On Monday the 29th of April 2013, I walked from Calzadilla de la Cueza to Bercianos del Real Camino, a distance of 33 kilometres. This was yet another day of walking throughout the day in bitter cold with a strong, freezing wind. Bercianos del Real Camino translates as Berciano of the King’s Camino. I took a wrong turn when I missed a Camino direction sign and walked much further than I had intended that day. The albergue at Bercianos del Real Camino was run by volunteers who made great efforts to ensure that the peregrinos who came to the albergue were given good, nourishing food and warm beds.
When I arrived at Bercianos del Real Camino, I received a text that My friend Nes had survived emergency open heart surgery, was now in intensive care, but was expected to live.
As I edit these Camino Soul Songs 12 years after my Camino walk, I wonder what happened to persuade Nes to refuse to come to Margaret’s funeral. Margaret had been Nes’s friend too. In the evening before his open heart surgery, Nes had cooked dinner for Margaret and told her he had indigestion. In reality, the indigestion had been a heart attack. Margaret liked Nes.
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The hardship of getting from Calzadilla de la Cueza to Bercianos del Real Camino involved more than covering the distance. It was bitter cold, a bitingly cold wind blew and peregrinos seemed to shrink into nothingness and not be visible. This photo was taken soon after I began.
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It was disheartening to be constantly walking alongside very busy roads. Some peregrinos can be seen if you look carefully into the distance along the track
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Yet more highway travelling. This was an extremely hard day.
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Even the waterways seemed to be depressed on that Monday 29th of April 2013.
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Roads, roads and yet more roads; plus wind and cold, wind and yet more wind and cold.
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Seeing this crudely painted sign on 29 April did not make me feel I was any closer to Santiago de Compostella.
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Diary Entry Made on Monday 29 April 2013 at 6:05 pm
I arrived at the albergue in Bercianos del Real Camino at about 3:25 pm after setting out at 7:10 am this morning. I was actually intending to walk to Calzada del Coto but I miscalculated. Calzada del Coto is on the main Camino route and Bercianos del Real Camino is an Opcion. I missed the turn off to Calzada del Coto and finished up in Bercianos after walking about 31 kilometres. [Note: The actual distance was about 32.7 kilometres.] This meant today was the 4th successive day where I had walked about 30 kilometres or more. The only upside is that it reduces tomorrow's travel to about 26 kilometres.
What a day! The wind blew all night and all day today. It was bitter cold and had a speed of about 30 kilometres per hour I think. It was mostly but not always at my back. Sometimes it was strong enough to buffet the backpack around on my back. This came on top of yesterday's battering.
I walked with my head sunk into my shoulders and my shoulders hunched against the wind and the cold. I didn't take the gloves off all day. I am still wearing them as I write, plus my beanie and my rain jacket inside the albergue. It is difficult to imagine how the day could have been more exhausting. My feet and legs ache all over.
This albergue is a "donativo" staffed by volunteers. It is clean and functional but very, very cold. The Menu Peregrino at 8:00 pm is also free.
I got a text today saying that Nes had a quadruple bypass and that he is as well as possible given that.
Today I passed over the half way mark of the Camino. What a way to do it!
Distance Walked Today: 32.7 kilometres.
Total Distance Walked So Far: 399.2 kilometres.
Total Distance Covered So Far: 420.4 kilometres including the 21.2 kilometres by taxi.
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Soul Song Number 19 - Far Too Much Wind Walking
(29 April 2013)
Today was supposed to be an "easy" day,
With only about twenty five kilometres to cover.
So you should have been cruising.
You got it wrong though
You got it so wrong that God herself must have been smiling at your error.
It started the moment you opened the albergue door this morning.
The wind tried to steal the door from you.
Just like yesterday. it was blowing at about thirty kilometres per hour.
It came out of the east and it was bitter cold.
All day you again listened to the flapping of the sleeves on your rain jacket.
All day your hat was plastered flat on your head by the wind,
Assuming shapes its designers could never have imagined.
You had no choice.
You had to plod across the cold, cold landscape.
The landscape mocked your hopes as well as the wind.
Today, the Camino was in love with travel along major roads.
Today, the Camino was unable to shake off an infatuation with the mundane world.
You consoled yourself.
At least the walk should be over by about 1:30 pm.
You got that wrong too.
You took a wrong turn.
That meant the Camino took you straight to Bercianos del Real Camino,
That meant the Camino walked you straight into an additional two hours of walking..
It was 3:30 pm when you stood shivering in the albergue.
What a day it had been!
What surprises the Camino had wrought!
You always knew the Camino would be very hard work.
All that hard work to draw a little closer to Santiago.
The day had one more surprise in store.
This one waited until you had arrived at the albergue.
Your friend might have had "a minor heart attack",
But repairing his heart had not been a minor exercise.
The doctors had given him a quadruple bypass.
The doctors had given him a few nips and tucks just to keep him alive.
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