LIVE from the Camino Walking into Fifty

[sillydoll]

I love this blog! The writer is honest, both vulnerable and strong: A solo peregrina, walking for her 50th birthday.

"The Camino rises and falls from the hills of Navarra into Rioja, and my mood follows suit. The swing from elation or the simplest contentment – Camino bliss – to feelings of regret or frustration is a pendulum wide. What is it about me that thinks my Camino has to be perfect? I do this in the rest of my life, too, set up these grand expectations and then kick myself along the way for not doing it well enough, whatever it is. I forget that as a rule, things in my life are pretty damn good. Good enough, and then some"

"I’d stop and chat for a while, but walk on alone, and let my mind wander – I prefer to walk by myself – although once I spent a good part of the day’s kilometers beside a thoughtful Irishman, swapping stories. It wasn’t so much that we were talking, more like we were thinking out loud with each other, reflecting on reflections otherwise interior. It was one of my nicest days walking the Camino. Except they’re all nice. In the rain, in the sun, the cool morning or the brutal late afternoon heat. Every day is good, even when it’s not so good."

(I have permission to share her blog on the forum.)

http://maternal-dementia.com/2012/05/25 ... nto-fifty/

 

[Deleted member 3000]

Another solo walker finding her way:

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/articl ... nav%7Chead

 

[sillydoll]

Falcon - you should start a new topic with that link. It hasn't got anything to do with the previous blog and will confuse people trying to find it!

 

[Deleted member 3000]

http://witness2christ.blogspot.com/

 

[sillydoll]

If you want people to read the blog you found they won't be able to find it under the heading of 'Walking into Fifty'.
Rather start a new Topic with its own heading so that it can be found and commented on.

 

[Deleted member 3000]

Another midlife Camino, midway from Le Puy to Santiago:

http://jaminwithnancy.com/2012/06/02/st ... les-spain/

 

[LTfit]

Thanks for posting the link Sil, I really am enjoying the blog - some just have a gift for pen!

...I don't think that Falcon is getting the message !

Cheers,
LT

 

[sillydoll]

Falcon, after sulking for a while I decided to read the links you have been posting.

The article http://www.desmoinesregister.com is really lovely - thanks for sharing.

The blog http://witness2christ.blogspot.com/ is delightful and would interest any mother/daughter peregrinas

The last link - an open blog written by a couple from Northern California - will be of interest to people who are planning to walk from Le Puy. I found it interesting that they slept in the old albergue in Roncesvalles because the new one was full - Camino must be very busy!

For anyone wanting to follow a couple live on the Frances all the way to Muxia, they are now in Pamplona.

Just remember where to find this URL - under Walking into Fifty :?

 

[Deleted member 3000]

Re: Walking into Sixty

California woman completes the Camino and gets a story published:

http://napavalleyregister.com/lifestyle ... f887a.html

 

[sillydoll]

Jenny - you will be interested in this one as she is returning to the Camino in October to be a hospitalero at Grañon! Maybe you two will be serving together??

 

[sillydoll]

A part of her lovely post "Not in a Rush"

http://maternal-dementia.com/2012/06/11/not-in-a-rush/

When you slow down, a window opens and you see things you couldn’t see before. When you take your time, you sense things, because you’re not rushing through life facing forward, you’re ambling along, receptive to what’s around you. When you give yourself time, you think things through, following a string of thoughts from one thing to the next and then further. Unlike the one-thing-to-another we experience while surfing the web or multi-tasking through a busy day, staccato and mercurial, the thought process that accompanies a long walk in the country is calming and fluid, like waves of water rolling forward and back and forward again. It doesn’t take very long for the chatter to cease, the chirping in the back of your head quiets and the mind is filled with simpler thoughts. There is space for bigger thoughts, or the smaller thoughts have room around them to echo. You start to really see what’s around you, and notice things that you don’t notice when you’re in a rush.