Day 26: Hiking My Camino de Santiago

August 14, 2018

This is a photo taken at O Cebreiro this morning. I was totally amazed at the beauty of that heavy fog on one side of town and other side only had haze. The second photo is shows that view. Unfortunately, looking into the sun impacted the quality of the image.

Today was actually a short day. I got up late and walked 14.19 miles from O Cebreiro to Triacastela. I didn’t walk my normal pace partly due to the fact I knew it was a short day and partly because I am getting my first blister on the bottom of my foot. I have had blisters on my toes but they didn’t impact my walk. Hopefully, I can put a stop to this blister tonight. If I was to guess why the blister now, I would guess it has to do with the mileage and wear-and-tear on my shoes.

Otherwise, it was an uneventful day. I walked briefly with a 21-year old Italian by the name of Aurora. I saw Stuart, Kate, Karl, Michael, Jade, and Christin at various breaks. I had dinner with Joerg. And I saw Promise this morning. She said she decided to walk her Camino and not take a bus to Sarria.

For today, I would like to share an observation and some information. First, the information. As you may or may not know, a pilgrim can get a certificate for walking, biking, and horseback riding on the Camino de Santiago. There is a minimum distance one must travel to get the certificate for each of those three. For walking, it is 100 kilometers—a four or five day walk.

I have already shared that the 100k would not have been as impactful for me as four weeks of walking with a 20 pound backpack. In my case, 780 kilometers and 4+ weeks with a 22 pound backpack. If someone asks, I would tell them to walk from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, if possible, or Pamplona to save three days. I think I am still on track to walk into Santiago de Compostela on my 31st day of walking.

I have not seen any pilgrims on horseback but I have seen pilgrims on bicycles. And I would still tell an avid biker to walk if possible. And one of the reasons is that you miss the “little things.”

I remember walking and seeing “ant lines” across the road on multiple occasions. I stopped many times just to watch the ants go from one side of the road to the other on this imaginary line they created. It actually gave me joy, and I felt sorry for bikers and horseback riders because they would miss that.

It then made me think about what little things are we overlooking in our daily lives. Is it time with a child, spouse, or significant other? Is it acknowledging someone we pass in the ordinary course of our day? The Washington DC Area is a rat race and may be easy to overlook little things that can be so very important to us personally or maybe someone else. Is there a little thing we can do to make the day better for someone we know or meet? Just a thought.

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See additional photos from August 14th below:

1) One side of O Cebreiro

2-The other side of O Cebreiro

3-The other side of O Cebreiro

4) A view from the trail

5) A view from the trail

6) A view from the trail

7) Pilgrim statue

8) Pilgrim statue

9) From Hospital de la Condesa

10) A view from the trail

11) Village of Padornelo

12) A view from the trail

13) Pilgrim sculpture

14) An interesting tree

15) A church on the trail

Brief descriptions of the photos:

1. I started walking at approximately 8:00 AM today and found this view on one side of O Cebreiro. The next two photos are the view on the other side of O Cebreiro. If I didn't mention it earlier, O Cebreiro is probably is not much wider than a football field.

2. I started walking at approximately 8:00 AM today and found this view on one side of O Cebreiro. If I didn't mention it earlier, O Cebreiro is probably is not much wider than a football field.

3. I started walking at approximately 8:00 AM today and found this view on one side of O Cebreiro. If I didn't mention it earlier, O Cebreiro is probably is not much wider than a football field.

4. This is part of the view I had shortly after I left O Cebreiro.

5. This is another view I had approximately 30 minutes after I left O Cebreiro.

6. This is a view from the trail near the village of Liñares.

7. This is a statue of a windswept pilgrim at Alto San Roque. I couldn't get a clear image of the pilgrim's face given the angle of the sun.

8. I bought this image from BigStockPhoto so that you could see the features of windswept pilgrim from the previous photo.

9. This is a image of stone church in Hospital de la Condesa.

10. This is another image from the trail almost two hours after I left O Cebreiro.

11. I believe this was a small church near the village of Padornelo.

12. This is another image from the trail.

13. This is a wooden sculpture of a pilgrim outside of a cafe in the village of Fillobal.

14. This is an interesting tree as I approached Triacastela.

15. This is the Iglesia de Santiago in Triacastela.