Day 29 To Trabadelo

Day 29 Oct 7 Destination = (Pereje was a bust) Trabadelo / 197 km to go

“I don’t want to get to the end of my life and find that I just lived the length of it. I want to have lived the width of it as well.”
– Diane Ackerman

Its very dark out when I get up in the morning and difficult to get motivated to start walking at seven or 730 since it’s pitch dark during this new moon cycle. I overslept and don’t really care anymore.

The goal was to make it to Pereje - but it turns out it’s pretty much a ghost town and the only real lodging was closed see picture below. It’s a little challenging to figure out what towns to stay in and what towns not to based on daily mileage goals. The town before Pereje would’ve been a beautiful wonderful town to stay as it was gorgeous - Villafranca del Bierzo. It’s actually worthy of a return trip and if you were with your partner & worthy of staying for a few days in an apartment and just hanging out. Again sort of an alpine town vibe. But I’m alone with a goal so I chose to move on. I did end up and a quaint little whistle stop of a town with a private room overlooking a (cool) pool and a river. 26€. Again my overall goal is to get a Santiago and since I’m alone it’s not to sightsee to any large degree in any one location. These beautiful towns are a little lonely to be in alone

Pereje lodging was ‘cerrado’. Yeah, probably didn’t help anything that the name is ‘La Corona’ ! 😳 Whoops ! if you can believe it !

I left town after stopping in at a winery right behind this at this ‘cross’ street, Up the hill and into the foggy sky blue yonder

Half of the vineyards I observed today are very old and only set up for a manual harvesting. I wonder if the wine is any better when they’re hand picked grapes? I’d like to think so, but what do I know

Bierzo wine is a relatively unknown ( in America ) winegrowing region that is rather famous here. Last nights red table wine from this region was absolutely outstanding and I took a picture of the label so I won’t forget.

This is the only www I’ve been tuned into on this walk. I’ve actually only logged onto the Internet once in 35 days! Haven’t missed a damn thing or website ! Go figure. And that was to look up the author of the book ‘Blue Highways’ by William Least Heat Moon -A book recommendation for Stewart. And haven’t once thought about any of my favorite sites, or things I’ve kept up with over the last year. Maybe I can back off when home on surf time. What does it add to my well being

I may have mentioned before I feel like I’m in a time warp and it really feels like time is speeding up and I’m really closing the distance. Every few days there’s a new style marker mile stone like this. As I walked I did some mental math - next Thursday sometime during the day I will have walked my one millionth step (margin of error calculated at +/- 2% ). I think I’ve also averaged one croissant per day 😎 favorite being Napolitano, you know the one with chocolate in the middle. More numbers; my walking pulse rate after three hours is 80.

Peregrinos have always existed

After I took off some shirts and put them into my backpack and got some water I had a quick chat with Alfredo before I left town. He wished me a Buen Camino and I wished him well as he watched the ‘world’ pass by with his neighbor

Everyone’s gardens, specifically the roses and the dahlias are just fabulous this late in the season in Espana. Some of the rose plants have stems in the inch and a half in diameter- can’t grow ‘em that good in Minnesota that’s for sure

As I said VillaFranca de Bierzo is worthy of a multi day stay with a lot to do see …. and taste.

VillaFranca de Bierzo Lodging in this monastery but I didn’t know that and it was out of sync with my mileage schedule

Frequently my sentiments exactly (stoned mason ? !)

The ‘dude’ again (see San Tiago note below) and I now am leaving VillaFranca de Bierzo for an absolutely gorgeous walk through the countryside to finish out another fantastically beautiful gratitude filled day (insert more hills)

Hand harvesting underway - each row had one worker

Bierzo is a unique wine producing region. I got my credential stamped at a small bodega to remember to find vino from this area when I’m back home

Honey, I have put an offer in on this estate !

Conversations:

I walked with a nice guy from Oregon and we shared stories of people we’ve met. He shared the story of one French man he met walking the ‘ wrong way’. Actually not the case. He walked out of his house to Santiago a while back and he is actually going home now. He is doing the round trip. Because that’s how the pilgrimages were originally done from day one. When asked why he simply said “I didn’t consider doing it any other way“.

(1) note above; this round trip Pilgrim also made the comment to my acquaintance that he didn’t understand why a non-Catholic would make a Camino pilgrimage. As I lay awake with insomnia last night I thought about this and thought in the context of all of these pictures of ‘the dude’ that populate my daily entries that this would be worthy of a little bit of dissection on my part in this blog. So;

“The Camino was historically a religious pilgrimage to the tomb of St. James and today many people (about 25%) still walk for a religious or spiritual reason. While not necessarily Catholic, many pilgrims walk to connect and discover a deeper meaning in life, to spiritually connect with nature or themselves, or walk to find answers to deep questions.

If you decide you’d like to walk the Camino for spiritual reasons, again, not necessarily denominationally religious, and you complete at least the last 100 km of a Camino route ending in Santiago  you are eligible to get a Compostela - an official document of completion.” (Source internet)

I have never heard of anyone who isn’t proud to have this document to take home with them regardless of faith tradition. I’ll certainly put mine in a little frame!

So, who is the ‘dude’ ? Who was James  - San Tiago? (I’ve already addressed prior my belief about the unbiblical concept of beatification and saint worship and will not repeat it here. 1 Tim 2:5)

James is one of the first disciples Jesus calls to leave his trade as a fisherman to follow Him.  He answered the ‘Call’ (see Os Guiness book by same title). He immediately dropped everything, family, home, profession, and went on very long walk with this ‘ revolutionary’ -Jesus.

The apostle James was one of the twelve chosen disciples of Jesus.  This James is unlikely the author of the book of James.  One more great distinction of the apostle James was to be the first to die a martyr's death.  He was killed with the sword on order of King Herod Agrippa I of Judea, about 44 A.D., in a  persecution of the early church

James never walked to Santiago.

His remains were believed to have been discovered during the tenure of King Alfonso II (AD 791-842).  There are many legends as to how some of his remains may have ended up in a church in Santiago.  Hence, the beginnings of the ‘pilgrimage’  in the ninth or 10th century.  

So what’s my point.  

Regardless of personal theology or religious affiliation ‘the dude’  is an icon or hero for most of us that walk.  He is symbolic in some way shape or form for all of the walk.   His calling,  his following, his commitment to something greater,  and his martyrdom - ultimately dying for what he believed in.  And he did a lot of walking for Jesus.  
There are many (symbolic) elements of this embedded in the modern pilgrim, including everyone I have personally met to at least some degree, however small.  Whether they can express it with words or not.  It’s there.

As such, the camino de santiago is rich in metaphor.  The ‘dude’, the goal, the fact that we all walk in the same direction, and even the physical trail itself.  It is why I have previously commented that theology IS literally unavoidably embedded in the actual walk itself.

The Camino de Santiago is welcoming to all,  regardless of faith tradition, who want to experience a deep dive into their faith or fitness or (most likely by the time you finish) both. 

This is the fascinating spiritual dimension and binding element of walking the Camino de Santiago for us all. And I’m sure a key to why so many I’ve met do repeat Caminos.

I passed by this albergue in Trabadelo in favor of a private room at a great one down the street at Albergue Crispeta - wonderful and where I had my trout dinner !