These are the images that will become flash memories…moments without the pack, freshly squeezed orange juice, open churches, sello(stamps) documenting my walk, the whirling sound of approaching bikes, blue skies, and sun.
• Wednesday, May 30, 2018, Day #20
• Valdediós
• Distance 12 miles; total 279 miles
• 1,719’ ascent and 1,376’ descent
• 25% hard surface
• Time: 5 hours 45 minutes
• Weather: 50-60 overcast
It’s a sure thing. Mornings will find last nights pilgrims at the first opened café. It’s an unspoken coffee club. No agreements. We just appear.
Good coffee keeps us going.
1st towards Valdediós
2nd towards Valdediós
3rd towards Valdediós
• Sunday, May 27, 2018, Day #17
• Piñeres de Pría
• Distance 12 miles; total 241.5 miles
• 949’ ascent and 832’ descent
• 20% hard surface
• Time: 7 hours
• Weather: 50-60 misty rain to overcast
When walking becomes bleak, I find a most welcoming albergue owner who spends an hour sorting out my next five days to manageable distances, reservations, and a stay at the monastery.
1st towards Piñeres de Pría
2nd towards Piñeres de Pría
3rd towards Piñeres de Pría
• Tuesday, May 22, 2018, Day #12
• Requejada
• Distance 13.5 miles; total 171.7 miles (including 2-minute train ride crossing river)
• 1,146’ ascent and 1,154’descent
• 90% hard surface
• Time: 7 1/2 hours
• Weather: 55-65 sunny
Not leading. Not following. Just walking. I have broken the standard stages so I no longer walk with the daily pilgrim pack. It’s too easy to walk at their pace, to make their right turns, or to make their wrong turns. I do not feel the burden of conversation. Today I feel the most at peace with myself because it’s just me.
1st towards Requejada
2nd towards Requejada
3rd towards Requejada
How long is a Camino?
As long as a piece of string.
Two pieces of string connect.
My 2016 Camino Arles (Aragonés) connects with my 2014 Camino Frances as it crosses the five-arched Puente la Reina (The Queen’s Bridge).
I’VE DONE IT!
Deja vu…I have been here before.
After 41 days of walking, Camino Arles connects with my first Camino Frances of 2014.
“Trail Blazers,” volunteers who enhance the markings along The Way by attaching red and white candy-cane stripped flagging tape to trees.
They kindly gave me “first-hand” information how to stage the coming days. It’s the Camino. Help is there.
To be a pilgrim is to be defined. People have walked The Way for thousands of years and for thousands of years people have supported pilgrims.
I stopped at a pharmacy looking for gel inserts for my shoes (still no blisters😻). I was told the Super U (Target) four miles away had them. A non-English speaking French lady offered to drive me. She first took the time to help me find my Gîte to deposit my backpack, drove me to Super U to pick up items for herself and insoles for me, and then drove me back to the Gîte. Once there, she got out of her car to give me a proper good-bye kissing both cheeks and wished me ,”Bon Marchi” (Good walk). I was teary eyed.
The Camino provides. Ask any pilgrim.
Pilgrim who continue are offered gifts by pilgrims who have finished their walk. My seven French women gave me lunch, mole skin, and a petite bottle of Lancôme Miracle Magic Perfume. How French! How yummy!
Desiring to savor my moments on the Camino, I’ve decided to abort my agenda in favor of a slower pace, less mileage, and more relaxation. Rather than be driven by a destination, I’ll make the most of the day.
Looks like I’ve become the company of eight French nurses who hike a week’s segment of the Camino each year (I haven’t done the math to figure out how many years that will take) and two German women who travel with a Canadian man
Linda Scandore 