Rest Day #1

After five days of walking we were definitely ready for a day off. The good news is that Beryl’s cold which developed on our second day has all but gone. The not so good news is that Julian caught the cold from Beryl and felt rather rough. It was just as well the rest day came when it did.

It’s curious to see the cold infection come on our fourth day. My heart rate rarely strays above 120 bpm whilst walking yet all of a sudden when we were walking downhill my heart rate shot up to peaks above 140 bpm. Perhaps this is all too much data but interesting nonetheless.

We wandered around Sarria for a bit but there wasn’t much to see. Most of the old Camino buildings have been destroyed many years ago.

There was one old leprosy chapel.

Many people with leprosy went on pilgrimage hoping that their disease would be cured but I fear that didn’t happen often if at all. I remember seeing people in Nigeria with leprosy during the 1960s. It was a dreadful condition. Thank goodness for modern medicine.

We ate in the hotel the previous evening. There were three large groups in the hotel restaurant, presumably all about to start their 100+ km Camino. One group of about 30 were Italian. The other two of similar size were Americans, one consisting of people of a certain age and the other a large group of young adults from what looked like a Catholic university.

It’s good to see people of all ages participating in the Camino. We expect to see many more people on the Way.

We spent quite a bit of time on our rest day reflecting together on our life journeys and thinking about our families at large. This type of conversation could happen at any time but in the routine of ordinary life at home tends not to. The pilgrimage, even if only on a purely secular basis, is a valuable experience.

We’ve been rather disappointed that so very few churches have been open to visit. There were many more we could go inside earlier on the Camino Francés. I’d been hoping to see more Madonnas which I find curiously moving but it has not happened so far.