Learning to Walk 29

CAMINO Finisterre/Muxía – Negreira

(31,079 STEPS – 23.81 KMS – 14.79 MILES)

Leaving Santiago

There was a magnetic pull to stay in Santiago this morning, even more tucked in the warm bed in the cool room. I slept with the windows open to the Rúa de San Francisco below. It’s touch-and-go sleeping with open windows, sometimes the parties go on until the wee morning hours. My room was only a block and a half from the Cathedral and there were no nearby bars, so it was a quiet night. It was also a cold night, but not for me, tucked in under multiple layers of cover. My first order of business was to get up and quickly close the windows.

Before rolling out from under the blankets, I remembered that my goal earlier was to arrive in Santiago, and then continue on to Muxía and Finisterre, my whole schedule was built around that. My self-talk in bed went like this:

“What do you want to do today?”

“Stay in Santiago, hang around for a few days, and then head to Madrid.”

“What do you NOT want to do today?”

“Walk.”

It was clear what the lazy-me wanted, but good things are rarely easy. In a rare act of self-discipline, I got out of bed, closed the windows, and became a pilgrim again.

Up the Rúa de San Francisco, past the vacant Cathedral, and down the Rúa do Campo das Hortas. A few blocks down this street there is the Café Tertulia, I stopped for coffee and a croissant. The magnetic pull to stay in Santiago at this sidewalk café was strong, but watching the few passing pilgrims reminded me of my goal.

The Walk Today

I resisted the temptation to stay, strapped on my backpack, and walked away from Santiago. It didn’t take long, maybe 1 kilometer to clear the busy part of the Old Town. The official signage for Finisterre/Muxía was at the beginning of a nice park. Not long afterwards, I was back in the Galician countryside. The same things that make this countryside beautiful coming into Santiago from either the Frances or Portugues routes are the same leaving – layers of green, rolling hills, and dense forests. It was a great walk!

After passing through 6 little villages and walking 11 kilometers, I stopped for an early lunch in Aguapesada. The O km 79 Café/Bar, so called for the distance to Finisterre marker. Only 79 kilometers to the end of the earth.

When I finished lunch, I went back out on the Way. Outside the café, there were 3 possible paths to take – the one from whence I came, the continuation of that one on a shady, level road, and another, perpendicular to this road, and straight uphill. The Pollyanna optimist in me turned left, and down the shady, level lane. Someone whistled at me and redirected me to the uphill path. Dang it…

And it wasn’t just steep, it was long…the ascent was 3 straight kilometers with no downhill or even flat parts. It was literally uphill all the way. I’ve said it before, I don’t care for these climbs. Give me a good, level or downhill-all-the-way walk and I’m as happy as a lark. Finally, after thousands of miles walking, I have learned how to deal with the hills and mountains on the Camino (and there are many). The first thing is to remember that they are all temporary and none of them have killed me YET. Then I use one of the following:

100 Step Count – Rather than looking at the relentless path looming above me and cursing my existence, I put my head down, look at my feet, and count 100 steps. When I reach 100, I stop counting for a couple of minutes, look around at the beautiful terrain, get my bearings, and then start the next set of 100.
21 Our Father Prayers – I read about this in Manjarín on the Frances route. The Templar there had a brochure that spoke of the positive effects of reciting the “Our Father, who art in heaven” prayer 21 times in a row. The claim was that it changed your vibrational energy. Now, some of my fundamentalist Protestant friends might call this “vain repetition” or “babbling like the pagans” and cite scripture to condemn the practice. I don’t know about that, but I do know that it’s better than what would normally come out of my mouth going up a hill like this one. ****, or ****, or ***-**-*-*****.
The Joy Playlist – I have a playlist of 21 songs that make me happy. It could be the words, the beat, or the memories attached to the song, regardless, when I hear any of these songs, it makes me glad. There’s some U2, some Van Halen, and some Bob Marley. There’s some reggaeton. Dreams by Fleetwood Mac. Wagon Wheel by Old Crow Medicine Show. Thank U by Alannis Morissette. Superposition and Cough Syrup by Young the Giant. Mr. Jones by Counting Crows. Feel Good Inc. by Gorillaz. Fool in the Rain by Led Zeppelin. The Middle by Jimmy Eat World. El Rompeolas by Loquillo Y Los Trogloditas. El Coco Rayado by Ruben Vela (I challenge you to listen to this AND not feel better!!). And Sultans of Swing by Dire Straits, the greatest song ever recorded.

I burned through all three coping strategies and arrived at the top, huffing and puffing. I had survived another big hill and filed the survival experience in my memory banks. After the big hill, it was mostly downhill (just the way I like it, the Camino provides!) all the way to Negreira, my stop for the day.

Crossing the Ponte Maceira over the Tambre River.

Negreira

I chose the Albergue Alecrin as my home for the night. It was a pretty good place and centrally located. One thing that stood out to me were the number of reserved, empty beds at the albergue. There were 6 pilgrims staying here and more empty beds that had been reserved. I’ve heard of this happening on other Camino routes – pilgrims call ahead and reserve beds to be on the safe side and then are no-shows. In the worst cases, pilgrims that needed beds were turned away because technically all beds were spoken for. This is poor practice and needs to change. It starts with us pilgrims being less selfish and remembering that we are not the only people on the Way. If you’re going to be a no-show, do the right thing and cancel your reservation(s)!!

The other pilgrims (2 from US, 1 from the Netherlands, 1 from Germany, 1 from Norway) and I ate an early dinner together in the common area. Afterwards, one of the US guys and I went to a nearby cerveceria. While I was enjoying a vino tinto de Rioja and lentejas, I received a phone call.

My job is perfect for me – it pays enough and affords me time off. The downside, I am always on standby to be called for a mission. I’ve told myself that should I get called to work on one of these long trips, I would stop and go back to work. It hadn’t happened until this evening in Negreira. I stopped journaling and began planning how to react if I had to go back early.

One of my goals for this pilgrimage was to become better at living in the moment. For me, this meant being more open to experiences and expending less energy trying to control, or plan for every situation. Including this one – at the moment I was in the middle of Nowhere, Galicia, Spain enjoying red wine and lentil soup, and I had no concrete mission to respond to. I decided at this moment to continue marching on to towards the ocean. I’ll worry about tomorrow when it comes.

Back at the albergue, we all sat on the terrace recounting our various walks to Santiago. We were all one day beyond the city – 3 had come from the Frances route, 2 of us from the Portugues, and 1, the guy from Norway, was bouncing all around Galicia and ultimately walking to Santiago.

It was interesting hear how similar our responses to pilgrimage were, though we came from different backgrounds and routes. It was a good night.