Tom Gehring

Post 47 – July 16, 2016, Keep your life simple, and be at peace.

The Camino de Santiago,
 the del Norte/Primitivo route.
Spain: From Irun to Santiago de Compostela, 530 miles.
Post 47; July 16, 2016, Saturday.
Day 32: From Castroverde through Lugo to San Román Da Retorta. On The
Camino Primitivo; Past Stage 10 of the Perazzoli/Whitson book, TNCs.
Keep your life simple, and be at peace.

 In Lugo, Spain. We (and there’s a lot of “we”) are at the Café del Centro, 2:15 p.m., almost next to the great Cathedral of Santa María, which we have already toured. We are all together, and take up four small tables: Still the core team: Carlos de la Camara, Leo Schlienger, Willi Ochs, and me, plus the Idaho Brady girls, Jessi and her two sisters, the Indiana boys, Angelus and Ted, the Swiss girls, Christina and Carole, and Serge Putavy, the great Frenchman. By, now . . . we are super trekkers. We are so strong. Yes, we have a few injuries we are nursing, our feet are sore but tough, and the strongest thing of all, for all of us, is the incredible drive to finish this great journey that we started: The Camino de Santiago. We are together, and as I’ve said, not by any planning, and the truth remains . . .everyone’s Camino is different, everyone goes through something different, and by now, we barely need to talk about it.
 Carlos kept me up last night as he slept on the bunk above me. There was some reception, so he received some calls from home. And, another world event has occurred, an attempted coup in Turkey to oust ruling President Erdogan. It’s all over the news, and our phones beep us “alerts” so we . . . know. Whether we want to or not. Some of us feel that by doing the Camino, we are on the “frontlines” of our own life, and we are receiving reports from “back home,” where we all must, someday . . . soon . . . return. Some are looking forward to it, some aren’t. And, some are planning their next Camino. I’m in that camp. I’m with Carlos. We are planning our next Camino. Call it . . . the Assisi Camino, as introduced to us by David, the Hospitalero at Bodenaya. It definitely falls within my overall plan. Some of us continue the talk about our “home” Camino. What we need to do to hold onto the Camino spirit back home. Again, this is personal. Every Camino is different, but every Camino improves your life and moves you forward with your goals and dreams. So, always wait, to be “called” to do the Camino. Don’t just go and do it—just to “do it.”
 Our strategy today was for Carlos, Leo, Willi and I to leave Castroverde at 6:30 a.m., which we did (Willi was a little behind, but he caught up quickly). We are already into stage 10 of the Perazzoli/Whitson book. The goal was to trek through Santa Maria de Gondar and get to Lugo by noon, about 21.6km, which we did. And now we are here, touring and looking around the city and having lunch with about 12 friends. We will leave Lugo today and trek another 18km to San Román Da Retorta. That’s a total of 39.6 Km. That’s a lot, especially after yesterday. But, Santiago awaits. And, it looks to us like we can be there in three days. We are basically 100 Kms away from Santiago. The markers along the way are starting to indicate how many more Kms we have to do to get to Santiago de Compostela. The last one I could read said 110 Km to Santiago. Wow, we really are getting close.
 When you live out of a backpack at my age, and really enjoy it, you realize so many things, but mostly: 1. How little we need to be happy; and 2. How simple you want to keep your life. The contents of a backpack are simple and necessary, and nothing more is needed to trek. If you lose something or break it, you replace it or fix it. Nothing is superfluous. So little is so peaceful.
 It won’t be long before I’m home.
 The Camino demonstrates what we know: keep your life simple and be at peace. “Run everything you do through that filter,” someone just added.
 To me, the Camino demonstrates something else: it really isn’t all that difficult.
 Just do it . . . step by step . . .
 remember what it took, to plant each step securely and then, just take the next step, and you will reach the peaceful end of
your journey.
 . . .

post-47-pic-1
The Cathedral of Santa Maria; Me, Leo and Serge

post-47-pic-4
The Madonna with the Big Eyes

post-47-pic-5
A piece of The Cross of Jesus

post-47-pic-6
Logging in at the Cathedral

post-47-pic-2-in-color
The Trekkers at the Cafe del Centro in Lugo

post-47-pic-3
Carole, “Let’s start trekking again!”