D
Deleted member 67185
Guest
It's strange being back home. It feels like part of me is here, and a part of me is still in Spain on Camino.
I'm one week home, but I still have dreams every night of walking Camino. Or being at an alburgue. Or eating at a bar -- either bocadillos or tapas. Oh, and Kas... orange Kas. And constantly mispronouncing 'naranja' and the sweet helpfulness of the server to get my pronounciation right. And the cathedrals and villages and fields and....
Yup, I'll be going back, and picking up where my son, Caleb, and I left off in Burgos. Caleb will also be coming back, too. In fact, he is one of the reasons that I left Camino early. As I wrote in an email home two days before departing Burgos:
"....an important aspect of the Camino has become the fellowship, helpfulness, and loving kindness of Caleb. I don't know when it happened, but what my Camino now means to me, includes doing the Way with Caleb."
It seemed like if I continued to Santiago alone as planned, that there would be an empty spot in my heart and soul without Caleb along. It was the Camino which did this. It was an evolution of personal expectations, hopes, and priorities which mentally and spiritually added my son to those things which were making Camino so very meaningful. This was not a matter of concern of being alone... if there can be such a thing on Frances. I've done thousands of miles of solo wilderness backpacking and am quite content with myself as my sole company. No, what was occuring on Camino with Caleb was very different than the need for social interaction.
As I said, Caleb was ONE of the reasons for my earlier-than-planned departure. The other reason was a growing concern with the inguinal hernia which had developed several weeks prior to leaving home and heading to the start of my Camino in St Jean Pied de Port. My surgeon felt that with the proper support belt, that I would be able to safely do Camino as long as I was aware of the danger signs of the condition, and had an adequate medical backup plan in case of emergency. Well, I had met both conditions and felt ok to continue on.
We comfortably made it to Burgos in 10 days with nary a blister or other injury. About three days out from Burgos, however, it felt as though the abdominal 'lump' was getting larger, and the achiness in the groin was becoming more pronounced, despite using the support belt. We tried artificially slowing our pace, but the rate of our pace didn't seem to affect the hernia's symptoms at all. After a time of back and forth email to home, it seemed the wisest course of action -- and a decision that was greatly underscored by my wife -- was to leave Camino at Burgos, with Caleb, and head to Madrid to catch a flight to Paris and then my flight back home. Boy, if any of you have ever tried to change a flight reservation ticket schedule through a third-party booking company from which you had made the original flight reservations, then you know how much fun I had in doing the same thing. It got done, though at a bit of a price premium for the change.
We had a full afternoon and evening in Burgos after we got settled into our room and relaxed a bit and got cleaned up. I loved Burgos; it is an amazing city. But for me, the highlight was touring the Cathedral. Words fail to develop enough adjectives to describe how profoundly grand and beautiful that church is. Even more special for me was being able to sit and pray in quiet within one of the cathedral chapels, and have a chance to remember the birthday of my oldest son, Joshua David, who died two hours after he was born. To have the time to contemplate this, within such a grand expression of God-inspired architectual design and artistry, was a definite spiritual profundity for me.
So now, I am not he only one enthusiastic to get back to Burgos. Caleb has said that he totally underestimated the impact of the Camino on him. He is now in the process of getting his next year's vacation time lined up, and is very much looking forward to returning with me.
In the meantime, I'll get the surgery done, get back into shape after recovery, and do my best to be as healthy as possible for our trip back.
At least by starting again in Burgos, I won't have to go over and down (definitely the down part, the up was just fine) those beautifully, majestic Pyreenes. Damn downhill, knee and foot pounding endurance test.
Caleb and I made it from St Jean to Roncesvalles in about 7 hours and 45 minutes at a comfortable uphill pace. But the downhill -- the path was advised against for the last 3 kilometers by the Pilgrim Office, so we took the broken asphalt narrow road down into Roncesvalles. Originally, we were going to spend the first night in Viscarret-Guerendiain, but my feet were too sore to want to go on. So, we eventually joined a line of over 100 other pilgrims to get a bed for the night. I'm glad we stayed there. By morning, my feet were over being sore. Actually, they felt pretty good, though toward the end the day, a bit of the soreness did return. By day three, though, no more soreness.
Thank you all for your encouragement, concern, and positive thoughts. Although my plan to go all the way to Santiago was temporarily interrupted, I'm OK with it. After all, I have you guys to keep me focused and enthused.
---Dave
I'm one week home, but I still have dreams every night of walking Camino. Or being at an alburgue. Or eating at a bar -- either bocadillos or tapas. Oh, and Kas... orange Kas. And constantly mispronouncing 'naranja' and the sweet helpfulness of the server to get my pronounciation right. And the cathedrals and villages and fields and....
Yup, I'll be going back, and picking up where my son, Caleb, and I left off in Burgos. Caleb will also be coming back, too. In fact, he is one of the reasons that I left Camino early. As I wrote in an email home two days before departing Burgos:
"....an important aspect of the Camino has become the fellowship, helpfulness, and loving kindness of Caleb. I don't know when it happened, but what my Camino now means to me, includes doing the Way with Caleb."
It seemed like if I continued to Santiago alone as planned, that there would be an empty spot in my heart and soul without Caleb along. It was the Camino which did this. It was an evolution of personal expectations, hopes, and priorities which mentally and spiritually added my son to those things which were making Camino so very meaningful. This was not a matter of concern of being alone... if there can be such a thing on Frances. I've done thousands of miles of solo wilderness backpacking and am quite content with myself as my sole company. No, what was occuring on Camino with Caleb was very different than the need for social interaction.
As I said, Caleb was ONE of the reasons for my earlier-than-planned departure. The other reason was a growing concern with the inguinal hernia which had developed several weeks prior to leaving home and heading to the start of my Camino in St Jean Pied de Port. My surgeon felt that with the proper support belt, that I would be able to safely do Camino as long as I was aware of the danger signs of the condition, and had an adequate medical backup plan in case of emergency. Well, I had met both conditions and felt ok to continue on.
We comfortably made it to Burgos in 10 days with nary a blister or other injury. About three days out from Burgos, however, it felt as though the abdominal 'lump' was getting larger, and the achiness in the groin was becoming more pronounced, despite using the support belt. We tried artificially slowing our pace, but the rate of our pace didn't seem to affect the hernia's symptoms at all. After a time of back and forth email to home, it seemed the wisest course of action -- and a decision that was greatly underscored by my wife -- was to leave Camino at Burgos, with Caleb, and head to Madrid to catch a flight to Paris and then my flight back home. Boy, if any of you have ever tried to change a flight reservation ticket schedule through a third-party booking company from which you had made the original flight reservations, then you know how much fun I had in doing the same thing. It got done, though at a bit of a price premium for the change.
We had a full afternoon and evening in Burgos after we got settled into our room and relaxed a bit and got cleaned up. I loved Burgos; it is an amazing city. But for me, the highlight was touring the Cathedral. Words fail to develop enough adjectives to describe how profoundly grand and beautiful that church is. Even more special for me was being able to sit and pray in quiet within one of the cathedral chapels, and have a chance to remember the birthday of my oldest son, Joshua David, who died two hours after he was born. To have the time to contemplate this, within such a grand expression of God-inspired architectual design and artistry, was a definite spiritual profundity for me.
So now, I am not he only one enthusiastic to get back to Burgos. Caleb has said that he totally underestimated the impact of the Camino on him. He is now in the process of getting his next year's vacation time lined up, and is very much looking forward to returning with me.
In the meantime, I'll get the surgery done, get back into shape after recovery, and do my best to be as healthy as possible for our trip back.
At least by starting again in Burgos, I won't have to go over and down (definitely the down part, the up was just fine) those beautifully, majestic Pyreenes. Damn downhill, knee and foot pounding endurance test.
Caleb and I made it from St Jean to Roncesvalles in about 7 hours and 45 minutes at a comfortable uphill pace. But the downhill -- the path was advised against for the last 3 kilometers by the Pilgrim Office, so we took the broken asphalt narrow road down into Roncesvalles. Originally, we were going to spend the first night in Viscarret-Guerendiain, but my feet were too sore to want to go on. So, we eventually joined a line of over 100 other pilgrims to get a bed for the night. I'm glad we stayed there. By morning, my feet were over being sore. Actually, they felt pretty good, though toward the end the day, a bit of the soreness did return. By day three, though, no more soreness. Thank you all for your encouragement, concern, and positive thoughts. Although my plan to go all the way to Santiago was temporarily interrupted, I'm OK with it. After all, I have you guys to keep me focused and enthused.
---Dave
