Anne’s knee has gotten worse. After a last day of ten miles, it’s clear that she cannot continue.

As they say on the Camino, everyone’s Camino is different. For a young Italian couple with a toddler in 2015, their Camino took a new direction when they responded to a countryman’s request for help by taking over running his albuergue so he could go home to care for a sick relative. They may still have not seen Santiago de Campostela, but their Camino was one of service and love.

In our case, we will take local buses and trains and adjust our itinerary while Anne hobbles along. It’s hard to acknowledge that the body can’t handle what it once could. Not is it easy to humbly admit falling short of an objective.

One of many lessons of the Camino.

As we adjusted to the non-walking mode, the weather turned rainy and gloomy. Not good walking weather, in any event.

Health update. Anne: maybe the left knee was wrenched on one of the extremely difficult downhill stretches. Adrenaline probably obscured the specific event or moment of injury. Starting around Walking Day 3, there has been a stabbing pain going down the front of the leg with each step. By the way, Anne’s right hip replacement feels great; no pain at all on the right side. Stamina was holding up,  even on the climbs: it’s “only” the left leg..

Ed feels well. As we travel on,  he’s gallantly carrying Anne’s pack as well as his own!

We are developing our adjusted itinerary as we go along.  Although we are leaving the Camino route, we hope to visit some places,  known and unknown to us,  and hopefully see family in Ireland,  before we return,  ahead of schedule,  to the States.

More to come.

Navarre is a beautiful,  often rugged former kingdom in the northeast corner of Spain encompassing the Pyrenees and its foothills.  When we left Pamplona, the seemingly benign track (see a stream of peregrinos ahead if us) led quickly to long, steep and rough climb to a mountain pass called the Alto de Perdon (Height of Forgiveness). We rarely have photos of the difficult ups and downs because one must fiercely concentrate to avoid falling or losing momentum; no interest in stopping to take photos by me!

We do have a photo of us at the top, after two hours of climbing, taken by some Germans.

The metal sculptures commemorate the windy height, with up to 30 mph gusts on this day.

As usual,  the descent is worse,  more dangerous, scary and tiring on the legs, than the ascent.

Our shelter that night was in the hamlet of Uterga where we were warmly treated by Loelia, who has welcomed peregrinos for 22 years! Ed booked this particular albergue out of three or four basically by its location.

In a remarkable coincidence, Loelia had a poster on her wall remembering Six Ways to Santiago, an award -winning documentary. In 2014, a pre release Washington DC screening of that documentary arranged by our friend,  Paulist priest and yoga master, Father Tom Ryan, introduced us to the Camino de Santiago de Campostela and inspired our first walk on the path in 2015.

Next morning we left Loelia’s place, Casa Camino del Perdon, to begin a thankfully relatively short walk through Puente de Reina to Lorca. Anne’s left knee and leg are sore after the long ups and downs of the previous days. She is reflecting upon persistence and endurance, while many pilgrims bound past her at a fast pace. Some (a few) seem to be struggling even more than she. What motivated them to start this journey? What keeps them going?

Walking through the tiny town of Obanos, Ed noticed an unusual sight: an open door to the church! He inquired of a resident; she told him Mass started in eight minutes. We were happy to partake and receive spiritual refreshment. 

Not having received very much upkeep and maintenance in a thousand years, the Roman road is not enjoyable to walk on today.

One could say that our Camino began last autumn when Anne was reluctantly considering a total right hip replacement operation. Ed said, if you have this done,  we can go on another Camino! And so, Anne proceeded with a wonderfully successful procedure in November 2023 resulting in a pain-free hip and restored mobility. In spring 2024 Ed began detailed planning for the Camino.

Nine years ago we walked our first Camino de Santiago de Campostela, starting on April 29, 2015, the earliest date the pass over the Pyrenees from France would be clear of snow. That walk unfolded the beauty of spring in front of us. We are curious, this time, to experience autumn.

Leaving our hostel in Aurizberri (Espinal in Spanish), a tiny Basque hamlet near Roncesvalles, on Sunday morning, we stretch our pilgrim legs. Soon, we are challenged with rough passage, scrambling up rocky ways, picking down steep descents. After Zubiri there was a long,  harrowing, steep downhill over razor-sharp teeth of limestone which went on forever.

My app showed 40,000 steps for 24 km (15 miles) and we were happy indeed to rest at Casa Tau (shades of St Francis, who is associated with the Greek letter tau resembling a cross) in Larrasoana that night.

Green trees with occasional splashes of red and gold are what we see. There are significantly more fellow pilgrims (peregrinos) than our 2015 experience, bearing out the reports of 240,000 on 2015 to a projected 400,000 this year. It’s more difficult to find interludes of silence on the path. So many are traveling in pairs or groups with at least one member who talks incessantly. Some are loud.

More than ever, we appreciate silence. Silence, a language of God. Silence, into which may intrude a tiny whispering sound. Silence, in which one may hear the music of the air and the water and of the cosmos.

The next night’s rest is in Pamplona where we find a weekday seven pm mass in a modern church surrounded by condos. It’s good to see a healthy turnout in a modern, functioning small city, in contrast to many of the Camino hamlets which are largely deserted except for one or two albergues (hostels) and one bar (primarily,  coffee, although sometimes the locals have a morning shot with their coffee).

More next time.

Madrid showed us her best face. For two days she displayed cerulean blue skies, long city walks in the shade of majestic plane trees, and smiling,  relaxed people,  mostly natives.

In keeping with the good mood,  the flow of people and traffic seemed less frenetic and lawless than the scrum of scooters, cycles and law-defying drivers that we left behind in DC.

One of our main goals was to mail my rheumatoid arthritis medicine (which must be refridgerated) to future stops along the Way. It only took three boxes and a very good natured Correos employee.

Unfortunately,  we were not able to see our Madrilleno friends,  Julio and Luz, whom we met on our first Camino in 2015.

On the positive side,  we found Madrid’s connection to the Camino de Santiago de Campostela in the form of a church dedicated to St James. Who would have suspected that we would walk in just an unpublicized mass in English was beginning! The celebrant turned out to be an American priest who gave an excellent homily about preparing for and disciplining oneself for life’s pilgrimage.

After Mass we visited the church’s sacristy where a Camino volunteer prepared pilgrim passports for us and provided scallop shells with which to adorn our backpacks.

The next day we will use train,  busses and taxi to travel from Madrid to the starting point of our walk.

Ed has insisted that we train, with full packs, to prepare for the Camino de Santiago 2024, so we have been trekking for successively longer distances in Rock Creek Park, a National Park behind our building. Our reward has been some beautiful views and improved fitness. My new right hip feels great.

This will be our seventh Camino. The first was in 2015 and like this year’s, is “the French Way” — Camino de Santiago Frances. Subsequent pilgrimages have been Camino San Francesco (Italy), Camino Portugues, Camino del Norte part one (Lourdes to Santander), Camino del Norte part two, Via Francigena (Italy).

This summer we have been fortunate to spend time with many dear friends and family, including the newest family member, grandniece Zara.

Zara lives with her parents,  my nephew, Mike and his wife,  Abbie, near Philadelphia.

We’ve also been playing a lot of golf — walking,  of course — to get ready for the Camino. The photo shows us after a round with son Bob and youngest grandson Owen. Owen is a sophomore at St Josephs in Philadelphia while Jack is a senior at Davidson in North Carolina. The oldest,  Ryan, lives with Chloe in Pittsburg where he works for PNC Bank.

We will be leaving on Wednesday September 11 to fly from Dulles to Madrid via Lisbon. After two days there,  where we will mail extra clothing and medicines to ourselves farther along the journey,  we’ll take train and bus to our starting point,  on the Spanish side of the Pyrenees near Roncesvalles. (We’ve decided that once is enough for doing the climb over the mountain.)

Our Camino this year will take us about 400 miles over 32 days across northern Spain to  Santiago de Campostela, the burial site of Sr James the Apostle. We will be walking in the footsteps of 1,200 years of pilgrims.

Stay tuned for the next post.