Sunday, May 29, 2016

Stage 7- Los Arcos to Lo Grono

 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.  Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
- James 1:2-4

During stage 7 of the Camino, I traveled 17.3 miles, 27.8 km, and 38,677 steps from Los Arcos to Lo Grono.  The weather was cool in the morning and hot and dry again in the afternoon.  The landscape in this region of the Camino reminded me of the Italian country side, and also the dry arid regions of Southern California.  There was a lot of climbing on this day, which made for some really tough walking, but also some extremely rewarding views. 

 Most of the day, I hiked with Laura Lee from Canada.  I also walked and chatted with Cathy, an empty nester from Dallas/Ft. Worth.  She had wanted to do the Camino for about 10 years, but waited for her daughters to head off to college before she decided give it a go.  I also met Linda, a volunteer on the Trail who is from San Diego.  Linda seemed to be an expert on almost anything Camino related, and she clearly has a passion for the Camino and this region of Spain.  Linda has walked part of the Camino Frances before, and also walked many other routes of the Camino throughout her adult life.  I also met Mark when I  arrived at the alburgue late in the afternoon.  Mark is originally from Michigan, but moved to Wyoming about 7 years ago to work in the oil and gas industry.  Since things have slowed down there, he decided to give the Camino a try before embarking on a new career.  In his words, he told me he was on the Camino because of a "movie choice."  He had rented "The Way" several years ago and that had impacted him in a very profound way.  The amount of people that I've met from all over the world has truly been one of the highlights of my Camino experience thus far.

After checking into a really comfortable alburgue for the night, I had some dinner near the city square with a couple of hikers.  I then returned to the alburgue to do some laundry and plan out the next day.

Here are some pics from Stages 6 & 7.










Lights out.

1 comment:

sym said...

The pictures of the countryside are really pretty. Looks peaceful.