Why Are We Doing This? - Day 17 (April 30)

All day today I have been wondering again why are we doing this, not individually, although certainly that too, but collectively. We have seen fellow pilgrims with multiple blisters on their feet keep putting one foot in front of the other. People with painful knees that cause them to limp every step. Walking through rain and wind. And why? A fellow pilgrim who is currently walking the camino for the third time says when you reach Santiago, you will know. I hope he is right.

Start of Day

The day started with a 100 meter climb over about one kilometre, a strenous way to awaken tired muscles and joints. We were rewarded at the top, however with a rainbow which reminded us of Bob (Fred's brother) as the song "Somewhere over the rainbow" was one of his favorite songs. He always told us that you had to "look for the blue", just as the song suggests.

We had left without eating breakfast and it wasn't too long before we realized that Fred read the map from the wrong day (here we go with our map issue again) and instead of three kilometres to a town sporting something to eat, it would be eleven! Needless to say, we were famished by the time we reached Itero de la Vega where we had our second bacon and egg meal on the camino. Eggs here just have seem much more flavor than eggs we get in the U.S.

As we walked the road to Boadilla del Camino, the ditches were filled with blue bachelor buttons, red poppies, white daisies and yellow mustard creating a palette of colors. At one point we spotted a couple of blue butterflies flitting about. Trying to capture them photographically had me looking quite ridiculous, I'm sure as my arms were flailing about with camera in tow. Finally one decided to rest on the grass next to some flowers so I took some quickly before he started on his dance again.

A little further down the road we came to San Nicolas de Puertelitero, a very old Hospital of Peregrinos that stood next to an old Roman bridge. Inside was a hospitalero dressed in all black including a quaint cap. He was welcoming peregrinos with fresh coffee made with a Bialetti, a manual espresso maker. This albergue seemed a place that would allow for quite reflection because of it's utter simplicity. If it weren't so early in the day, I may have suggested we stay.

San Nicolas

Outside Boadilla, there were sheep grazing in a pasture and shortly thereafter we entered into the province of Palencia with yet more grain fields and flowers in the ditches. The rest of the way to Fromista, our destination for the day, was along a very wide canal which ended just outside the city with a series of locks built in the late 1700's.

After getting cleaned up and taking a short walk around the town, we visited with a group of pilgrims over a glass of wine. One young man who is on his second camino journey and has been carrying his guitar around entertained us with a song he made up about peregrinos on the camino.

We had a delightful dinner with Ralph, Jim, Marilyn, Dawn (a lady from Portland on her first day of the Camino) as well as three people from Canada. Another very nice day.

Lesson of the Day: Look for the blue!

 

 

 

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