- Jun 9, 2018
- 252
- 578
- Time of past OR future Camino
- CF13, CF14, CP16, VF17, CN18, CN19, CF22, CE23
Yesterday, we were walking in the rain on the Camino del Norte between Castro Urdiales and Islares. When the rain stopped, we took off our Altus rain coats and hung them from our backpacks so they could dry while we continued to walk. I thought I'd stuffed mine down far enough so it wouldn't fall off. At one point I tied the sleeves around my waist but let that go at some point. Did continue to check frequently to see that the coat was still there. But ... we went off the camino a block or two to go to a bar in Islares. As I was ordering our cafés, my husband said "where is your raincoat?" It was gone! After the initial shock I said, “Oh dear we are going to have to retrace our steps.” We went back a ways and met several pilgrims coming towards us and asked each of them if they’d seen the coat, but they all said “no”. They would have seen it if it were still on the trail. Clearly it was gone.
Of course, I felt terrible about losing it. These Altus raincoats are wonderful. Light as a feather and so easy on and off and they keep us and our backpacks dry. (Thanks to trecile about posts about them that encouraged us to buy them. They have been wonderful.)
We went back to the bar and I was still feeling upset and regret that I’d not been careful not to lose it. I said to Charlie, “I guess someone saw it and said ‘Wow, what a nice raincoat. I can really use this.'” I added “I hope they needed it more than I did.”
Then after a while I thought, “hmmm, if a pilgrim found it, they might leave it at the next albergue.” I looked at the map and the next albergue was not far so I headed over there. They had it!
I’m so grateful to the kind pilgrim who took it to the albergue. I’ll probably never know who they were. But if you are reading this, thank you over and over.
Is this pretty much what people know to do: When valuable things like this are found, either leave them on the trail for the owner to come back and retrieve, or take it to the next albergue. It sure worked well for me but I came very close to not thinking to do this -- since we were not planning to stay there.
Of course, I felt terrible about losing it. These Altus raincoats are wonderful. Light as a feather and so easy on and off and they keep us and our backpacks dry. (Thanks to trecile about posts about them that encouraged us to buy them. They have been wonderful.)
We went back to the bar and I was still feeling upset and regret that I’d not been careful not to lose it. I said to Charlie, “I guess someone saw it and said ‘Wow, what a nice raincoat. I can really use this.'” I added “I hope they needed it more than I did.”
Then after a while I thought, “hmmm, if a pilgrim found it, they might leave it at the next albergue.” I looked at the map and the next albergue was not far so I headed over there. They had it!
I’m so grateful to the kind pilgrim who took it to the albergue. I’ll probably never know who they were. But if you are reading this, thank you over and over.
Is this pretty much what people know to do: When valuable things like this are found, either leave them on the trail for the owner to come back and retrieve, or take it to the next albergue. It sure worked well for me but I came very close to not thinking to do this -- since we were not planning to stay there.