Walk On Sister

Yay me, I was on the road by 7:30am. The first 11 kms were on a quiet road. I quickly caught up with Annie from Luxembourg whom I had previously met. After a chat I went on and caught up to a group of 4, Daniel de Montreal, a father and daughter from Nederlands and a woman from Austria. I chatted with Daniel for awhile then left them behind too, thinking I would have a chance to get to know them better at this evening's hotel. I really wanted to walk on my own today, something I have done little of so far, at least since the early days of my camino.
After the small town of Carcabosa the way improved to a farm track. The dog above followed me along her very long fence line advising me all the way that I was not welcome on her road.

These flowering bushes were fragrant and alive with bees.

Eventually the track turned uphill to a park like setting. The rest of today's walk continued through the simple beauty. I felt so far away from the worries of the world, the politics, the Sri Lankan attacks, fires in Paris Cathedral... you get my drift. I was lost in the peace and beauty that surrounded me.

Finally rocks to sit on and take a break. It is not advisable to sit on the grass cuz it is mostly cattle poop.

At this point I am so happily walking, I have found a good rhythm, the scenery is perfection, I am feeling that natural high again, how can a moment be any better .... I look up to see about 8 storks ( can you see them in the photo?) flying above me .... obviously feeling as much joy as I am. OMG I cry from happiness.

Many pilgrims enjoy creating these piles of rocks. I will bring a small stone home from Spain to put where my Dad's ashes are.

Late in the day I noticed the 1st lavender, usually it is plentiful. Here too the bees were busy and loud!

Today's camino ended at The Roman Ciudad de Caparra. As per the guidebook this area was settled well before the Romans by the Vetons who were Celtic.

This arch was in the centre of the Roman city and dates from the first century.

Can anyone read Latin?
Update: Yes! Someone can! Well Done Margot.

It reads " The skin of the earth has the power to destroy pestilence"

So no rhyme or reason on this blog site how large or small the photos are. I give up.

There are few places to stay in this area so Lonny and I chose to stay at Hostal Asturias, really we are in the middle if nowhere. By Caparra the day's journey had been 28 kms. The hostal van picked us up from Caparra and delivered us to the hostal 8 kms further along the camino. I feel strongly about not missing any of the journey but I will bend on this one. We do walk 2 kms tomorrow morning to rejoin the Via de la Plata and then another 22 kms to Banos de Montemayer. There will be much climbing (finally) tomorrow and snow is possibly in the forecast.

Yesterday Keith gave my Mom and my brother Tom copies of the book I had created of my Dad's life story. Dad loved to tell stories of his childhood on the farm in Viking Alberta. In 2009 when Mom and Dad invited us on a trip to Viking I started writing them down, not expecting that he would pass away in 2 years.
The book was a labour of love. I felt and heard Dad through the words that I wrote. Brother Tom sent me a loving email to thank me and to share his thoughts on my journey. He ended it with "Walk on Sister!" and I plan on doing just that.

I am generally a very quiet person and I tend to keep my thoughts to myself but I seem to be finding my voice in this blog. Most of you may be surprised to hear how much I actually have to say. I know that I am!

So I mentioned that I was looking forward to connecting with the group of 4 pilgrims. Two of them smoke, I couldn't even sit close to them ... not sure what brand they are smoking but it sure was strong. It is crazy how many pilgrims smoke!!! Yuck.

Turns out dinner is not until 9pm here so I had bread and a delicious hard cheese around 5pm. It is now 10pm and I have a 6am get up so nite all.