Reflections

When I was packing to do the camino I had clothes for every eventuality, from light t-shirt to a warm fleece. After weighing everything, a warm merino sweater gave way to a much lighter version and the fleece was ditched altogether. But I, and everyone else I have spoken to on the camino, was not expecting such cold temperatures and snow! “This is Spain! I came for the sun”, Nicholas said. A feeling echoed by many. But the last couple of days have been bright and sunny and warm if you sit out of the slight breeze, as the air temperature is still quite cold. Perfect for walking. It is forecast to last another couple of days then return to showery weather.

Talking about clothes, Laurence and I have both noticed (mainly from walking behind) the range of sizes of the people walking. Some look as if they couldn’t lift a bag of sugar, they are so small, while others are so big you wonder how on earth they are managing to walk. While we are wearing zip off light weight walking trousers, a lot of women (big and small) seem to have opted for skin tight shiney lycra leggings. Not a good look in some cases and I wouldn’t have thought they were very practical, but I suppose whatever is comfortable.

Over the past week we have met Kurt from Germany and John and Jonathan from Norwich as well as Nicholas and David who have talked about how the camino has helped them come to terms with retirement or helped them to find a new direction. When facing retirement they have all said what a daunting prospect it was and it felt like they were falling of a cliff. This prompted them to do the camino as they now have the time. It has taken away their fears. Just thinking about the day’s walk and where and what to eat and whether you get a bed for the night, has put things into perspective for them.

Where to eat can be a problem in small villages but the biggest problem is lack of variety. The pilgrim menus in the albergues are great value and very filling but they are all the same. After 3 or 4 nights you have worked your way through everything on offer. The bars vary the menu only slightly and are more expensive. We are trying to make lunches ourselves but it always seems that the only things that are transportable are bread, cheese, ham and fruit. Our lunches are gradually getting smaller! I have read that after a while food does not matter and is only necessary for the calorific value.

Over the past week we have been accompanied by some wonderful bird song, especially nightingales. We have also seen lots of robins and have heard the ever present cuckoos wherever we have walked.

Tomorrow we leave this sleepy place and head into Burgos. When we set off we will leave the camino and walk 4 miles to a nearby town to catch a bus into Burgos (there are no buses in a no horse town). We are cheating out of necessity. I may have mentioned that Laurence’s laptop isn’t working so the bit of work he brought along to do was being done on his phone, with a great deal of effort. That is until he dropped his phone and shattered the screen a few days ago. A nice receptionist in the albergue sellotaped it together and said he would be unable to get it repaired until Burgos. We are therefore hoping to get there early enough to find a place that can repair the phone and have a look at the laptop, although Laurence doesn’t hold out much hope for the laptop. If it can’t be fixed he is thinking of posting it on to Santiago where he will collect it at the end. A lot of people have said that it is the camino trying to tell him something! We shall see.