Author: admin

The 22E room fells luxious, my own space and you know no one is there in line for the shared bath, the downside is I am all alone. At the Municipal Auberge I would already bave known many people there and would have met new ones I wouldnt have had to eat alone.

I start off strong in the morning but after the first 7 or so miles I begin to get fatigued. In the morning there seems to be pilgrims in front of me and pilgrims behind. But at the end of the day I am completely alone. The last part of today wasnt quaint at all an industrial secrion of Burgos. When it began to rain I got in a city bus for the last few miles.

I wanted to take a rest day tommorow so i found a “hostel” where I would have my own room for two days. The Pilgrims Aubergues where I have been staying are rin like homeless shelters. Everyone needs to be out by 8am and no one can come in before 1 or so, I didnt want to spend a tourist day with a pack on.

The hostel cost 22E/day with a shared bathroom, I am not sure why I am being so cheap with myself. My ski trips cost 250$/day, and club med must be something like 350/day per person. Of course when you are out for 50 days things add up. The camino is less than 50E a day, but that includes the inconvenience of getting off an upper bunk in the middle of the night to pee without killing yourself or stepping on the person who has the lower bunk.

I begin each day raring to go, by the end the walk seems endless. I am staying in a monestary that doesnt have good reviews. It is clearly the oldest building I have ever slept in.Tha tiny village has a magnificent church, Helpfully there were descriptions in english of the art. Here for my grandchildren are two scenes from the life of saint jerome, he helped a lion by removing a thorn from its paw and the the lion befriended him for life, I love the lion.

The next panel is not for the grandchildren. I shows the souls condemned to hell in the last judgement. I havent read the bible carefully but I cant beleve that Jesus who was proported to have said such wonderful things, painted such a grim picture of the after life. What a strange spiritual state to fear eternal damnation.

Today is a cold grey day but much better than a hard rain. I am feeling good. At one point I had a worry, my pack feels too light have I left something behind? I am making good use of lessons learned by listening to the app buddhify, When I have a worry I just think “hello worry” and then just let it go. Sometimes I allow myself to think about what I will say in ths blog and sometimes I just still my thoughts and stay in the moment. “feet” is a common thought, “Hello feet” .

When I meet other english speakers we talk for a while, until someone stops or picks up or slows down there pace. You meet people over and over again, sometimes you learn their stories sometimes not, here is a picture of four women from a small town i colorado, who I have met several days in a row. Marcia , a nurse used this trip to start her retirement, then a she invited her three friends along, and they came.

I may talk too much, I often tell people my age and the fact that I have just retired.

I told one women that the reason I stayed working so long is that I had two nurses working on the project that did all the work, as nurses usually do. This was the right thing to say because she was a nurse.

I had a long coversation about the british health service, my informant felt it was seriosly underfunded and failing.

Today I am tired. It is a long slog on a path very close to a highway through fields of wheat and barley. A man from new zealand told me how to tell them apart. On the way there was advertisements for an aubergue with a swimming pool. It was a little before town so I would not be able to go to the church without putting my boots back on. Once the boots are off you don’t want to put them back on. I have been doing my sightseeing of mideval churches in flip flops, even wearing them to Mass. The first picture is the endless road I trod today, the second should be labeled. “The hardships of a pilgrimage

I am staying in an ancient place for pilgrims run by the same people who sheltered pilgrims for 400 years. The interior looks original! Met the Italian man who made me dinner, this time we will go to the suppermarlet together and I will buy the wine.

This town is famous for a a mircle

concerning a chicken and a live Cock and Hen are given a prominant place in the church

http://www.english.catedralsantodomingo.es/santo_domingo.html

My trip around europe in 1967 was a peak experience in my life, this is similar, Had dinner with vito and two German sisters, we are all elderly and all have spouses and grandchildren at home. Vito organized the meal but I bought the wine.Anipasta a piece of very good cheeze, pasta spaghetti, entre 2 egga, dolce a packaged flan, good wine with good people.

I have learned of other camino’s in other places. This experience can be part of my life.

I am moving more quickly now and am considering joining Elizabeth, Pranay, Zivia and Aavi in france, lThe greatest joy of a grandparent is taking part in your childrens families. You take part in only three families in your life? the one you are born into, the one you create with your spouse and the one your children create.

This is sleepy town, made more so by the fact that everything closes from 1:30 to 5:00, It makes it quite hard to do anything, The pictures, if the upload works are from the Monestary of Santa Maria, I include the bas relief of the wolf for Cora, I did not see a farm animal all day, just miles of grape vines. We are in La Roija so what would I expect. Tomorrow will be a new challenge as I carry less but lift more.Why is there a carving

of yoda.

I cut the imbelical today, I bought a new, rather small pack and sent my big one home with the mandolin, sleeping bag, long johns, sweater, extra pants eatra socks etc basically I am down to the basics and I will carry this pack. This will give me flexibility. I won’t book ahead so I can walk as far as I want, I hope I wont reqret this. Because I cant go backwards from this.

An Italian man who had minimal english asked me if I wanted some wine and then proceeded to make us a simple dinner, he took a can of lentils, but a few cyan peppers in and added olive oil, it was good. we also has some hard boiled eggs and of course bread and wine, then I went with him to Mass, they did play the organ but simple playing sounds simple even in a grand cathedral. After the mass rhe priest called for all rhe pilgrims to come forward, he then led us into a room with the church treasures, the greatest of which was a flemish painting that was a masterpiece. If you move through the world with your eyes open it is an exciting place.p

---

Passed a memorial to people killed during the Spanish civil war, this was an important part of Helene’s life so of course we heard about it as children. Franco seized control of spain in a military coup followed by a bloody civil war, Hitler used it as an opportunity to test out his equipment in support of Franco. American leftests went to spain to support the spanish republic, most died, they were the heros of Helene’s youth, the Lincoln Brigade. The north of spain wasn’t a front so the deaths were mostly people killed by Franco for political reasons, Franco was the only fascist that survived WW2, democracy was not restored until the 70s. Last time I was in spain it was a fascist

country.

Here is me in my Pigrim garb. It was taken by a fellow pilgrim from luxemburg. I have a habit of asking questions that I have asked before, this drives Ellen crazy. In trying to avoid this with the “where are you from question” which is uniquitos as yoy meet people. I discovered that my recall time for these kinds of things is annoyingly slow. It takes me a long time to remember the answer to the question that I have already asked. I think this is the reason I repeat the question. I dont give myself time to access my hard drive for things that arent in core. This trip is a good time to practice because of the small set of questions asked.

check out the price on the wine.