25/05/2024 – Walking the walk 6

Day 10 was another sun-baked day of rolling farmland, excellently moderated by a cold breeze. We passed into Castilla Y Léon today. This “province” (for want of a better word) is clearly “leaning in” to the Camino: great signage, colourful murals, an attention to separating pilgrims and traffic that is very welcome. Much of today’s trail ran alongside, or even on, actual roads.

Today, I was internally singing “All are welcome”, Voices United No. 1. We sang it at my mother’s memorial service. It was a newly learned, but shared favourite. I love every line, but in particular: “Here as one we claim the faith of Jesus. All are welcome… in this place”. Consider the verb, “claim”; the choice of preposition – “of”, not “in”, “about”, “through”; the insistence on community and welcome. It just resonates.

We’re tired, for sure, but we started to see people truly struggling on the trail today. The misery emanating from them is palpable, but still, they put one foot in front of the other. We are wincing along, each with a couple of blisters, but these people are truly suffering. We both feel an intense respect for their commitment. Less properly, we also speculated on what they must have done “back home” to feel that they HAD TO continue in such straits, or (to frame it more faithfully), what had God given them that they had to fulfil their vows at such evident cost?

As we walked, the breeze actually rippled through the barley, as if over a pond. You could imagine the land as a happy kitty, purring under an invisible, stroking hand. The church at Grañón was atwitter with swifts and featured a yellow and blue stained-glass window of a way marker. I popped in for a quick pray while Carey dealt with the more secular matter of his first blister on the steps.

Day 11: RIP green hiking socks! You made it as far as you could. Welcome to the trail, pink hiking socks!

I woke this morning to a new, angry row of bites along my back. Carey looked at me incredulously and asked, “what bit you?”. No idea. If there’s a bitey thing it will find me. Carey remains unchewed.

There’s no getting around it: today was also HARD. We were promised a shady trail for the climb over the “mountains” (decent hills) of Villafranca Montes de Orca. What we got for most of the day was a white chalk trail with trees beside it offering the track no discernible shade.

To make the day psychologically harder, we actually passed our hotel 11kms in – AND KEPT GOING for another 14km. Positively, that meant we spent a pleasant afternoon in the one bar town of “St John of the Nettle”, drinking beer in our socks, feet pulsing, waiting for the ride to take us back the way we came!! Tomorrow, they will dump us back there to continue to Bourgos, and a much-needed rest day.