Day 6 — Living In The Present (15 Miles)

The most important lesson that I have learned while walking the Camino is to live in the present. On this Camino, I had completed five difficult days. I felt good. My hosts and a friendly local on the road (you will meet Carmen) said that the Camino ahead will be smooth and much easier. Let’s see how this day unfolded.

Being so far out of town, my hosts drove me to my requested start point to resume the Camino. I was in Guernica where a copy of Picasso’s famous painting was presented on a wall across from a hospital and next to the Palace of Justice.

I had seen the original at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and at its current location at the Reina Sophia in Madrid. On those occasions, people reverently stood in front of the painting for several minutes — perhaps taking in Picasso’s representation of the destruction, its symbolism, or its technical aspects.

Here people were going about their daily lives walking by without turning their heads to view the composition. I was wondering what they were thinking at that moment. The anniversary of the bombing is 26 April — 89 years ago. We still repeat acts of annihilation as I write this blog. What are we thinking as we live where we do?

About 250 meters along the road is the parliament building for the Basque province. My host told me that the early representatives met under the oak trees that are next to the building. At one entrance I found panels of oak leaves in the foreground of those trees. I surmised that they were installed to remind citizens about the foundation of their government.

Shortly after leaving Guernica, I was back in nature. Yesterday, I had hiked near the summit of the mountain that dominates the image below.

This morning, beauty was walking past a herd of horses in a pasture with a foal lying in the grass.

Within a mile, I met Señora Carmen who was selling snacks and drinks by the roadside in front of her exquisite home garden. Her first question to me and the same first or second question asked by pilgrims of one another is — where are you from? I was her first American this season. I have run into only one other American to date. Remember Kevin whom I met on Day 1 with the band of Australians? Most passing pilgrims have been Spaniards and Germans.

April is the start of the season; May, September, and October are the most popular months on this part of the Camino del Norte. I have encountered less than fifteen other pilgrims in a day so far — most of them I have seen on other days. Today was only five. The numbers on this Camino are very similar to those I counted on the Camino Primitivo in May 2023. If you are looking to walk in peace and solace, this Camino is for you. It is for me.

At this point, I was lulled into believing that the tough stages were behind me. I had a wake-up call when I started the last unpaved section of this stage. No matter what anyone tells you what is ahead, the only thing that you can deal with is the present.

I started up what seemed to be a typical unpaved path with stones strewn everywhere. As I entered a wooded area, the path appeared to have been recently carved out. The cleared strip was completely muddy. I could not see my lace tops as my boots sank into the mud. Then, I came upon a quarter mile of tree stumps and branches blocking the muddy path that added to my unease. Mud is a very slippery surface. Luckily, I did not fall but I did have some close calls. My hiking poles saved the day.

I had never encountered a path this hazardous before — even the muddy tracks on days three to five on this Camino were not as bad. You can wish all you want for better conditions or think the should’ve, could’ve found another path. But here were these conditions to deal with.

All is well that ends well. In the next town, I sat with my afternoon cerveza with no cares about the past or the future while two pilgrims walked by in the rain.