This might be the “flora and fauna” edition of my blog! We saw some amazing vistas this morning! When the sun came up I found some amazing scenes, like the one above, this glorious oak,
lots of chickens, cows, and Camino cats.
These lilacs were amazing (I smelled them before I saw them) !
We had some challenging moments, like this descent, (Go Marsha!)
and a shorter but excruciating hill (no photo, no time, no energy). But all in all, our 15 mile walk was really great today!
This is Day four of our novena to Saint James. In the reflections we are reminded that we, like the Apostle, need to fight our natural impulses that lead us to sin. We need to self-reflect and really know ourselves. We need to constantly examine the way we think, feel and live so that we better conform our thoughts, feelings and lives after Christ. this provided my reflection for the walk today.
A very interesting pilgrim that we met early on asked us, “What one thing did you bring with you on this pilgrimage that you absolutely could not leave behind, that the rest of the world would think you crazy to bring? And how do you feel now about bringing it?” He said it would probably tell us something about ourselves. I actually did a fairly good job with packing, but the answer to his question was easy to find. I did bring a few little items for my little “beauty routine.” Did I need them? No, absolutely not. Have I used them? A few times when I felt I needed a little “sprucing up” after the dirt and sweat. Am I glad I brought them? Yes. So…let’s see…what does this say about me? A little vanity, maybe?
We left this morning in the dark wearing our headlamps, and I have to admit, it is pretty fun and the stars are glorious! Some things I’ve learned about walking in the dark: 1. Bugs are attracted to the light so sometimes you end up with bugs in your face, 2. Walking in the dark means you miss all the beautiful landscape! 3. You can’t speak face-to-face to another person who “dons the headlamp” or you blind each other,
4. Sometimes you end up with “headlamp hair” if you wear it long enough, but who really cares, 5. Sometimes you see…what is that “fog” swirling around my face? Oh! This morning I can see my breath! Brrr…6. It can be super stressful in rocky, unpredictable terrain. 7. It can be super-duper stressful because we can’t watch for the markers that guide us. 8. The British call their headlamps “lanterns” , 9. We feel very cool when we wear our headlamps! 10. We get to see the sunrise!
We are very much aware that this pilgrimage is very close to its end. Yes, we are tired. But we are energized by the idea of arriving in Santiago. As the number of pilgrims grow, we need to be ever more prudent about our stopping points because beds may be harder to find. We need good rest to persevere.