walking to give thanks for all the blessings in her life. This was a uniquely beautiful perspective I hadn’t heard. Lord bless her with both strength and grace! Tomorrow is a little lighter day, so I will probably leave a little later. Buen Camino

Comments

  1. Chip GoodrichApril 30, 2025 at 11:31 AM

    Thanks Craig. Your following is growing as we look forward to reading about your experiences each day. That beer looks like it was really nice. Glad you got your Euros back.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Pastor Craig 74April 30, 2025 at 12:29 PM

      Thanks Chip. Getting the Euros back was a blessing

      Delete

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