Today I woke up smiling, and have been smiling ever since. This may well have had something to do with bumping into ‘old friends’ yesterday evening. I was sitting in the square in Carrion when I heard my name called. It was Louise, who I first met in Roncesvalles way back on day 1, and with whom I spent time on the evening of day 2 in Larrasoana. Louise is one of life’s radiators! And it is always a pleasure to see her. She had bumped into Elin and Gino - who had also been in Larrasoana - and they soon joined us to catch up on everything that had happened since we had last seen each other. Elin remarked that we had all been such ‘babies’ back then, knowing nothing but full of hope, hubris and high expectations.
We discussed plans, I mentioned that I wanted to push the distance a little today as I want to try to get out of sync with some other pilgrims. I’m sure they are lovely people, but I find them somewhat overbearing and opinionated and they seem to appear EVERYWHERE I go, trying to rope me into their drinking sessions. One of the pair is taxiing from town to town, collecting stamps, proud of the fact that she is ‘doing the Camino’ despite having not walked since day 2. She told me that she hadn’t bothered training because she walks between 10,000 and 15,000 steps most days at home. Ah well - each to their own, but I guess coming from a running background the idea of ‘completing’ something that was meant to be done on foot (or bicycle) in a taxi doesn’t feel right to me.
I left the albergue at about 5.15am, in defiance of scary nun’s orders (seriously if she was modelling herself on Robbie Coltrane in ‘Nun’s on the Run’ she’d win a prize) that we should get up at 6am and leave by 8am! I had to unlock all the doors to let myself out!
I knew that I had a long stretch until the first breakfast stop, I was pretty sure that the food truck that was sometimes at 7km wouldn’t be there early enough for me, and I was right! I had a nectarine in my bag, which kept me going until 17km and another tortilla breakfast.
I know that lots of people dislike the Meseta, or find it challenging. So far, I love it! The huge skies, the endless horizons, the easy walking. It isn’t challenging and I suppose it might be considered dull and repetitive, but that allows your mind to wander. I was overwhelmed by a feeling of happiness and ease today. The utter bizarreness of me being here doing this daft thing and loving it! Even knowing that I had to do laundry when I arrived at today’s accommodation (I had no clean pants left at all!) could not bring me down.
I thought about family and friends, of students I have known and their families. Life on the whole is good! I bumped into a pilgrim who I have seen off and on from the start and he remarked that I ‘look so happy and relaxed!’
Tonight’s albergue is rather lovely. Small, run by a friendly team who put my washing in the machine for me, brought me a bag of ice for my leg and have come to me several times to check that tonight’s pilgrim meal will be OK with my nut allergy. I’m sitting in a peaceful garden, enjoying the shade. I know that it is impossible to be this happy all the time - for one thing you wouldn’t know it was happiness if it was constant - but right now this very simple way of life is suiting me well! Even my psoriasis has vanished!
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