10 Oct. El Burgos Ranero to La Virgen del Camino. 45.9 km
When on the Camino one faces challenging obstacles and interesting options yet all seems to be imbued with grace.
Two days ago Dad began experiencing some cold symptoms. As a result, we took a fairly easy day yesterday, stopped early, visited the farmacia for meds and allowed time for rest. Despite our best efforts, he put in a miserable night such that I asked our hospitaleros early this morning if there was an option to stay another day just to allow him some sleep. There really wasn't an option. Albergues are intended to be used for one night. They open to let in pilgrims at one and expect you will be walking by 8 the next morning so the hospitaleros can make the place clean and ready for the next nights pilgrims.
Our hosts were not without sympathy, though, and offered some suggestions, the most viable being taking the train to Leon where we could find a private room, a doctor if needed and other conveniences. We would only need to walk a km to get to the station for the 8:45 train. I woke dad and offered the suggestion and he agreed and gathered his things.
As I waited, in walked a friend of our hosts who had his van handy as he had just taken some people to the train station. Abby and Phil(hospitaleros from Oregon) asked if he would take us and, as happens on the Camino, we were taken care of once again. Julio took our bags, ushered us into his vehicle and took us directly to the station so we wouldn't have to walk. He shook our hands and wished us well.
What would have taken us 2 days to walk, we passed in 30 minutes. Honestly, I'm pretty sure those two missed days of ochre fallow fields looked just like the last four days!
We arrived in Leon with the address of our stay and quickly found breakfast, a bank and a taxi in that order. Our taxi driver deposited us at the albergue and wished us well. Only the albergue is now just a restaurant.
Some of you may know the historical and cultural sights we bypassed by going through Leon but this, for us has been about experiencing peace. Big cities cause me great anxiety and Leon is one of the worst marked sections of the Camino. We had intended to take a cab or a bus through it even before today.
We had to resume walking 8.5 km from Leon to La Virgen del Camino. As we were warned, it was not easy to find the markers. When we came to a traffic circle the sidewalks, and thus the markers, were under construction. Which way to go? A kind man pointed the way and we crossed the street only to find an older woman with a group of girls. She just grabbed my arm, turned me around and pointed a different way. We headed down a different street ( there were maybe 6 options off the circle) where yet another older woman smacked my arm and pointed to the next street over where we picked up the familiar yellow arrows and were on our way. Gotta love those Abuelas who look out for us!
As we entered our destination town and were peering at our map a young woman asked if we needed help and pointed the way to our hostel.
We walked more than we intended this day but are now where we need to be thanks to the angels who attended to us all along the way.
Buen Camino
When on the Camino one faces challenging obstacles and interesting options yet all seems to be imbued with grace.
Two days ago Dad began experiencing some cold symptoms. As a result, we took a fairly easy day yesterday, stopped early, visited the farmacia for meds and allowed time for rest. Despite our best efforts, he put in a miserable night such that I asked our hospitaleros early this morning if there was an option to stay another day just to allow him some sleep. There really wasn't an option. Albergues are intended to be used for one night. They open to let in pilgrims at one and expect you will be walking by 8 the next morning so the hospitaleros can make the place clean and ready for the next nights pilgrims.
Our hosts were not without sympathy, though, and offered some suggestions, the most viable being taking the train to Leon where we could find a private room, a doctor if needed and other conveniences. We would only need to walk a km to get to the station for the 8:45 train. I woke dad and offered the suggestion and he agreed and gathered his things.
As I waited, in walked a friend of our hosts who had his van handy as he had just taken some people to the train station. Abby and Phil(hospitaleros from Oregon) asked if he would take us and, as happens on the Camino, we were taken care of once again. Julio took our bags, ushered us into his vehicle and took us directly to the station so we wouldn't have to walk. He shook our hands and wished us well.
What would have taken us 2 days to walk, we passed in 30 minutes. Honestly, I'm pretty sure those two missed days of ochre fallow fields looked just like the last four days!
We arrived in Leon with the address of our stay and quickly found breakfast, a bank and a taxi in that order. Our taxi driver deposited us at the albergue and wished us well. Only the albergue is now just a restaurant.
Some of you may know the historical and cultural sights we bypassed by going through Leon but this, for us has been about experiencing peace. Big cities cause me great anxiety and Leon is one of the worst marked sections of the Camino. We had intended to take a cab or a bus through it even before today.
We had to resume walking 8.5 km from Leon to La Virgen del Camino. As we were warned, it was not easy to find the markers. When we came to a traffic circle the sidewalks, and thus the markers, were under construction. Which way to go? A kind man pointed the way and we crossed the street only to find an older woman with a group of girls. She just grabbed my arm, turned me around and pointed a different way. We headed down a different street ( there were maybe 6 options off the circle) where yet another older woman smacked my arm and pointed to the next street over where we picked up the familiar yellow arrows and were on our way. Gotta love those Abuelas who look out for us!
As we entered our destination town and were peering at our map a young woman asked if we needed help and pointed the way to our hostel.
We walked more than we intended this day but are now where we need to be thanks to the angels who attended to us all along the way.
Buen Camino
Praying your father feels better soon. Relieved and glad so many are looking out for you and your father on this journey.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE these stories of hospitality. I'm amazed - it seems like the folks along the camino do not easily tire of offering hospitality (something to remember as I've just started a two year stint in a place where our ministry IS hospitality).
ReplyDelete