Wednesday 3rd May 2023
Distance 12 km (7.45 ml) Ascent approx 900m
Belorado – Villafranca Montes de Oca
Today is my day of rest, though I won’t be taking the whole day off, just walking to the next ALbergue at Villafranca Montes de Oca. The day started out as normal with Morning Prayer in the quiestness and peace of the breaking dawn but as I set off things were really flat, both in terrain and in mood.
Not quite sure why my mood was flat, I was rested, I had had a great stay in a hostel with friendly and interesting people and even a swimming pool. I think it was something to do with feeling a bit like I wasn’t doing the pilgrimage I was expecting maybe. I wasn’t really thinking about getting to Santiago and I even started to wonder what I was doing so far.
I had to remind myself that if the Camino is a metaphor for life then there are days when there isn’t anything exciting happening. I began to think about home then forced my thinking to be present in the the moment on the Way.
I stopped for a coffee and a croissant as much to pass the time as to have breakfast and I had a second break further on. The scenery was its beautiful self.
I soon came off the hill down into the valley and before 10.30 I had arrived at the village where I was stopping. As I arrived I caught up with Dave who I had met yesterday. He was obviously suffering. WE stopped at a bar at the entrance to the village and had coffee and a snack and a chat. It sounds terrible but It encouraged me to think that physically I was managing so well in contrast to someone much younger even though I discovered he was in his 40s. I must be getting old.
We parted and I walked uphill through the village to the Albergue San Anton Abad I had booked. It was attached to a posh hotel and it was weird checking in a the hotel reception. As always I was a bit early and sat in the sunshine drinking a very expensive Coca Cola. After I had found my bunk and showered and done my laundry I settled down to quite deliberately rest. I did see Alex and Sally from New Zealand too, it seemed quite normal now to meet people over and over again at different places.
I had time today to do some thinking. Whilst my natural inclination was to keep walking I wanted to pace myself and give myself a chance to really discover the nature of my pilgrimage. I realised that part of why I had stopped here though was not finding a place to stay at the next village San Juan de Ortega. I reasoned that today was the second ‘seventh’ day of my walk and it should be a day of rest.
I certainly don’t want to push myself too far but somehow I think the time has come to return to a more raw trust in God that he will guide and provide. I have had so many promises in the course of Morning Prayer perhaps I need to set aside my last few days of booking. Booking does give me confidence but I want this trust thing to be part of my pilgrimage. I don’t want it to turn into just a walk.