22/06/2026
Here on this Camino each and every pilgrim will be tested in their own way and then and only then will you find your very own yardstick with the ability to measure and not find yourself wanting, in any shape or form, for you will find yourself in a perfection that no one may challenge
However one day in 2017 I was challenged ……
I looked remorsefully at what faced me next. Hot, exhausted, tired beyond comprehension, the midday sun bathed me in my own sweat, forming rivulets, tracing my spinal columns crater like path being carried only by gravity. down, down, to collide with the waistband of my shorts and disappear into their own dampened oblivion.
Alone I was wrapped in my own cloying stickiness, like an insect caught viciously in a spiders trap, to be challenged by my own self-woven web hampering any advancement. My legs screamed loudly enough for me to hear them. No! Not going to happen!
This effectively stopped me in my tracks with the little voice in my head saying “go on”! “No” I screamed back, “I can’t”, while my legs crumbled in exhaustion.
There was no alternative, my mind stumbled as I sank ungraciously to my bare knees realising only then that the stoney gravel dug cruelly into bare skin with sharp stones cutting delicate flesh, there was no help. No alternate route between me and the top of the steep shale cliff that stood resolutely in my path. Crawl, like a baby I must like it or lump it, done and dusted.
Slowly, painfully I crawled, my heavy pack laden back was no help at all likewise my now half empty water bottle clutched in one hand was likewise a hindrance, for should that one precious item be lost that was indeed unthinkable, it did not even bare thinking about. For out here in the vastness of Spains thirsty hinterland where the next human habitation was yet some miles distant down a barren wasteland track that I’m sure even a desert lizard would find daunting.
Devising a solution of necessity I crawled on. Conscious that the loss of my water bottle was imminent I devised a scheme that involved throwing the precious bottle ahead then crawling upward slowly advancing inch by inch up the steep shale encrusted face to retrieve it time after time. Painfully slowly reaching the top exhausted, with bloodied sore knees the only evidence of this amazing feat. It seemed like I had overcome an awesome feat that no one would ever know about for it seemed at the time a completely hollow accomplishment. However recovering slowly I dragged this now aching torso to stand upright once more allowing me to once more place one foot in front of the other in order to reach my destination for the day. Once more the humble accomodation of an aubergue was my saviour with simple food and friendly camaraderie my salve. Each and every pilgrim will be tested in their own way and then and only then will you find your very own self to be your very best companion. You will also find the ability to measure your own yardstick and not find yourself wanting in any shape or form for you will find yourself in a perfection that no one may challenge
To be continued…