The true spirit of the Camino

Today’s blog is quite hard to write because I’ve always wanted to keep it light hearted and funny …. this will of course have some humour because look who is writing it 🙄🙄🙄- but some days you meet the spirit of the Camino head on, and today has been one of those days 😘😘

Yesterday, when we were able to collect our room key, we met a petite American lady also staying in our hotel who was arranging a massage …she needed some help with translation/ where to go etc , and we were able to help her.

I’m giving you all a mascara warning now ….fortunately Kathleen and I don’t wear make up whilst walking so we just had wet faces .

When we were eating our breakfast the same lady appeared , and we started chatting . Well her first question to us was “ What have you eaten?” Quite right to ask, because all that was on offer was a banana, natural yoghurt, and toast ( well, a chunk of bread equivalent to 3 Mother’s Pride slices) butter and jam…plus coffee and orange juice all for the princely sum of 8€ !!

Whilst we continued chatting we discovered why she was walking . Let me be clear, the majority of people walking the Camino, have a reason to do so, but some are more heart breaking and hard to hear than others.

This lady, Joanne is 71 years old, and is walking the entire length of the Camino to Santiago de Compostela on her own. She is a married mother of four children and grandmother to thirteen grandchildren and had wanted to walk the Camino for the past forty years but with work and family commitments she wasn’t able to.

One of her grandchildren has had heart problems all her life and finally was admitted to hospital requiring a heart transplant. Joanne spent every third night with her in the hospital ( Mum and Dad doing the other two nights) One night when she was with her granddaughter, her oldest child, and only daughter, had a heart attack and died aged 46 years old .

At this point , you may imagine, the three of us were in tears. After this , Joanne’s husband told her “ This is your time to walk the Camino” So she is doing .. but she then told us , her granddaughter who had been waiting for a long time for a heart , received one the same day her Aunt died! There were no words … just tears and a strong bond of compassion and care 😘

It was a natural progression for us to walk with Joanne . She is an amazing lady …very brave to do this on her own…but as she said, she doesn’t feel alone and in reality she isn’t. We walked comfortably together from Navarette to Najera with her …10.9 miles….and the time seemed to fly by . Plenty of tears ….but it is the start of her healing 😘

Still too early to think about that 😉 and in case you’re questioning that, yes it is !!!

So as we walked further, two girls came up from behind us …and Joanne recognised one, a girl called Amy, from her “ coffee break” stop at Orisson ( first cafe half way up the Pyrenees ) We were introduced as the girls from England …and it transpires that Amy from Chicago, spent a year in Durham on a student exchange in 1985 . Well of course, that is Kathleen’s stomping ground …so they reminisced, and Amy proved she could still speak with a Jordy accent !!!!

As we got nearer to Najera, we came across this very strange stone hut ….

Then we came across the Pilgrim’s Poem ….”Pilgrim who calls you ?” It is basically grafitti on a wall but the local people have made a feature of it , and either side of the poem they have painted a library of books that pilgrims can write on . Sod’s Law we only had a biro ….perhaps normal pilgrims carry, as routine, a felt tip pen about their person for such an occasion 🥴🥴🥴 whoever knew !!!

On arrival in Najera itself we had our coffee stop where I found this napkin..,

…and then walked on to find our hotel. Once we were settled in our room, we went out for the customary beer …yes, it was way past the yard arm!!! ….where I wish I’d brought that napkin because believe you me the waitress needed it . Grumpy doesn’t even come close 😂😂

Before I close this blog , thank you to everyone who reads it and if they can, comments, ….it really is my pleasure to write it . However , I was originally quite concerned as to who was reading it …as I could see names/addresses that bore no resemblance to anyone I knew ( or so I thought!) …and when I share them with you, I am sure you will understand my concerns – here are but a few ( well 3 !!)

Now I know who is enchantingly creative now 😘 but you can perhaps understand why I was slightly concerned. In truth I have no idea how this all works …because some comments come from named friends . So can I ask that if you can and do comment, you write your name …and if you happen to have been given a unique coded name , I will be sure to let you know !

Tomorrow we are off to Santo Domingo de la Calzada .. 13.9 miles away …

So hasta mañana Dear Reader …here are a few things to remember…

…and to finish to give you ( well, on reflection, maybe some of you 😉) a chuckle …