Day 14 Arzua to Pedrouzo

Arzua to Pedrouzo - Sunday 10 June - 21Kms

"Constant kindness can accomplish much. As the sun makes ice melt, kindness causes misunderstanding, mistrust, and hostility to evaporate. Albert Schweitzer
                                                                  Local administation buildings and church at Arzua

As I was walking through Arzua this morning I came across this scene. A freezer had been moved from the top of the van up to the balcony of an apartment - how, I have no idea. Don't think anyone had done some measuring beforehand, because it looked to me as if the balcony was too narrow to allow the freezer in. When the man with the blue top saw me watching he held up his hand in a "What the dickens do we do now" gesture.
Neighbours along the street were standing
outside their doors watching with interest.
Unfortunately I didn't have the time to
wait and see what the outcome was.

Hard to believe that tomorrow I shall be in Santiago, at the completion of my Camino. Tough at times, but character building and an amazing experience.

Late start today at 9am in drizzling rain, but it was OK. Not cold, and my umbrella kept me dry. Disadvantage was the rain obscured the sweeping views. However it stopped late

morning, and the sun poked through soon after. Was surprised to find ourselves walking through several stands of eucalyptus trees. Didn't expect them in Spain.
Today my itinerary said that I was to stay at Amenal, 3.4Km beyond Pedrouzo. I was quite happy about that, as it would have made today's walk 24 Km, and tomorrow's going in to Santiago only 14km, which gave me a good chance of reaching the Cathedral in time for the 12md Pilgrims' Mass. However, when I stopped for a lunch break at Santa Irene, I pulled out the accommodation sheet for today, and discovered that my hotel was in Pedrouzo. I would have been very annoyed if I had walked the 3.4Km on to Amenal, then had to turn around and come back again.

 There were several times when I needed the Lord's help, and he delivered. As Stephen said "God will provide". 

Today there was one such instance when things didn't turn out quite as I had hoped. One of the wonderful things about this pilgrim journey was the conversations with others along the way. Sometimes someone you had met before, but often someone new.

So one morning a young man, late 30s at a guess, fell in to step beside me. We had met briefly a few days earlier. Adam said that he was one of a group of 19 from the diocese of New Jersey, USA. There were two priests, and 17 seminarians. One of the priests was the Vocations Director, who had planned the logistics for the Camino walk. Adam was the other priest, ordained just one year earlier, who accepted the invitation to cone along. The seminarians weren't given a choice- they were told to get fit and do some reading on the subject. This day was to be quite a big day's walking, up and down hills, and Adam and I enjoyed some good conversation for several hours in the morning. When he stopped to meet up with his group at a designated lunch stop, I carried on as my plan was a village further on. 

So that afternoon a tall young man loped along and started walking with me. John was one of the seminarians, a 40 year old late vocation, with a great sense of humour. As we approached the town which we were to overnight in, I told John that my son had assured me that God will Provide, and indeed He had done so several times already. I hoped that He would do so to my request that day, which was that my hotel room had a bath in which I could soak my aching muscles. When I reached my room, it was clear that I hadn't made my request to The Lord detailed enough, because what I had was a shub, which wouldn't have fitted anyone bigger than a 2 yr old!! John thought that was hilarious when I told him the next day.

Arrived at Pedrouzo at 2pm. Lay down on my bed and went to sleep until 5pm. Adopting the Spanish siesta!
Depends how early I get away tomorrow whether I make Santiago in time for the Mass, but if not, am there for another two days.
Bed is calling. It only got dark at 10.20pm. Had beautiful view of tree covered hills from my hotel room window.

Today's Gratitude Item:
The joy and fun which our eight grandchildren give us - Jonty, Harry, Violet and Sophia in Taradale, Hawkes Bay; Blair here in Nelson; Dante and Bianca in Brisbane; and Olivia in Perth. Surely, two of the most satisfying experiences in life must be those of being a grandchild or a grandparent.