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Published: September 26th 2018
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Camino Rock Art
I’m not sure how people find the energy to stop and do these Early morning call for Mr. Sherry.
If anyone is wondering what goes on on the Camino in the middle of the night, with strangers of all ages, nationalities, genders, and desires, I can only relate my experience.
At 3.37am this morning I received a call from the aged care facility in Australia where my mother lives, to advise me of a slight change in her medications. There’s no need for permission, it was just to let me know.
So, at that time in an albergue, there is about 20 exhausted people, all in close proximity, snoring and sleeping in the hope to be energetic enough to walk the route the next day.
Then came the shrill noise from under my pillow. Drowsy and confused, I grabbed the phone from under my pillow, answered it, said nothing, and ended the call. It rang again.
Same routine and I turned off the phone.
That’s what happens to me in the middle of the night on the Camino.
I walked into the breakfast room very sheepishly, and quietly asked if anyone was woken by a phone. Amazingly only two people heard it and thought morning had come,
and started to get ready for the day.
That number is blocked and the phone will be turned off at night.
Today was a windy, slightly humid day and rain seemed a possibility in the morning. We climbed steadily out of Sansol for a couple of hours, passed the medieval village of Torres, the larger town of Viana, and approached the end of Navarre and the start of the La Rioja region.
That was 22kms down and 12kms to go to Navarette, my preferred destination for tapas and dinner at Bar Deportivo.
As a person whose on his third Camino, I decided not to walk the last 12kms, but to take a bus. I didn’t feel like I was dodging anything. The old hard core traditionalist focus has softened and today, if I’m to preserve my sore feet, the bus made sense. I doubt I’ll change much else but I will if it suits.
As I sat outside the tapas bar in the shade of poplar trees, a loud, pain ridden, guttural cry came from inside the bar; the owner’s wife fell down some stairs and injured her back. An ambulance arrived and she was
Viana
Not looking good but an interesting place when you arrive in the old town taken to Logrono to hospital. We helped shift all the tables and chairs to allow access and I gave the owner a hand to put them back. Dinner is still on at 7.30 and the show goes on.
I walked most of the day alone today and even when I had company we were pretty quiet. I just thought random thoughts, hoped the helicopter flying over Viana would pick me out as Pilgrim of the Day, and airlift me to Navarette as the prize ( I said they were random thoughts ), and wondered what the Camino is really about.
With the Phone Incident still quite fresh, it’s obvious the focus is to keep walking and moving forward. The food, drinks, rest stops and sleeping are all about the walking. Foot care, clothes washing and general maintenance help fill the rest of the day. Any time left is spent socialising with other pilgrims, or resting by yourself in the cool breeze in a small plaza, which is exactly what I’m doing now.
As time passes and I walk further I’m sure I’ll sort out the problems of the world, and hopefully address a few of my own.
I want to come home fresh and ready to focus on new opportunities.
We’ll see.
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Susan Petch
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Hola
Lovely sunrise shot. Like the mirror one too. Do you normally get up so early?