Both Sides Now

Today my blog is dedicated to Ray, Noraly and Joni.  If you don’t know these names, let’s go for a walk sometime and I will tell you some of their stories.


Last night I really enjoyed the service at the small local church in Rabanal.  Most of the service was in Latin, but the German Monk translated a bit of his message into English.  He was basically asking each pilgrim to ask “why are you walking the Camino” and encouraging us to take any key learning home with us.  This got me pondering that question all morning. 

 


The walk today is the most difficult stage on the Camino for me.  The hike up to the Cruz de Ferro is long, steep and the heavy rain last night made it very slippery.  Then you drop off the mountain down a path I found most challenging as it is covered with granite and slippery rocks. To add to the challenge today, the storm returned and just dumped on me as I descended the mountain.  By the time I got to Molinaseca I was totally exhausted.  Then came my big surprise...  I still had 3 miles to go to reach Ponferrada where my reservation was! 

 


On the extremely positive side, the day was full of highlights too.  The “Cruz” is a very special place and I enjoyed the time getting there with Victor and Wendy. There is a lovely caravan vendor named Si that I met last year and I gifted her a necklace for being so kind to pilgrims.  (She is also friends with Kim, so they can have fun trying to remember me from last year.)  I met a group of three ladies from China at lunch and had fun telling them about my connections with their beautiful country.  Finally, I really wanted to chat with a guy named Tim who works at the local church chatting with pilgrims.  He was waiting for me as I entered town and we were able to have a beer together! 

 


So, this day was a combination of many ups and downs.  Remembering Ray’s moto - “All you can change is your attitude” – was encouraging, but also challenging at times.  One of the clear reasons I am walking the Camino again is to force myself to deal with managing my emotions and attitude.  It is so easy for me to slip into complaining and I really have nothing to complain about.  I asked to do this!

 


For some reason, Joni’s song kept coming to mind today:

 

I've looked at life from both sides now

From win and lose and still somehow

It's life's illusions I recall

I really don't know life at all                      - Joni Mitchell 

 

Now it is time to address my toenails.  Sadly, they won’t all be coming home with me…

 

  16.19 miles

33,344 steps

 

Location:  Ponferrada @ 42.546366, -6.596899

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