Day 21-Hit Me With Me With Your Best Shot

Fire away!

Tomorrow The Camino Primitivo and I are going to go at it. For the next 6 days, it will throw everything it has at me. Will I survive? Will I get through it all? It’s a test of my faith for sure. To succeed, my strength must come from my faith. How strong is my faith? We shall see. It’s weird to describe the Camino as an opponent but that’s how I feel at this point on this stretch. It’s going to test me, that’s for sure. As I face the challenges, I hope I do so with spirit and not complaint. Staying positive will be key.

Today on the Camino differed. As I noted yesterday, Ovieto is the true starting point for the Camino Primativo. I saw many pilgrims taking the first steps of their journey. There were lots of them. I came by 3 pilgrims walking together- Dave from Australia, Hannah from Austria and Rinka from the Netherlands. They had all met the night before in the Alburgue. It seemed natural to join them. Hannah was carrying way too much gear and not enough water. Sadly, she struggled and fell off the back. I was worried about her but Dave noted we all started early so many Pilgrims were behind us to help her if she needed it. Dave gave her the number of a taxi service just in case. About 8 miles into the walk we met up with Jonathan from England at a hillside cafe. The 4 of us walked together the rest of the way. The time goes by faster when you have company, even if you aren’t talking. The other 3 had met at the Alburgue in Ovieto so I was the new kid. After we reached day’s end, Grado, we all had lunch then they went back to their Alburgue and I headed off to to my hotel. I don’t know if I will see them tomorrow or not- or if those 3 are even walking together- the price I pay for a hotel and a private room and bath. Worth it!

A cool hotel and they opened for breakfast at 7:00

Me, Hannah, Rinka and Dave. You can see Hannah has two packs, a front and back. And one small water bottle. It was nice to walk in a group- first time this year. Hope it’s not the last.

Just before Jonathan met up with us

The crew indulged my desire to stop and pray and didn’t drop me.

That’s Jonathan on the left. Everyone was in great spirits.