Destinations....
Quote for the day: But the beauty is in the walking – we are betrayed by destinations. -Gwyn Thomas
We had a lovely evening in a very small town called Fromista last night. We sat down for dinner at a table for six and ultimately we invited two women who otherwise would have dined individually. “Leiv” (not sure the spelling) was from Norway (on the left) a recently retired nurse, and Ann from Belgium who ran a retail store, were our companions. Lovely evening and great food.
Across from our restaurant was a beautiful church. Steve got a good picture of it after it was lit for the evening.
We caught the sunrise this morning. We left early, but took a wrong turn, so we ended up having to backtrack a bit. Two pictures of the sunrise below:
On our way into this morning, we stopped at a wonderful cafe. A few pictures below:
We walked beside a river most of the morning while it was still cool. We got this shot of the river once we got into town.
The mosaic above greets you when you enter town.
We are staying in a beautiful monastery tonight. Monastery San Zoila in the city of Carrion de la Condes. Som pictures are at the end. We will explore it later this afternoon. It is a bit on the other side of town, which will give us a good start in the morning. We had a 14.5 mile day, bringing our total to 241. If 485 is indeed the mileage from St Jean to Santiago, we will hit half way tomorrow. Our Greensboro friend, Sandra Mascia, will join us in less than a week in Leon.
More pictures below. And an explanation about the levels of “Pilgrim-hood.”
Pure Pilgrim
Sort of pure Pilgrim
Pilgrim light
As with everything, there is a bit of a classification system on the Camino.
The purest Pilgrims carry their load and do not have pre-arranged accommodations. They decide how far they want to go everyday and then start booking or more purely, wait til they arrive and if they can’t find a bed, they rely on the kindness of others. (And beds are scarce). They don’t take taxis if their accommodations are off the route. They stay in hostels or alburgues, not hotels.
“Sort of” pure Pilgrims do most of the above. Carrying their loads on their backs is most important. (We’ve actually learned a lot about what we need and what we don’t from these Pilgrims.) Booking ahead for four or five days is less stressful than booking every day or relying on strangers if you can’t find a room, so they do that.
A separate category of “sort of” pure Pilgrims might even have their back pack shipped forward daily to their next accommodation. Which is most likely an alburgue.
Steve and I are Pilgrims “light”. We know exactly how far we are walking every day because all our hotels (or in some cases private rooms in alburgues) are pre-booked. Our luggage...containing FAR more than we need....is moved from town to town for us. We carry a day pack with water, snacks, rain gear.
We have great respect for all the levels of Pilgrims and it is my impression that there is very little judgement. There is a saying that it is “Your Camino” and I think most everyone respects that we all have to do it our way. Though Steve and I would be less heavy Pilgrims if we did it again.
Off to Calzadilla de la Cueza tomorrow.
We caught the sunrise this morning. We left early, but took a wrong turn, so we ended up having to backtrack a bit. Two pictures of the sunrise below:
On our way into this morning, we stopped at a wonderful cafe. A few pictures below:
We walked beside a river most of the morning while it was still cool. We got this shot of the river once we got into town.
The mosaic above greets you when you enter town.
We are staying in a beautiful monastery tonight. Monastery San Zoila in the city of Carrion de la Condes. Som pictures are at the end. We will explore it later this afternoon. It is a bit on the other side of town, which will give us a good start in the morning. We had a 14.5 mile day, bringing our total to 241. If 485 is indeed the mileage from St Jean to Santiago, we will hit half way tomorrow. Our Greensboro friend, Sandra Mascia, will join us in less than a week in Leon.
More pictures below. And an explanation about the levels of “Pilgrim-hood.”
Pure Pilgrim
Sort of pure Pilgrim
Pilgrim light
As with everything, there is a bit of a classification system on the Camino.
The purest Pilgrims carry their load and do not have pre-arranged accommodations. They decide how far they want to go everyday and then start booking or more purely, wait til they arrive and if they can’t find a bed, they rely on the kindness of others. (And beds are scarce). They don’t take taxis if their accommodations are off the route. They stay in hostels or alburgues, not hotels.
“Sort of” pure Pilgrims do most of the above. Carrying their loads on their backs is most important. (We’ve actually learned a lot about what we need and what we don’t from these Pilgrims.) Booking ahead for four or five days is less stressful than booking every day or relying on strangers if you can’t find a room, so they do that.
A separate category of “sort of” pure Pilgrims might even have their back pack shipped forward daily to their next accommodation. Which is most likely an alburgue.
Steve and I are Pilgrims “light”. We know exactly how far we are walking every day because all our hotels (or in some cases private rooms in alburgues) are pre-booked. Our luggage...containing FAR more than we need....is moved from town to town for us. We carry a day pack with water, snacks, rain gear.
We have great respect for all the levels of Pilgrims and it is my impression that there is very little judgement. There is a saying that it is “Your Camino” and I think most everyone respects that we all have to do it our way. Though Steve and I would be less heavy Pilgrims if we did it again.
Comments
I am with you both in spirit. Love your posts, pics of pilgrims,Camino art and the scenery. I can't wait to get together when you return to hear more stories. What an incredible experience you are having!
Buen Camino Peregrinos.
Twink
xo Kay