Camino – Day 17

Today was a pleasant and uneventful 23km day. A chilly morning with clear skies, I was walking as the sun crested over the eastern horizon behind me. One of the things about walking the Camino is that the sunrise is behind you. The path always takes you west. So if you don’t look behind you from time to time as you set out you will miss the sunrise (assuming, of course, that you set out as early as I do – which is actually easy to do since the albergues come alive at about 6am and it’s difficult to ignore after about 6:30am). There was a bit of walking beside a quiet country road for the first 5km or so, until reaching the next village (Carrion de los Condes), but after crossing over the Rio Carrion at the western edge of the village the path headed across open fields for the next 12km. It was amazingly restful to just walk on this pleasantly warm (but not hot) day. There was a steady steady stream of peregrinos almost the whole way. I was walking slightly faster than most of them and I must have passed almost 100 before I reached my destination at Calzadilla de La Cueza. My albergue  is relatively basic (except for the swimming pool in the courtyard), but very clean and run by a friendly man who speaks very good English and goes over and beyond to help his guests feel welcome (and the cost is just 10 euros). The woman who arrived just before me (Anya) is from Ukraine, and he made sure that he printed out the albergue welcome sheet in Ukrainian (and mine in English). I was able to chat for a few minutes with Anya (who speaks pretty good English). I told her that there are many hearts  caring about her country. She told me that her home town (where her mother and sister still live) is 15 kilometers (less than the distance I walked this morning) from the Russian border, and every day the Russians send missiles into her town. I cannot begin to imagine.

So on this first day of autumn, as I reflect on how fortunate I am to live the life I am able to live, and experience all that this Camino has to offer, I wish for each of you a life filled with opportunities to live, and learn, and love, and grow.

Buen Camino!

Here is a link to photos from today: https://photos.app.goo.gl/ND2TFNCQfa8uE6ph8