It's January and time to start thinking about walking the Camino de Santiago again. We've got 422 kms left to go (Estella-Rabanal del Camino) in order to have completed the entire Camino de Santiago in Spain and the Via Podensis in France, a total of 1571 kms. This stage will be another long one, sixteen days of walking, averaging 26.4 kms/day.
Airfares are running about $750 RT from VT to Madrid. No, we don't have the money to do this but I so need to know that I have this walk on the horizon because it has become my yearly two-week mobile meditative time.
I don't quite know what I will do once we have completely walked the Camino. It represents more than just walking. It's travelling a route that thousands and thousands of pilgrims have trod for 1200 years (particularly the last 800 years). There's a feeling that comes up from the ground. Besides, there are oodles of wonderful small Romanesque churches into which one can pop, sit down, spend some time and be still.
This postcard comes from a fabulous web site, www.santiago-compostela.net. On it, one can see photos of each stage of the camino. Evidently there isn't much to see on the Alteplano except for flowers because there are lots of photos of flowers.
The postcard shows the many different sign posts and way signs that pilgrims follow. The Camino is well marked and it's only when one is lost in thought or conversation that one might miss a turn. But if one walks more than five minutes without seeing a sign (if there have been any turns), one intuits that one overshot a turn.
In any event, even though we had talked about the possibility of not walking the Camino this year because of schedules and finances, it is seeming more of a possibility. Now it's time to talk to my feet, especially my left one which suffered so much last year.
+
I was sufficiently distracted by the mere thought (and excitement) of planning the Camino that I walked right past the bag of guide books, got in my car, drove 30 miles before realising I had never gotten them into the car. Since the whole point of my going downstream was to talk about the Camino, I turned around, drove back to the rectory, got the books and hit the road again. ¡Qué tonta!
The only benefit to driving the same road twice was being able to see the ice on the trees. With the sun beaming through them, the branches looked like miniature diamonds, sparkling in the sun, creating prism rainbows. I know the trees suffer greatly from all that weight but for a moment the ice was gorgeous.
Leaving the books behind on the kitchen floor is also indicative that I am getting preoccupied with the work that lies ahead of me. January is always a tight month and it's about to begin.
Meanwhile, I continue to hold in prayer all those taking the General Ordination Examinations.
No comments:
Post a Comment