FOREWORD: I completed the El Camino de Santiago – an 800km spiritual pilgrimage across Spain in late Summer of 2009. I journalled and photographed my trip, and as a final completion I agreed to publish my journal and pictures a year to the day of my journey.

STATS: Walked 20kms (12 miles)

6:11pm I am lying in bed in the attic of the albergue. It is very very sweet, and I am exhausted. It is about my 5th day walking with mum and it is really an adjustment. Because of her sore knees she was really slowly, and it would be OK if we didn’t have the deadline, and I felt like we needed to move along, but in fact it is fine. We are having a great time as I practice letting go, letting go, letting go of how I do things, how I did things etc.

I remember in the beginning thinking that I wanted to walk forever, and wondering if I would ever feel complete, and now with less than a week to go I am beginning to feel complete, and the realisation that I probably will not actual feel complete until I am complete, so it is just trusting that.

When I am alone I am mostly having days of just mental blankness, not a lot of thought just presence and being quiet. I kind of love it.

Their were 2 paths out of Villafranca, one along the highway and one that is a ridiculously steep climb for about 30 minutes out of the town, but is the more spectacular view by far. Even though mum was in pain she was up for it. So in the pitch dark and freezing cold we made our way to the path to the high road and set out. It was icy and hard going, but as the dawn broke and we caught glimpses back over the town we had just left, it was incredibly worth it. The photos don’t even come close to doing it justice.

Along the morning path we came across this lovely group of Australians, a sister and brother and her husband. They were really fun and we walked most of the day with them. It was nice, different, but nice. On the top of the ridge we walked through this incredible grove of chestnut trees. It wa a magical fairy place, like no other place in the world, and such a treasure and treat to share it with my mum. (This is the place the Matthias mentioned, from my blog entry from weeks ago, and my mums favourite place. )

So it was pretty hard going with mum, because on one hand she goes slow, and on the other hand we have to get to the town earlyish to get nice beds, it is important that I get mum a good place that she is comfortable with. We have been calling ahead and booking accommodation but sometimes not. You can’t actually book at albergue, only at Bed and Breakfasts… so at around noonish I left her and took off as fast as I could to catch up for lost time, which does kind of work, but I have also been walking for 5 hours already it is not really that fast!

Anyway, I got to this quaint little albergue, which is certainly a treasure of the Camino. I think my friend Esther told me about it, somehow this place is ringing in the back of my mind. The man who runs it has a very strict idea for rules and how things should be done. It was endearing in a Camino kind of way. I was grateful for a toilet and to take my shoes off. I rested a little while, then made my way back to the road, and sat in a little creak dangling my feet in the water, waiting for mum to come along. There is a rule that you never put your feet in water if you have to put them back in your boots that day, because your feet skin gets all soft and sensitive and rife for blisters, so as I sat with my feet in the water it was pure luxury.

I just sat and waited. When mum came she was in a lot of pain, and I would have to say grumpy. We ate little sandwiches of cheese and baguette and then did our laundry and ablutions and are now just resting. It is cold.

9pm We had a communal dinner in the albergue which was really lovely, we all went around the time and shared our precious experiences of our Camino, mum and I were a hit, which was cute. There were a lot of cyclists staying in the albergue with us and they carry a different energy to walkers. They are mostly all very strong athletes, that go hard, and most of the walkers tend to be more diverse and a little more air-headed on the whole, so it was a mixed energy in the room. I had a couple sharing the beds in the bunk above me which was a little weird.

Anyway another precious day that felt like four in one!

previous day: day 33 riego de ambrios-to-villafranca
next day: day 35 ruitelan-to-fonfria

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