Our friendship keeps us wild and safe
(Thanks to another Via pilgrim…Alain)
Our Albergue yesterday was great. Beautiful gardens, a swimming pool, kitchen and terrace and we were joined by Hanna, the Bordeaux guys, the French – Dutch group, the Italian chap, Ted and a few others.
My grandmother started walking five miles a day when she was sixty. She’s ninety-seven now, and we don’t know where the heck she is.
Ellen De Generes
(thanks to my brother in law Jeff for the above)
He who’s down one day can be up the next, unless he really wants to stay in bed, that is
Don Quixote
Last night we stayed in El Real de Jara. On our way into town we saw a sign that offered restaurant and rooms with air conditioning and bathrooms with special rates for pilgrims… it sounded great. It wasn’t.
To walk abroad is, not with eyes,
But thoughts, the fields to see and prize;
Else may the silent feet,
Like logs of wood,
Move up and down, and see no good
Nor joy nor glory meet.
Yesterday I learned that an American called Ted was so exhausted from the heat and from being poorly that he had to call for help at the bottom of the big hill. It was so steep and he just felt that there was nothing left to get him up there. He is an experienced walker and was fully prepared but he was ill and it was just too much.
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the worldYou may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will live as one
Today didn’t start as well as we’d hoped. The walk is meant to be just over 30km; the first 16km along a highway. Yesterday we walked 1 or 2 km along the highway and Maggie was very nearly clipped by a passing lorry. There is very little hard shoulder, so not a lot of room to move out if the way. Added to this the heat… its still pushing into the 30s after lunch… and Maggie is nursing a few blisters… so we decided we should do what many pilgrims do and take a taxi to the gate of the National Park… thus avoiding the road and the long day.
It’s funny how some distance
Makes everything seem small
And the fears that once controlled me
Can’t get to me at allIt’s time to see what I can do
To test the limits and break through
No right, no wrong, no rules for me,
I’m free!(Everyone join in the chorus…)
Let it go, let it go
I am one with the wind and sky
Let it go, let it go…
I had a great title for today’s post… we both agreed it was brilliant but somewhere between Guillena and Castilblanco I forgot what it was… so none of you will ever know.
We made a good start this morning… it is way too hot to be walking in the afternoon so we have no choice but to leave before the sun gets up.
No one can tell me,
Nobody knows,
Where the wind comes from,
Where the wind goes.It’s flying from somewhere
As fast as it can,
I couldn’t keep up with it
Even if I ran!
Today we set the alarm for 5.45… again. It’s hot in southern Spain and we thought if we started early we could make good time before the sun rose too high. Continue reading
Have you seen God in His splendors,
Heard the text that nature renders?
(You’ll never hear it in the family pew.)
The simple things, the true things,
The silent men who do things?
Then listen to the Wild – it’s calling you.They have cradled you in custom,
They have primed you with their preaching,
They have soaked you in convention through and through;
They have put you in a showcase;
you’re a credit to their teaching,
But can’t you hear the Wild? – it’s calling you.Let us probe the silent places,
let us seek what luck betide us;
Let us journey to a lonely land I know.
There’s a whisper on the night-wind,
There’s a star agleam to guide us,
And the Wild is calling, calling . . . Let us go.
I am just one of those people that really, really dislikes airports and flying. It’s sad really as I know it dampens my desire to travel. I’m not afraid of flying, I just don’t like the process. Continue reading
He often used to say there was only one Road; that it was like a great river: its springs were at every doorstep and every path was its tributary. “It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out of your door,” he used to say. “You step into the Road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there is no telling where you might be swept off to.
I’m alone again… at Bordeaux airport having waved a very fond, bittersweet farewell to my dear sweet husband, who hugged me and held me close and whispered “stay safe…. come home soon… just let me know each day that you arrived safely.” Then he was gone. Continue reading
Then We Walked 