Sunday 8 June 2014

Changes



Today is a rest day in Salamanca. I have walked "seriously" for the last thirteen days. I'm hoping today to walk only those distances that are necessary for physical and spiritual sustenance, and give my feet a rest.

Salamanca is a beautiful old city with many fine buildings.




Arriving yesterday (Saturday) the weather was fine and sunny but a little windy.

Earlier in the week we passed from the province of Extremadura into that of Castilla y Leon. This change was accompanied by a noticeable change in landscape. The wide, flat, high- country plains




Have given way to undulating ground with hills and mountainous parts.


The open grassland 


Has been replaced with trees and streams 



And slowly, small towns and villages are becoming more frequent along the way.

Yesterday's entry into Salamanca brought a change that was almost a shock to the system. From days of seeing small villages and, literally, a handful of people we were catapulted into a busy and - compared with tiny villages - a "big" city bustling with people.



The contrast was clear and most arresting. In some respects it felt wrong to be here. The city and it's bustling, preoccupied inhabitants and visitors seemed almost a rude interruption to the calm and leisurely Camino journey. This was clearly brought home with the local "Blues Bros" entertainment.


However, after my "still" day today I shall continue on the road tomorrow and, in the shortest time, I'll be back to my peaceful and idyllic rhythm.

But I will be minus some precious companions I have come to know and love in the recent past. Several of my fellow Caministas are departing from Salamanca for home and work. We have walked together, shared meals and enjoyed multi- lingual conversations together. I shall miss them. I hope they have received something good out of my company along the way. I know I am the better for meeting and knowing them.

But life goes on and, like many of my recent Camino experiences, the changes that are now happening mirror the incidents of life. I see us, in life, walking into and out of each other's journeys. Sometimes we travel long with another. At other times the sharing of the road may be brief. In this, the Camino is a very real and personal illustration and imitation of life. In all journeying, whether I'm on a transitory Camino walk or the longer journey through life I endeavour both to receive good from and impart good to my fellow travellers. I trust this has been the case with my Camino amigos. I pray it continues through the whole of life.

I thank God for the beautiful people I've met in recent weeks. Indeed I thank God for all the beautiful people I meet. I commit each one of them to Him for His protection and blessing.












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