Wednesday November 2. Sobrado des Monxes to Salceda. 9.5hrs 33.3km (included 1hr lunch).
The sign says it all. Temperatures were below 50F when we left our hotel just before 8am. Even though we are tired out from each day’s walk, somehow we seem to have no problems waking up early!
Walking out of Sobrado was along the main road before transitioning to quiet countryside roads and forested trails. An early incline gets the heart pumping and increases our core temperatures. All is good.
We walked a bit with two other pilgrims we met earlier, Pedro (Lourenza bus stop) and Claire (Albergue O’Abrigo at Miraz). It’s great to chat a bit before we parted ways.
Claire raised a hot topic about the adjustment to daily Life after the Camino. The common thread seems to be the inability to retain the Camino serenity, calm and peace. Which may be why many return for multiple Caminos! This is not our case but that’s a different story.
It’s easier to discern the factors when one compares one’s routine on the Camino and back to daily Life. I posit that one of the biggest factor is that on the Camino, we do not pay much attention to the news, gossip, television, etc. To put it another way, what’s going inside us is what is around us on the Camino. As computer programmers say, ‘garbage in, garbage out.’
A second factor is likely our appreciation and gratitude for everything that we come across on the Camino. In daily Life, entitled attitudes likely robs us of that our enjoyment and gratitude for what is.
Lastly, going through a Camino that is very dependent on the externalities and the surroundings, is likely the most ephemeral of experience. Unless there is an internalization of the experience, one cannot carry it wherever one goes.
We decided to have lunch in Arzúa because it’s a bigger town. And we found a very nice restaurant where the service was impeccable and the food delicious. We wanted some local cuisine and we found it at Casa Nese.
We have had good fortune, in the dry weather, with good company for a bit, and long stretches when we were the only pilgrims! Tomorrow, we walk into Santiago de Compostela!
Journey Within 