I was dragging my feet a bit when I left Los Arcos. Partially because I just didn't want to leave the special feeling I had shared there among friends - again, the fear that what I wanted/needed was either behind or ahead and not right here with me! - but also because my feet just HURT! I came to refer to this sloooow starting as my morning swagger.
However, upon exiting town I was met with the most glorious sun!!!! A sun meeting. There was a long bit of this sunlit track ahead, so I put on some music and with arms outstretched welcomed the day. By the end, I was skipping and singing and outright DANCING down the trail. Yet another moment SO filled with joy.
I was literally winging it that day, and since then I've referred back to that feeling if I am ever anxious about making decisions along the way. All will be well... I keep telling myself. And friends. All manner of thing will be well. And if my thing is my core, then I know this to be true. ;)
In Logroñon I had another opportunity to be dressing the table with friends at a refugio with a community meal - these are the best!!!! I am growing ever more confident in the truth that I have already known - that I can have friends wherever I go. Because there are loooads of lovely people along the way.
We have had the strangest weather. On the way into Najera we even experienced some hail. What the HAIL?! Ha. Leaving this town we were joined by a bunch of marathoners! And spent the day whooping and hollering and cheering them along the way. I was mightily impressed by their determination in the fridged temps.
At Grañon, my favorite refugio so far, I met a whole new crew. Delightful! And with this extension of the Caminunity I enjoyed a cosy night in an old parish church. We were served a wonderful community dinner and experienced a touching candlelit ceremony afterwards. They had no stamp for our credentials at Grañon, but it certainly left its stamp on my heart.
Photo Cred: Ian, King of Scotland
The following two days were beautiful, so decided to do the long haul into Burgos from Villambistia to get a day off. And boy was it a loooong haul, with the last bit through a particularly unattractive industrial section. I tried to take the river route, but it was so muddied up that my substiboots were not cutting it. In Burgos there was a Camvergence of all of the friends who had jumped ahead or stayed behind. And I was reunited with all!
I have a particularly important reason to be steadfast in finding joy in this pursuit. I have received news from home that my step-grandmother has passed on. Grateful for the conversation I had with her before this trip. She was so encouraging in the spirit of what I am doing. I know she went out in JOY! Up 'til the last moment, she too pursued life and lived it! And so I go forth in JOY and fond remembrance of Glenda.
"For you shall go out in joy
and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and the hills before you
shall break forth into singing,
and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands."
Isaiah 55:12
Peace be with you.
