Day 18.

Got up at 7 and put my pack out for pick up. Then went back to bed as this head cold is hanging around. Got up 830 and found somewhere for breakfast. I headed off slowly out Burgos as the sun was starting to hit the buildings and Cathedral. Beautiful clear crisp morning, starting off in 3 degrees. The walk out Burgos was pretty through gardens and parks. Took probably a good hour before I left the city behind. Past a very big university that spanned at least a km.

Once out along the country roads again, I stopped to give my foot some acutouch and the first pilgrim for the day came by. She spoke English so we started to chat, Carrin from South Africa, her fourth time on the Camino, she had done whole Camino 8 years ago. We walked and talked, so many coincidences, she had also been to Ladahk, and Nepal this year. Both not common places to go. After a couple hours walking we were like old mates. Both staying in Rabe de las Calzadas for the night. Different accommodation, I am blessed to have room to self again. Quaint and quiet little village for the night. Enough walking for me today, foot arch still giving me grief. I decide to go to her accommodation for dinner as little bar cafe there. As it’s her second day walking tomorrow, she started in Burgos, she said she just going walk 8 km to next village. Suits me as I have still sore feet and head cold and all time in the world, I am not in a race to get to Santiago. 

Day 19.

Didn’t sleep well at all. Think I was glutened at dinner, while body was in hyper sensitivity all night, 1 am took an antihistamine  which helped me to get some sleep. Nose running, coughing and feeling crappy. Another beautiful morning greets us, we set off around 9 am knowing we  only have couple hours walk. It’s a gradual uphill through vastness of nothingness but ploughed hills and gravel road. This area is called the Meseta, Spain central plateau and the bread basket of the peninsula, wheat is predominantly grown here.. Stopping to take some layers off , some cyclists come by on their  Camino journey. As we descend down a steep hill into the village, I am coughing as chest is tight thinking I am clearing some grief from something old. I was thinking how we were just lone pilgrims today, when out nowhere a young bloke in his 20s comes up behind me. I greet him , he is from Essex England, said he doing 30 to 50 km a day. Then another bloke slightly older comes by. This time  of the year is fairly quiet on The Way. The winter is upon us and Carrin says she has walked in rain and hail before and I have been warned the closer you get to Santiago the wetter it can be. So far I have been blessed with blue skies and sun apart from one day.

We arrive at Hornillios del Camino, it is one of the best examples of a ” Royal” Camino road, with one main street named “calle real” stretched out along the Camino. The layout allows every building to face the Camino, a trait which reminds us that the current heavy development along the Camino is anything but a new phenomenon. The town once belonged to the monastery of St Denis and was home to Benedictine community.Ruins and medieval bridges are the only visible remains.I checked into my albergue and first person there I get put in Room A and bed 4. A theme going on , everywhere I stay is 2, 4 and 8. The number of the place is 8. I am blessed again to have a whole room to myself..yah ..

We explore the town a whole one street, as we walk Carrin goes that it done, I said no we need to walk further down street I saw theres another restaurant called ” the green tree” We walk down and sure enough right at end village the green tree. The young guy is Italian but speaks some English, he was a pilgrim who had come back to work there. We grab a drink and on the wall is a tree painted and also whole  lot hand prints. Funky wee place. This young lady called Emma comes to chat, she from Northern Ireland near Belfast, I tell her my plan is to go there and see where my family are from. She starts to chat about you never know why you go somewhere or who you take with you. I feel the tears welling up in my eyes, something is going on here, some heart connection. She said she was walking the Camino and fell in love, now has a baby and lives here. She said ” tonight we have music on here and I have a true story to tell you come back tonight”. 

Emma’s story was about someone who was guided to go somewhere and meet family from many generations back. I know I am guided to go back to the original place of the Aicken farm, I feel like some generational healing needs to be done. The whole time she spoke I felt like crying, she brought out this book written by an Irish priest called” wood you believe it” by Fr Jim Cogley. She said open a page, maybe some answers…Inherited sadness and Awakened Grief came up. Quite appropriate for what I had been feeling, I now recognize it relating to my Nana Florence Margaret Ellen Aicken was her name. The interesting thing is Celiac disease has a genetic connection to Irish and here I am in hub of wheat growing country.

It’s 430 am and I woke after a good sleep, one best for awhile. I opened the curtains to a very clear early morning sky, pure air here and bright starry skies, much like where I was born at Aickens. I lay for a while looking out at the stars just like I did when I was a child which I wrote about in my first blog. We are but one star in a whole vastness of darkness, how bright can you shine your star. I was guided to blog now, so good morning and good day.

Blessings

Angel xxx