October 17 - 24

Learning to Walk | October 20

Goodness. I am in my 8th week of this journey. I think my last day of walking, apart from walking around the cities I’ve been in this week, was last Friday, when I hobbled my way into Pamplona. After a week of rest, I am looking forward to walking again tomorrow. It should be an easy day elevation-wise, but unfortunately, it will be mostly, if not entirely, on pavement. Hoping my new shoes that I’ve been wearing all week serve me well and allow me to finish the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela.

It has been an odd experience to stop walking. I’m trying to think of myself as a different kind of pilgrim, but I haven’t really felt like one this past week. I am glad I had the opportunity to spend time in these beautiful, ancient cities: Pamplona, Burgos and Leon, with their centuries-old, sometimes older, architecture and their glorious cathedrals. I will have to come back someday and spend more time in Spain.

First, Pamplona. I shared with you the wonderful nightlife and send-off party we had last Friday. I loved Pamplona—I have loved all three of these northern Spanish cities. Pamplona has a wonderful spirit—relaxed, people out and enjoying themselves. That was probably in part to it being a weekend with beautiful weather, but it was a nice spirit none the less. However I cannot imagine being there during the running of the bulls time.

I’ve been referring to “we” a lot as I write. My Canadian friend and I met about two weeks into the Chemin in France. Then met again a week or so later, and just kept making plans to stay in the same place. We both started having foot problems at the same time and have taken rest days in the same places. We are going to start walking again together tomorrow. It has been nice to have company during these days of not walking. I don’t know if we’ll keep going at the same pace, but I’m grateful for the friendship. That is one of the most precious gifts of the Camino—the people you meet along the way. Some you will never be in touch with again, and some you know you will have as lifelong, if long distance, friends. It reminds me a bit of my acting days. You form such an intense community with your fellow actors during the rehearsal period and the run of the show, then you disband and that close community of folks disperses. There are some you keep in touch with for years, and others who drift out of your life. But we all make an impact and impression on each other, even if our time together is brief.

I’m going to stop and publish this one, and write a separate post about Burgos, and then another about Leon. I hope. I also need to get to sleep tonight since I am planning a 20-21 km walk tomorrow!

Learning to Walk, Day 55 | October 21

It feels so good to be walking again. I’m glad we only had minimal elevation gain today. Even though I have done a lot of city walking in Pamplona, Burgos and Leon this past week, that is not the same as walking on the path, and I can tell I have lost a lot of conditioning. But I managed 21 km today. Gave my feet a good rest with shoes and socks off half way through:

When my toes started turning blue (see photo!) I figured it was time to put my socks and shoes back on and keep walking. It was CHILLY and WINDY today. The forecast yesterday said there would 55 mph wind gusts today. I don’t know if it was that strong, but it was very windy. The last four km were tough—walking on a narrow path by the side of a road, straight ahead for 4 km, into gale winds. But we made it. During the last km my feet really wanted to stop, but I am proud of them. They did much better today.

It was a relatively flat, empty walk, so not a whole of photos for today.

There are two paths to choose from about 7 km beyond Leon. The main route is a path by the side of a busy, 4-lane highway all day. No thank you. The alternate route, which we took, follows country roads. The part of the walk on the dirt road was very pleasant. But there was some not-so-pleasant pavement to deal with as well. Still a better choice than breathing exhaust with cars whizzing by all day.

Now to catch up on Burgos. I loved Burgos, as I have loved all three cities I spent time in this week. The cathedral in Burgos is probably beyond my capacity to adequately describe. Visiting it, using the audio guide, looking at all the chapels and individual elements and works of art is similar to spending several hours in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I probably took hundreds of photos. Which clearly I cannot share here! I will try to edit carefully.

Burgos is beautiful beyond the Cathedral. I love the different colors they paint their houses.

It’s dinner time, and I have added so many photos to this post, I probably need to do a part 2 on Burgos rather than add more photos here. More later!

Learning to Walk, Day 58 | October 24

I did a relatively short walk today, about 12 km, and that included some extra walking around the village this evening. I got to Astorga yesterday afternoon, hoping to see both the cathedral and the Gaudi Bishops’ Palace before nightfall. But since I also needed a short nap and to make accommodation and baggage transfer arrangements for the next few days, I ended up with only enough time for one of those before dark. And they both need to be seen in daylight because of the stained glass windows. So I chose the Gaudi palace, because I have fallen in love with Gaudi, and I figured I could sneak into mass in the morning and see the Cathedral that way. More on that later.

The Gaudi Palace did not disappoint. It was commissioned after the previous bishops’ palace burned to the ground. The bishop imperiously demanded that he had to have a place for his family (staff) to live and work that was worthy of his stature (that’s the gist of it), so they commissioned Gaudi to build such a place. The bishop died before it was finished, and while Gaudi planned it and started it, he seems to have largely abandoned the project after the Bishop died. Plus, apparently the church didn’t pay him for about four years. It took decades for the palace to finally be finished, and it wasn’t long before they made it a museum. It is glorious. Here are some photos:

The wifi is just too slow. I’ll have to stop posting photos, and hope to do some catching up tomorrow. I’ve got 17-18 km to do, including a not insignificant climb. Time to get my climbing legs back! I’m planning on an early start, but not too early. The time should change this Saturday, but right now it’s not getting light until after 8. And there are wolves in this area. I know they will not want to come near me, and I think it’s exciting they are making a comeback. But still. I don’t want to walk in the dark where there are wolves!

Some musings that don’t require photos: Walking the Camino in Spain is very different from the Chemin in France. I think I’ve already talked about that a bit. One of things that I read or was told was that the Camino in Spain would feel more spiritual than the Chemin in France. I’m not sure why. Now I do not believe you have to be able to visit churches for an experience to have a spiritual element to it. Just look at the glorious, ever-changing countryside I’ve been walking through for eight weeks. That’s as awe-inspiring as anything can be. But one big difference between France and Spain is that in France almost every little church or chapel you came to, whether it was in a village or small town or out in the middle of nowhere was open. Anyone could go in. I loved that. I tried to step into every chapel and church I passed, even if I didn’t have time to stay more than a moment. They were such beautiful, old spaces, even the most simple ones, where people had worshipped for centuries. I loved seeing them, perhaps lighting a candle, saying a prayer, or simply having a moment of quiet. In Spain it is the opposite. Apart from the cathedrals and large churches in the towns and cities, that you need to pay to go into (I don’t begrudge this, I’m sure they cost a fortune to keep up) every single church is locked up tight. All of them. It is such a disappointment. It’s probably because there are so many more people walking in Spain than in France, and I guess not all pilgrims (or walkers) show respect for the spaces. But unless you happen to be somewhere at the time of mass, you cannot get into any of the churches. While I do not need to go into a church to feel God’s presence and wonder at creation or to say a prayer, I miss being able to go into these beautiful, ancient spaces where people have worshipped for generations. At least I can admire their towers that provide homes for storks’ nests.