Camino: ¿por qué?

Since I was last able to sit at a computer, we have met a couple more "nationalities" - a Swede, and a man from Cape Town.  The question, "Why are you doing it?" is never far from my mind, even if not articulated.  The South African, a recently retired mining engineer, went to the trouble of making a Schengen Visa application in order to be able to fly into Madrid: he had picked up an Australian´s account of walking the Via de la Plata in his local library, and was taken with the challenge. No religious convictions there!

Most of those we have come across are of an age with us, perhaps a bit younger on average: are we all out to show there is a spark of life in us yet? That we are happy to substitute for the 9 to 5 life, a spell on the hallowed path from dawn to (Spanish) lunchtime, after which we collapse happily into siesta mode, before catching up with our emails in the local casa de cultura when it opens at 5?

Here we are now at the Northern extremity of Extremadura, which it has taken us more than a fortnight to cross. The villages are no longer dominated by white-painted houses: stone and adobe dwellings, with wooden first floor balconies, have replaced them.

From Carcaboso, we had our most lovely walk yet to the Arco de Cáparra - a Roman relic in the middle of nowhere. We waited (and waited) there, under the ancient arch, for a (hair-raising - when it came) lift from the owner of an off-Camino hostal. (Internot) Then, next morning, we followed blue (instead of our usual yellow) arrows to rejoin the Camino, to reach eventually the pretty little town of Aldeavueva del Camino. (Interneither - though lots of horrifying TV pictures of bull getting the better of bullfighter.) The snow-capped mountains lay ahead.

This morning, we had a shorter walk up here to Baños de Montemayor, which is at 700 metres - more climbing ahead of us! After some less than perfect nights´ sleep, we are comfortably ensconced here at Hotel Balneario, the heyday of which must have been about 1910. And we have been indulging ourselves most happily in the Roman baths next door. Very good for blisters!

Camino walker´s block

A writer, having contemplated a blank piece of paper for many hours, has to be forgiven for throwing in the towel.  Last night I listened to the rain beating down on our window blind, and the bus marked "Salamanca", which pulled in outside our hostal as we were leaving, suddenly became an attractive proposition.

But we were both glad we did not succumb: it´s been a great day on the Camino.  The rain held off till after we arrived here in Galisteo, and for the most part it was sunny (but not too hot), with high and beautiful cloud formations.  And the scenery ranged from distant views of blue remembered hills (100kms. away?) to cool pine woods and meadows carpeted in purple and yellow with wild flowers.

This time last year I bought a St. James´ shell to take with me when walking part of the Voie du Puy in S-W France: it has kept me company again this year, till today when I sat on my rucksack, forgetting it was underneath. Crack! It was not a good day for sitting: the way is marked by occasional large stone blocks with engraved outlines of the famous Roman arch of Cáparra, which we walk through on Saturday. I collapsed onto one for a rest, forgetting the rain which collected in the engraving. Then we both took another wetting, having to remove our boots to cross a swollen river: quite refreshing in fact - we should do it more often.

So, another 28kms. has been clocked up, and we are off to explore the walled town of Galisteo.