Oreos, An Eighty Year Old, and a Pilgrim Mass

It felt like a very long day. I have a small cold and between the cold fog, soreness, and fatigue, the day long. But there were wonderful encouragements along the way. First I stopped for a snack this morning and pulled out some Oreos. Could you call them “ manna from heaven?” Probably not, but they gave me a sugar pick me up that I needed. As I was ready to leave an 81 year old man sat down and we began to talk. It was his 2nd Camino and both sons who had started with him had to go back to work. I said he needed a third son, and he replied he had a daughter, but she wasn’t joining him. I told him he was doing great; we walked for a while, then he took another break. He is such an inspiration. I took more breaks today than most days, arrived in Palis de Rei later than normal, but met up with some Danish friends for dinner. We laughter and reminisced about the Camino, may walk together tomorrow, and will have a celebratory dinner in Santiago on Tuesday night. Then we went to a pilgrimage mass together. The church was full of pilgrims from all over the world and the priest spoke in Spanish and English. It was a wonderful service and a great way to end the week and prepare for the final push to Santiago. Three days left and today I passed 1,000,000 steps in 29 days of walking. Tomorrow is another long day and then 2 days of shorter walks into Santiago. Buen Camino!The church at Portomarín, RomanesqueAll the people leaving this morning for the CaminoThe Sights of the walk todayMagnificent VistasBeautiful flowers for my wifeLots of walking through Forrest’s Strange sights along the Camino

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