Sunday in Fromista, Spain

I'm in Fromista, Spain today on a Sunday, two weeks and 220 miles from St. Jean Pied de Port. The beginning seems long ago and the end is still nowhere in sight. My feet are asking me "What have you done to us" and sometimes I ask myself the same question!

I checked into a private hostal this afternoon for a little privacy and a night of sleep without a chorus of snoring. Last night in Castrojerez I was in a room of thirty people sharing a common bathroom, shower and kitchen. There were at least ten different nationalities represented and everyone got along well. Tonight I'm enjoying a private bath and quiet bedroom.

The past two days the Camino has been passing through the Meseta, farm country with fields either holding sunflower, or plowed and waiting for the next crop.

As I walk along this landscape there is lots of time for reflection, and this is good. I think about my feet a lot and hope to keep them healthy enough to carry me the rest of the way. 

I've fallen into a routine in order to get my 15 plus miles in each day: Wake at 6:30, treat my feet with moleskin and get dressed, breakfast, and then on the Camino by first light, 7:15-7:30.

This allows six or seven hours to walk and take in whatever sights my be on the route and still get to an albergue in time to shower, wash and hang clothes to dry and rest for the next day.

Meals are taken on the road, a bocodillo (sandwich) and cafe con leche! Dinner in Spain is usually after 7pm so meals are late and carb heavy. So far the food has been good.

In two days I reach the mid point. I'll write about the people I've met then.

Buen Camino

Finding the Living Among the Dead!

Last night I stayed in the attic of the parish church in Grañon, Spain. I spent the day walking through acres and acres of vineyards at harvest time. 

The day began in Azofra and a side trip to Cañas, to visit a Cistercian Abbey de Santa María, founded in 1170. 

Very beautiful building with alabaster windows, but it was closed. After looking at the outside I took off to rejoin the Camino. The side trip took some time so I humped it to get back on track making it to Grañon by noon after walking 18 miles, 30 kilometers.

There are fountains for pilgrims to use for drinking water, many very old like this one  in Grañon.

I checked into the albergue and was shown to my bed.

The albergue is run by local people and the cost is "donativo", what you can.

I got cleaned up and washed and hung my hiking clothes up in the bell tower of the church and then had a quick lunch.

By 2 pm the albergue had 32 people registered and the fun began. 

We all worked together to prepare dinner,

then went to Mass in Spanish, where the priest blessed all the peregrinos on the way to Santiago.

After Mass and viewing some of the relics in the old church we all had dinner together: salad, pasta, bread, wine, and for me aqua, por favor!

Sitting with me were people from Italy, Japan, Denmark, Poland, Finland, England, and believe it or not a young woman from North Dakota.

Right before lights out at 10 o'clock, we all went back into the church for a candlelit prayer service led by the hospitalerios and translated by a peregrina. A spirit of unity filled the room as all of us took turns sharing our different reasons for being on the Camino.

After a good nights sleep among snorers of various tunes, I took of today for Villafranco Montes de Oca, another 18 miles. The afterglow of the international experience right in the midst of the ancient building gives me hope. The relics may or may not be sacred, but the spirit of the pilgrims traveling along the Camino as well as the genuine care and concern of the local hospitalerios was a sacred moment I won't forget. Tomorrow I push on toward Burgos, with 140 of the 500 miles behind me.

Olin from Denmark and his Camino tattoo.

Layover in Logroño

It's Sunday, September 21, my sixtieth birthday. I decided to take a day off every week or so and pace myself and today is the first full rest day. 

I had planned to stop in Logroño and fortunately booked a hotel ahead of time because this week is an annual festival to celebrate the grape harvest, Festival de San Mateo.

I got caught in a sea of people yesterday afternoon on the way into town but no one seemed to mind a sweaty, pack wearing pilgrim pushing through the crowd. 

As I neared the area of my hotel I was disoriented and a kindly local man came up and walked me to the hotel, about a block away. Having a private room and bath, without needing to get up at dawn to get packed has been wonderful.

It's been interesting watching the celebration in the old section of town, almost 24 hour revelry. The party went on  yesterday until 4 am!

I had a hearty lunch of patatas a los pobre, pan y aqua mineral.

Potatoes, chorizo, pimento peppers and onion topped with a fried egg. Muy bueno!

Tomorrow I'm back on the Camino, rested and ready for another week. I've traveled 102 of 490 miles and my feet and legs are doing well. Tomorrow the goal is Najera, 18.7 miles west.

Buen Camino

Resting in Pamplona

I have finished three days of the Camino, taking a short day today to rest my feet and see the sights of Pamplona.

I have been walking with Graham, my albergue friend from England. As I arrived in my albergue the first person I met was an elderly gentleman and I use the term lightly, who was one of the four sharing the room this evening. Our other two room-mates were two young women from the United Kingdom. Coed sleeping arrangements are a thing I must get used to.

Graham it turns out is a retired Anglican priest who at age 70 decided it was time to walk the Camino. His wife is a counselor with priests in crisis! We had a bit to share about. I consider this a God sighting and we agreed to walk along together.

We awoke at 6:30 on Sunday to begin the trek. After a short stop at the Parish church Notre Dame du Bout du Pont we began the steep climb out of town.

The first day was a beautiful and strenuous climb out of St. Jean Pied de Port up, over and through the Pyrenees and into Spain nearly 16 miles, 25 kilometers. There was a full range of weather, cool in the am, warm with a cool breeze as the day wore on, rain showers at the border of Spain and then hot on the steep decent into Roncevalles. 

250 pilgrims arrived at the old monastery on the 14th and we all had a bed. 150 of us in one dormitory.

I went to a pilgrim mass of blessing given in ten different languages. Another God moment, I was asked to read the English version of the scripture for the Mass.

The next morning we left early, before sunup to start this stage to Larrasoana. Hard hiking up and downhill, with a short break for jugo de naranja (orange juice) and tortilla ( a Spanish omelet).

We arrived at our destination by 3pm, 17 miles or around 28 kilometers. My feet and legs are tired this day and I'm glad to  be able to stop reasonably early. 

The albergue is old, but I'm glad to have a bed. The town filled up and pilgrims needed to go on to the next villages to try to find a bed.

The God-sighting for today, the 15th, was a situation where a Chinese man I had met in St. Jean, Chin Lee, had arrived in Larrasoana and did not have a bed. Graham had the number of a hotel in the next village, one kilometer away. Chin did not have a Spanish phone and didn't speak Spanish so I called the hotel and asked for a room. They had one room left and would hold it for Chin for 30 minutes. Off he went down the trail saying "thanks". We hoped he was successful in getting there in time.

Dinner was a group meal with other pilgrims and seated with me in one spot, Graham, the Anglican priest next to me and then next to him was a Pentecostal pastor from Australia who runs a drug and alcohol recovery program. The others at the table were able to have our share of the wine and I got to drink "mas aqua, por favor"!

This morning was another early morning and I planned an early stop to rest my weary legs. Only 15 kilometers today, less than ten miles.

We checked into the albergue Jesus y Maria and it is wonderful. 100 beds, modern (coed) showers and a place to wash clothes for the next day. 

After showering and washing clothes I walked to the Cathedral in Pamplona, a lovely, ancient building that also is a museum since there ruins being excavated from Roman days.

As I was looking at the remains of the institution I noticed a pilgrim kneeling in prayer. I looked closer and it was Chin Lee. He was just arriving in Pamplona  and was praying before he walked on to Cizor Menor. He reported that he had made it to the hotel on time the night before and gotten the room, and a good night's rest with no snorers! He was very grateful and called us his Camino angels.

For me I saw it as The Lord revealing his Body alive in the midst of the ancient institution. We can still care and share with each other in need .

Tomorrow I do it again, day four begins early. Buen Camino

Gate to enter St Jean

The Parish Church in St Jean

St Jean from the mountains

The Virgin of Orisson

The Pyrenees 

The hostel in Larrasoana 

Medieval bridge into Trinidad de Arre

Old gate into Pamplona 

The Cathedral de St Fermin in Pamplona

Garden in Pamplona

Two days in Paris

I arrived in Paris at 9:30 am on Tuesday, September 9. The first leg of the Camino has commenced.

I made it through customs, bought a train ticket to the metro station near the apartment where I am staying  and arranged to meet the landlady. Three hours after I arrived I was safely inside the apartment.

All through the fight, buying the train ticket, making it to the apartment, I continued to be troubled by fear and worry. They are constant and so wrong that I just call them demon number one and demon number two.

Every accusation, every suggestion put forth by fear and worry proved wrong. As in most God sightings it's easy to tell the right path because it's always opposed. This journey is no exception. I'm sure I'm on the right path because opposition is very constant but victory is at every turn.

I continue to battle demon's one and two with gratitude. I don't have to do this; I get to do this and I am grateful. And the demons go away for a while.

In preparation for the Camino I hiked 18 miles around Paris on Wednesday and ten more on Thursday. I think I'm in good physical shape.

Here are the obligatory tourist Photos

A garden by my apartment

Notre Dame

The scene from every window

Now that jet-lag is taken care of, tomorrow I take a train to Bordeaux then on to Bayonne and ending in Saint Jean Pied de Port to begin my walk on September 14th. 

I'm reading A W Tozer's "Pursuit of God" again and am reminded of my purpose in the changes I've made in life. Is it possible to have a living, breathing relationship with Almighty God? The God who cares about plane tickets and train tickets and walking?

The test of this is experienced through God sightings, seeing God alive in every thing every day. I continue to see them, I continue to journal them and I'll be writing more in the days to come.

Fear or Excitement?

Less than 72 hours until I begin my Camino. I'm finding myself with a mix of emotions. Is it fear, excitement or maybe a mix of the two?

This entire process is one of transformation, transition and the more I think about it the more excited I get! 

I had coffee this morning with one of my band of Brothers and we had a great discussion on transition and what it means to be transitioning right now at my advanced age of  60. 

Daniel's not quite that old but still it's been an interesting last two years for both of us.

While we talked together it became clearer to me  that part of the task of this walking experience is refocusing on what life will be like for me as a 60-year-old once I return to Oklahoma. I realize that many of my mentors have died. Others that I want to respect as mentors have proven disappointing. 

Because of these changes, experiences that  used to have great meaning are no longer part of my life. New relationships have entered, new forms of worship and experiencing God. 

 A renewed sense of discipleship and experiencing God in the moment is fundamental  as is mentoring of younger persons. I think the fear may be in the transition of moving from being mentored to mentoring without my older guides and that feels a little uncertain.

So back to the purpose of the Camino. As I transition the experience of the Camino sets up a growing edge on my spiritual life. Having several hours a day to think while I'm walking I pray will bring clarity.

  I look forward to what will happen in the next seven weeks and to share these experiences with you. So, that's my fear and excitement! As my mother would say " We're going to have to pray! it's come to that!" Thanks mother for teaching me to pray!

Mobile blogging

I'm checking to see if I actually can blog from my phone and it appears that I can. I am considering blogging some on my Camino that begins on September 19.

An added bonus I can actually speak to my phone and it will type it. probably will help me with the typos.

More later