Camino de Santiago Primitivo
Day 31
This is a camino of gratitude for me. Each day, I choose something I am grateful for in my life and think and journal about it throughout the day. I will share an excerpt from my journal entries at the end of each day’s post.
Day 31: Lugo—Castrelo ~ 11 miles
30 October 2017
Today was a shorter day. It felt easy to go eleven miles and before I knew it, I was in Castrelo. It was not a very interesting route today. There were some nice woodlands, but it was mostly farmlands and meadows.
There were two albergues in Castrelo and that was all—no shops, cafes, bars, nothing else. One albergue was private and had a café/bar; the other was a sparser municipal albergue.
I was hungry and looking forward to ordering the menu del dia at the café. I sat down and waited. No one came to my table. I went over to ask a woman if they were serving, but she was just a guest. Some men at the bar said that they had stopped serving at 2:30. But I had sat down before that! They pointed at some raggedy looking bocadillos and tired salads in a glass case and told me that dinner would start at 8:00. It finally became apparent that they did not work there either. (Later I learned out that the owner had left until evening!)
Because I was so tired, my frustration took over and I stomped out. I would not give them my business for the night! I walked over to the public albergue and registered. It was a basic accommodation, but it was very clean and there was a heater. As winter approached, heated sleeping spaces were becoming important.
The kitchen was small, but I could make do with my own provisions…instant soup, chorizo, cucumber, and carrot. I was happy enough. No one was there, so I caught up with my journal. “Maybe tomorrow,” I thought, “I will get a decent menu del dia.
In a little while, Caspar, a Danish pilgrim arrived. He was very hungry and went over to the café/bar at 8:00 to get dinner. It turned out they were not serving dinner this evening! I was so glad I had given up on them already. I offered Caspar some of my measly soup and he was grateful—he did not have a stash of provisions with him.
I was running low on food, but not worried at all. I had enough for breakfast and a small lunch. The pilgrim’s guidebook said that the next town, A Seixes, was only about 8 miles away and had shops, cafés, a nice albergue, and a food truck in the evenings. No problem!
I wrote a lot more about Mom in my journal, but the entry is shortened here:
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The next morning I did not have to leave the hotel until noon. Again, I thought about how lucky I was to have shelter and decided to dedicate this day as well to being grateful for the shelter I found last night.
Camino: Day 20
We started the day at about 3º C—pretty cold—but by the time I reached Cerdeño on the outskirts of Oviedo in the late afternoon, I was hot, sticky, and completely wilted. I stopped in a grocery and bought cold water and cold orange juice and downed them all at once in a nearby park before continuing on into Oviedo.
Camino: Day 30
It is funny, I don’t tend to miss people much—that is probably why I can be gone from home for months on end. But I sometimes feel guilty because I think I should miss people more—like I am not being a very good friend.
1 thought on “Camino: Day 32”
What a lovely tribute to your Mother; arrived at as the result of profound soul searching, the kind that may only possible after putting on foot in front of the other all day long.