Day Eight - Arcade to Pontevedra

Firstly, we would like to say thankyou to those of you who are reading our blog. It's lovely to know we have an audience each day when we write. Today was day 3 of our walk and it took us from Arcade to Pontevedra. It was 12 km according to our guidebook, but more like 15 by the time we made to it the hotel and did a little detour for a more scenic route. Still, a good deal shorter than yesterday. 

If there was ever a time on our journey when we could all experience a connection with nature it would have been today. We trekked our way through numerous old villages which were situated on different levels on a hill we had to navigate. When there were no buildings, our surroundings were outstretched fields of trees, flowers and grass. It is surprising to see the amount of trees brought over from Australia. There were stages of this trek that had the entire group puffing for air, I myself struggled for a while with the steep climb to the top.  On the way up the road twisted and turned, going from smoothed out gravel to loose stone paths, the stone paths being the hardest to walk along. The best part of the walk for me was the large stones set as a hiking path, these stones were like natural stairs that helped us along our journey and made the climb a tad easier. 

Knowing that this was one of the shortest walks we'd be doing, had us automatically assuming that it would be a breeze, and it would have, if not for the aching muscles and fatigue that plagued us due to the walk the day before. In saying that, it was great to reach the hotel and have a longer resting period to prepare for the following days walk. There is also a feeling of great accomplishment in knowing that we have already cleared 55 kilometres of our journey with only a few aches and pains.

The walks are all put into perspective when we have our reflections in the evening, here we discuss our journeys and plan a change for the following walk. We talk about what we most enjoyed, what our greatest challenge was and what it was that we most connected to. These reflections help us see that we get more out of the walk than just exercise or a holiday. We connect with people and nature, sometimes ourself and with God. Not only do we have these reflections, but we have a prayer circle in the mornings, where we talk about how we expect the day to go and then say a prayer of pilgrimage to help guide and protect us through the day. This part of the day is important because it prepares us for the journey ahead and helps us feel as though we are not alone. 

Meeting the other pilgrims along the way has been one of the many highlights for me, and today when we ran into numerous groups that we'd met or seen along the way, I felt like we had made a connection with a wider community that we may never have been able to experience before. It is a really great experience.