Today’s pictures can be viewed here. Today’s prayer intentions: Millie Cordero Dunbar – especially her husband’s health.

Friday, October 14:  A beautiful earlier start to the day  allowed us to see the sunrise.  Oh the beauty of God’s creation!!

Our first challenge of the day was what they consider a hill here in Spain … But it was somewhere around a 900-950 FT elevation.  It took a while to stop along the way to catch my breath, but the views were definitely worth it!

Going down the other side of this elevation has been a challenge on my knees.  But I learned from another Pilgrim the technique of squat and shuffle transferring the weight from your knees to your quads. It’s not pretty but it works!   And it cracks Lisa up!

The rest of the day was quiet and meditative. We saw very few pilgrims along the way. One who we have seen over and over again is a girl from Japan who carries a little bear in her backpack. I told her she reminds me of my daughter who never travels anywhere without her stuffed animal dog. (Even at 24!)  We were surrounded by God’s beauty and the colors of fall and even got to walk along a river area of the Camino!

We discovered that this canal system goes along the Camino and provides people with an opportunity to take a boat along the Camino if they wish.   We’re not sure yet if it’s just local to this area. We’ll find out in a day or two I guess. 

As we arrived in Fromista I remembered how in 2016 we attempted to ride bicycles through this part of the Camino and it was not a good idea. At that time I had a pinched nerve in my shoulder and with the hills I could barely ride the bike. I just ended up walking it instead.

By the time we got into this town I had a moment of surrender. I had to let go of the idea of completing the entire Camino by either foot or by bike. As we visited the same bar where this whole discussion took place all those feelings came back to me. Remembering how we decided to ride a train to Leon and skip what we will be walking over the next 5 days.

Fromista continues to be a place of surrender for me. This time I came in with a head and chest cold that I picked up from another Pilgrim. My knee has been giving me problems.  But it is also drawn me closer to Saint Ignatius of Loyola, my patron saint from the time of my confirmation.

I’ve been meditating on his conversion experience of getting injured in the knee with a cannonball and many months of recovery afterwards. But this was a profound conversion moment for him. Hopefully like in the past, Fromista will continue to be a place of conversion as we continue the Camino.

Buen Camino 🙏❤️

Today’s pictures can be viewed here. Today’s prayer intentions: Millie Cordero Dunbar – especially her husband’s health.