Camino Lessons

More and more I am learning that the Camino is in fact an inner journey that you take. I might be walking strange paths and through fascinating little villages and meeting interesting people, but really the journey is inside myself. It is also not a journey that will end when I reach Santiago or Finnisterre but it is a journey that should never end.

By the end of my third week I was walking really well. All my feet problems have been sorted out and my blisters started turning into callouses. . .never thought I would think that callouses is good, but when you walk it certainly is!

On Sunday morning I left Boadilla del Camino after spending a night in a wonderful auberge - En El Camino - complete with swimming pool nogal!! All facilities were great and there was also the delightful Eduardo who told me that I am sweet enough. . . A wonderful family and Eduardo a bit of a flirt but all in good spirit.

As I walked out of Fromista I wanted to climb up from the road to the walkway but slipped and fell. A little bit shaken I assessed the damage and concluded that I only scraped my right shin a bit.

I stopped for coffee in Poblacion de Campos to lift my flagging spirits and when I started walking again was dismayed to find that my right ankle was swollen, stiff and painful.

The next six kilometers were not my best. I made it to Villarmentero de Campos where I stayed the night. . . shared the accommodation with 4 French people and 3 mice! The mice were nice!! Not my best night. . .

The nagging question for me - what is it that I have to learn?? The first two and a half weeks of my journey I was in pain most of the time so really did not enjoy the walking. I have gone from 22 - 25kms a day to abut 16 - 20 kms a day. So, if the lesson for me was to SLOW DOWN - then I have certainly done so. I HAVE SLOWED DOWN!! I really believed that this was one of the things that the Camino is teaching me. . .but falling and hurting my right leg?????? REALLY!!! I am just a tiny little bit fed up.

I know that for many years I have not always been listening to my body and maybe also ignored pain. . . physical as well as emotional. So maybe I need to learn to FEEL? FEEL the pain, push through and move on. . .

Those of you who know me well will know that I do not lack resilience and yet at the moment I feel as if I have none.

I am taking the train into Leon tomorrow morning to give my leg a rest and will then start walking again from there.

Keep the emails coming. . I really need it. . and thank you to all of you who mail me every now and then with a word of encouragement!

Ultreia!!!! On, and on, and on I walk (why am I doing this again??)

Wild Peregrino :-)