In Search of Silence

September 21, 2013

As we walk the Camino again after 3 1/2 years, we find the silence - auditory and visual - harder to find than before.  There seem to be more peregrinos (albeit good people), more traffic sounds from upgraded roadways, and more graffiti (usually political).

But today as we walked to the big city of Burgos, although we dreaded the remembered walk through the noisy-busy industrial city limits, we found another way.  The guidebook we're using suggested an alternative "green" route into the city ("just follow the river," starting in the outer suburbs).  Although hard to find since it lacks the usual markings, we were led, perhaps by the Spirit, to discover a peaceful alternative which led us all the way into the heart of the city.

And within the city another gift - the Casa de Peregrinos Emmaus, in  a former Jesuit seminary, with a shared meal and Christian prayer and blessing in the spirit of Emmaus (Luke chapter 24).

Thankful

September 23, 2013

In the Lord I'll be ever thankful,

In the Lord I will rejoice.

Turn to God, do not be afraid

Lift up your voices, The Lord is near.

Lift up your voices, The Lord is near.

This is the Taize (chant from a French ecumenical community) song that was playing in our heads as we walked out of Burgos yesterday morning.  It was part of the background music that was played in our albergue to gently wake us up in time for breakfast.

Thankful for Marie Phillipe, our hospitalera in that albergue, where we enjoyed quiet and peace right in the middle of the big city.

Thankful for a lovely group of people in that albergue.

Thankful for a (relatively) pain-free day of walking to Hornillos, followed by another day to Castrojeriz, where we are now.

Thankful for friends we thought we'd lost, that we meet again.

For the last couple of days we've been walking on the Meseta, which is a high, flat plateau with little shade.  A thankful attitude helps a lot these days - then we can notice the perfect silence (except for nature and us walking humans), the flatness (little climbing, for a while) and the fact that it's about 80 degrees, not 95!

Boadilla del Camino

September 24, 2013

Not much time to write tonight, but a few photos taken as we left Castrojeriz and climbed onto the Meseta just before dawn.  Then about 11 miles to a lovely family-run Albergue at Boadillo del Camino.

One Day At a Time

September 26, 2013

Two days, two more beautiful sunrises.

Have to start getting up earlier and enjoying the dawn when we get back home!

Another temptation on the Camino, besides fretting each day about whether we'll find a place to sleep each night, is to look too many days into the future, over-planning where we'll be two days from now instead of living today.  Both temptations are forms of worrying.  And as was written some time ago in one of the albergue journals, "worrying is praying for what you don't want."

It's better to be open to surprises, like last night's albergue in Villalcazar.  We were the last two to get beds just before it was full (the dreaded word "completo").   It is run by a few Augustinian nuns, who sang a beautiful Vespers (evening prayer) service, got the people to participate in "un encuentro musical" and organized a communal dinner.

We've had our share of discomforts (Jeff blisters, sciatic pain and a cold, Anne a quick virus) but everything seems to be better the next morning.

Today's walk from Villalcazar to Calzadilla was mostly on a stretch of the original Roman Road, built two millennia ago.

About 7 miles of incredibly straight, flat and seemingly endless road - you could picture the chariots and legions efficiently crossing the newly-conquered land back in the time of the Caesars.  Endless - but weren't we asking for silence and quiet?  Even the air was quiet - the ubiquitous windmills were absent today.

You Will Show Me The Path

September 27, 2013

Walked from Calzadilla to Sahagun today, about 13 miles.  Like any day, looking for signs or yellow arrows telling you which way to go.  Walking through little towns.

Walking alongside highways.

Walking through fields.

Sometimes the path is just the shoulder of the road.

Today's walk involved too much highway and back roads around warehouses and industrial sites, which was physically and spiritually draining.  Here we saw depressing evidence of the Camino evolving into just another superhighway.

But still, different styles of waymarkers let us know we're headed the right way.

Sometimes we are led on unexpected turns . . .

. . . to find unexpected treasures (here, the Ermita Virgen del Puente, outside of Sahagun, presently under restoration).

Or Hobbit houses (??) complete with chimneys and TV antennas.

We can only trust that as we follow The Way, even if some portions might not be as pleasant as others, we will be led by such crooked paths to places where we are meant to be.  Today we ended up at another nice quiet little albergue attached to a Monasterio.  In our previous Camino three years ago, we tended to stay in the first albergue we came to in the town or city, usually a "municipal" one.  But this time, when we can, we're seeking out more serene alternatives.

Rain

September 29, 2013

During the last two days we walked from Sahagun to Burgo Ranero, and from there to Mansilla de Las Mulas.  Rainy and dreary, on paths that pretty much looked like this, alongside relatively quiet country roads.  Towns between were few.

Time to think, time to pray.  Time to notice everything that hurts!

Speaking of praying, a couple from Canada gave us the idea of deciding each day which people in our life to pray for.  So we've started that.  It might be you (but we don't have enough days left here to pray for everybody)!

Rain prevented us from taking too many photos, but it always feels good to get to the next evening's town, dry off and relax.

(Olives eaten)

(Pilgrim dinner ordered)

Stopped in a little bar, Jeff got stung by a bee. Twice.

A kind man from Denmark gave us some antihistamine (Farmacias are closed Sundays).

Clouds over Mansilla de Las Mulas.