21/05/2024 – Walking the walk 4

Day 6 was another light one, 21km with about 450m gained and shed. The white-brown fine clay we have been walking on, (which has given us the yellow-greens of young beech, shooting vines and ripening barley, as well as the golds of gorse and scrubby trefoil), was broken up by coarser, red-brown clay. This seems to favour the blue-greens: cypress, fir, winter-planted wheat and olive.

Storms threatened. Several passed closely. But, the wind was with us. We had our first dry day. It came with spectacular skies, as the clouds gathered, darkened from white to lavender to black and again dispersed.

Although it is early, we came upon a brood of (European) robins, fully-fledged, but reluctant to fly. They scattered on our approach like a horde of hamsters, rather than a flock of birds.

About 2km out of Los Arcos (our destination), we came across a glorious spread of poppy fields. They were fallow with peas, and, just as they were famous for in war-churned battle fields, the poppies had taken their chance – a deep stripe of red at the verge, crimson polka-dots in the foreground, banks/waves of scarlet in the middle distance, all under that spectacular sky… Carey had the drone up in a few minutes, much to the fascination of passing pilgrims.

Amusingly, my smartwatch says I am LESS fit since starting the Camino. It seems to judge time per km. In Paris, we zipped along level streets and it was happy. Now, despite the daily distances, terrain and carrying a pack, Apple thinks I am slacking!

Day 7 was a brute, made light by fair weather. 28.7km up and down hills with little to no cover, this stretch is notorious for sunburn and even sunstroke. We were blessed with many passing clouds and a chill wind. Nevertheless, tomorrow will be a two-knee-brace day (for me). Carey has audibly dozed off as I write this, sparked out on the bed!

I saw a hoopoe today – salmon pink with zebra wings. He has a horrendous back-story in Greek myth as a murdering misogynist, but, he is one of my favourite birds! I have only seen a very few in my life. They are European/African locals and don’t make it as far as the UK. As we walked across the Egro river into our rest stop (Logroño), we also saw the “hospital” hosts at least 4 storks’ nests, each a symbol of luck and prosperity for the town (and a “celebrity species” for environmental husbandry).

In case you’re wondering, today I marched along to “Lord of the Dance”, both the original Quaker version and with the Carter words. It moves at a comfortable clip and tells it like it is! It reminds us that “repentance” is turning around. I think of it as turning towards joy, not misery and guilt. We are all granted the right to start again with God, just as our now-achy bodies will get up tomorrow, stretch, and walk another 27km!