Kindness helped me stay cool. The milder temperature and gentle tail winds helped but it is kind people who help one another in need. I felt that kindness today. No one about when Sancho and I needed breakfast. So I ‘stopped into a church I passed along the Way.’ The devotion to Mary is something very special amongst Spaniards. There were mostly older people there preparing for mass. Breakfast was not happening any time soon, so we headed out to the plains once more. Can you spot the yellow arrow? I missed it but got back on track soon, to be surrounded by poppies, garlic and wheat fields. The Las Pedroneras region is known for purple garlic. I walked in fields of gold. I stopped for breakfast. Some one even left me an old Coke bottle- The Gods Must Be Crazy- most quixotic. I left it behind. Over the next rise - the medieval castle of Santiago de la Torre strategically placed to regulate trade and travel Sandy paths were soft and I made an imprint. Sancho left me for someone else a
Body and soul - we have made it to the Atlantic. Seven weeks ago I walked off the beach at Valencia with hopes of walking ‘coast to coast’ and practically no Spanish. Today my hopes have been fulfilled - y tengo un poco de español. Thankfully, Spanish people are kind to foreigners like me. That will be a lasting and treasured memory. As a solo peregrino, I needed to communicate and be with the locals. That was challenging and made this journey so fulfilling. Everyone was up early this morning and the classic breakfast of coffee and tortilla went down so well. Pre-drawn darkness and misty rain added to the excitement - around 31kms. Funny - by now it is more about time than distance. How long will it take? Not long after - the road forked - right to Muxia, left to Finisterre. I turned left, and passed a welcoming donativo stall. How generous! The spiritual is always there - somewhere. There are stone walls all around Galicia and other provinces. I wonder who built them and why does
Emerald green landscapes and laneways, moss covered stone walls and mists - and exotic fragrances distilled from the byproducts of Galician animal husbandry. How dramatically pungent on the senses! I smell it - I must be in Galicia. They store it in big black plastic bags placed in filtered sunlight to ferment- a truly authentic artisan process that enables the methane-enriched natural organics to waft around defenceless pilgrims, leaving one with a memorable fragrance sensation - you know it when you smell it, no bull#^*%! Well actually it is. A fonder memory is the dawn-time climb from the monastery this morning. The post marker read ‘80kms’ to Santiago. First, there was some clambering to be done. Last time I climbed this path, it was dark and a Slovenian lady offered me her headlight so I would not be held up by her group. That is one of my most treasured Camino memories - I recalled it fondly in the morning light today. Before long, the path leveled. Around midday I stopped for a
What, you can do this with a ukulele!! That's ridiculous, man!
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