After the fabulous albergue yesterday to a 400 year old renovated cottage, very rustic with basic amenities! Today we walked a blistering pace (literally for Ray!) averaging 5km an hour. We walked about 34km, our longest distance yet. I felt really good today, we stopped for a break 5 km back at a great albergue with a games room and in ground pool and I made R ay do a few more km - it will make tommorrow steeper climb easier! Tommorrow we pass the 250 mark hopefully Ray´s feet will pick up (I may let im walk in my boots for a day). Let this be a lesson to any potential walkers, keep to the 2 golden rules the best boots money can buy (eg italian Scarpas) and the two-sock theory,
wear two pairs of good quality socks (not cotton it will not wick away the moisture and you´ll end up with damp feet - moisture is the enemy of feet and will lead to blisters - try wool synthetic mixes specially made for long distance walking). The rubbing happens between the socks and not between the sock and your foot!
Santo Domingo is named after a guy that spent his life looking after the camino trails, for which he scored a sainthood (a bit like a knighthood but you don´t get to sit in the House of Lords and it´s given posthumously! - but on the plus side you get to join the elite in the afterlife, you can probably chew the fat with God, go to the pub with Jeesus and play a little pool with the Holy Ghost and the boys- considering the are all one it could get a little confusing though!).
The pain and tribulations of the camino are embraced by Christians (and no doubt other Religions of the Book), as wordly suffering is an indication of a favourable reward in the afterlife. No wonder the secular authorities (ie the Roman Empire) latched onto these (originally seditious) belief systems. The suffering poor where taught to see the positive in their hard lives if they accepted their position. Spartacus was no Christian. The wealthy had little chance of the final reward ("the rich man has a much chance to enter heaven as a camel to pass through the eye of a needle" Blessed are the poor ..etc "Give away all your possesions and follow me"). A great tool for social control (sure you´re a slave but think about the next life..) "Religion is the opiate of the masses" said Marx or in the words of Woody Guthrie ".....they smile and they clap and they pray. But when asked about something to eat. They reply in their voices so sweet.Work and pray, live on hay. You´ll get pie in the sky when you die (that´s no lie)" (apologies to all those that I´ve just offended with my musings. put it down to camino delirium - but we´ll get back to this topic later. So much time to think!!
We left the Rioja today and crossed into Castilla-Leon. Wheat and sunfloers everywhere. The pueblos are more what I expected to see, dusty, ochre in colour, many very ancient but often with newer parts. My dollar is running out stay tuned for more tommorrow.
wear two pairs of good quality socks (not cotton it will not wick away the moisture and you´ll end up with damp feet - moisture is the enemy of feet and will lead to blisters - try wool synthetic mixes specially made for long distance walking). The rubbing happens between the socks and not between the sock and your foot!
Santo Domingo is named after a guy that spent his life looking after the camino trails, for which he scored a sainthood (a bit like a knighthood but you don´t get to sit in the House of Lords and it´s given posthumously! - but on the plus side you get to join the elite in the afterlife, you can probably chew the fat with God, go to the pub with Jeesus and play a little pool with the Holy Ghost and the boys- considering the are all one it could get a little confusing though!).
The pain and tribulations of the camino are embraced by Christians (and no doubt other Religions of the Book), as wordly suffering is an indication of a favourable reward in the afterlife. No wonder the secular authorities (ie the Roman Empire) latched onto these (originally seditious) belief systems. The suffering poor where taught to see the positive in their hard lives if they accepted their position. Spartacus was no Christian. The wealthy had little chance of the final reward ("the rich man has a much chance to enter heaven as a camel to pass through the eye of a needle" Blessed are the poor ..etc "Give away all your possesions and follow me"). A great tool for social control (sure you´re a slave but think about the next life..) "Religion is the opiate of the masses" said Marx or in the words of Woody Guthrie ".....they smile and they clap and they pray. But when asked about something to eat. They reply in their voices so sweet.Work and pray, live on hay. You´ll get pie in the sky when you die (that´s no lie)" (apologies to all those that I´ve just offended with my musings. put it down to camino delirium - but we´ll get back to this topic later. So much time to think!!
We left the Rioja today and crossed into Castilla-Leon. Wheat and sunfloers everywhere. The pueblos are more what I expected to see, dusty, ochre in colour, many very ancient but often with newer parts. My dollar is running out stay tuned for more tommorrow.
HAPPY FATHERS DAY!!!! <3 love you heaps
ReplyDeletewish you the best day ever
good luck walking
from Nina!
hanks Nina
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