Kevin Considine
Active Member
- Time of past OR future Camino
- 2021
The Two Hospitaleros Are Actually Ángels.
IT’S A LONGWAY FROM TIPPERARY TO SANTIAGO
Day 141. Lavacolla:
I leave Casa da Gándara Albergue in Boimorto at 7:30 and come to a junction. The old route is 48K to Santiago and takes 10K to get to Arzua where del Norte then meets up with Camino Frances. To the right is a new shortcut which meets up with Frances just before Lavacolla. I can’t decide so I resign to take the third option which is to start on the shortcut and then meet up with the Frances just before O Pedrouza which I think is about 46K. The early morning dark sky which has been cloudy and foggy for a week is filled with stars. Feeling juiced I begin walking and thinking big; perhaps I will go all the way to Santiago. But as the stars fade into the graying sky, the increasingly sharp pain in my left knee returns, the tightness in my right hamstring forces me to shorten my stride. After 10K my feet are throbbing and turning a corner I see my first pilgrims of the day, two small people and they are standing at an intersection. As I get closer I see that it is the two small Hospitaleros of Poille, Patrice and Gabrielle. They started opening their home to Santiago de Compostela pilgrims a year ago and I was their first pilgrim back on July 10 and they were incredibly kind and hospitable(as mentioned in my post two days ago). They told me they were going to go the easy way, the short way to Lavacolla. So I knew this was a gift. Lose your ego. Forget the 40 or 50K walk to Santiago. Just take it easy and walk to Lavacolla following these angels. And tomorrow walk slowly and easily into Santiago. Yes. I like that. The walking part of my 3800 kilometer (2360 miles) will end tomorrow with no grand finale, no glory. Just a simple pilgrim making his way to the great Cathedral. Humbled and filled with joy by the experience. Ultreia! Buen Camino!
IT’S A LONGWAY FROM TIPPERARY TO SANTIAGO
Day 141. Lavacolla:
I leave Casa da Gándara Albergue in Boimorto at 7:30 and come to a junction. The old route is 48K to Santiago and takes 10K to get to Arzua where del Norte then meets up with Camino Frances. To the right is a new shortcut which meets up with Frances just before Lavacolla. I can’t decide so I resign to take the third option which is to start on the shortcut and then meet up with the Frances just before O Pedrouza which I think is about 46K. The early morning dark sky which has been cloudy and foggy for a week is filled with stars. Feeling juiced I begin walking and thinking big; perhaps I will go all the way to Santiago. But as the stars fade into the graying sky, the increasingly sharp pain in my left knee returns, the tightness in my right hamstring forces me to shorten my stride. After 10K my feet are throbbing and turning a corner I see my first pilgrims of the day, two small people and they are standing at an intersection. As I get closer I see that it is the two small Hospitaleros of Poille, Patrice and Gabrielle. They started opening their home to Santiago de Compostela pilgrims a year ago and I was their first pilgrim back on July 10 and they were incredibly kind and hospitable(as mentioned in my post two days ago). They told me they were going to go the easy way, the short way to Lavacolla. So I knew this was a gift. Lose your ego. Forget the 40 or 50K walk to Santiago. Just take it easy and walk to Lavacolla following these angels. And tomorrow walk slowly and easily into Santiago. Yes. I like that. The walking part of my 3800 kilometer (2360 miles) will end tomorrow with no grand finale, no glory. Just a simple pilgrim making his way to the great Cathedral. Humbled and filled with joy by the experience. Ultreia! Buen Camino!
