Day 25: O'Cebreiro to Triacastela
12.9 Miles
Total: 404.8 Miles
As I walk this morning I hear the trees brushing up against each other in the wind and quick foot steps, I smell fresh morning air and mist, I feel the slick, wet ground under my feet and the thick cloudy mist, I taste a granola bar and a little bit of tooth paste, I see the dark morning sky and a never endless sight of trees on my sides as I walk further and further. It was great, we all loved it. It was a change that we were all anxiously waiting for. We were out of the dry, flat, and straight land and into the hilly, wet, and curvy trail. I wish you could have seen the sun rise.. I wish I could have seen it as well! That was the only bad thing about walking through a cloud, you can't watch the sun rise.
The climbs were great fun now that I'm in shape for them! I have been rather cold the past couple of days so I wore, literally, just about every piece of clothing I had brought and it made my pack MUCH lighter! I was considering wearing them all every day but I got hot pretty quick. Once the fog cleared a little bit you could see some amazing scenery. I missed the color green around me and today I was overwhelmed with it. Also something new to see is when you turn a corner or reach the top of a hill there always seems to be a newer pilgrim smoking a cigarette, we are sadly nearing the end..
My legs bugged me a little bit today but my mind took me else where and the pain seemed to go away. I have been thinking hard the past couple days and it's on what I plan to do for the rest of my summer. March and Bree have been encouraging me to join cross country because I really do enjoy running on the trail but I've been considering that. My main thoughts have been on something else though, trail angels. I feel like my heart has been touched by the sweet kindness and generosity of all these trail angels. I want to do what they do, I want to feel that happiness you get from giving to people that you once were like. So when I get back home, in mid August I plan to go along the Pacific Crest Trail and I don't exactly know what type of stuff I want to give yet, but I plan on being a trail angel! It is going to be my way of giving back. I get excited and my spirit lifts whenever I even imagine being a trail angel. It's one thing I plan on doing before the summer is over
Today was very short, I don't think we have had a day this short since the first couple days. We are in good enough shape to go much further and escape a parade of people but we stayed. It's a very nice town and I stocked up on a bunch of food from the super market which added about ten pounds to my bag but I should be set for a while. I'm sad that we are going to be in Santiago so soon. I have had the time of my life on this Camino and I hate to see it end but I have been missing my family and friends a lot too. I definitely plan on coming back and I highly recommend this to people, anyone. Everyone should have an experience like this at least once in their life, I'm so thankful I have already experienced it. This has opened, or at least cracked open new doors for me. I have a different outlook on things, I am so happy. So far this has definitely been a good journey.
-Auna
Such an inspiring post! Spending some of the summer as a trail angel on the Pacific Crest Trail is a great idea! It has been wonderful watching as you all have grown during this process - even the writing is more mature and full of wisdom than in earlier posts. Thanks for sharing the journey with the rest of us.
ReplyDeleteI can't add much to Laura's response, but I can heartily Amen it.
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