We´ve already been underway a full week and have traversed some 175 km. on foot. The body, with some minor aches, is holding up well, and today, our first day off, would, truth be told, prefer to keep on walking
(maybe when I get home, I"ll take up sleepwalking).
We spent two days in St. Jean Pied de Port, in the heart of basque country, acclimatizing and resting from a long 20 hour day of travel. St. Jean and surrounding countryside is picture-perfect without exaggeration - medieval village complete with castle-like wall and narrow cobblestone streets, surrounded by lush and green hillsides going up almost to the tops of mountains for as far as the eye can see, and dotted with red-roofed farm-like homesteads and numerous cattle and sheep, and the sounds of ringing cow and sheep-bells everywhere.
Our first day on foot took us over the Pyrenees into a small Spanish monastic village called Roncesvalles. The weather was a little dreary and rainy and we had prepared ourselves for one of the longer, more difficult days of the journey. Halfway through the day we missed a cue and took a wrong turn, which took us about 3 kilometres out of our way (and back!) until we realized we were incorrectly taking the "road less travelled." During this wrong turn we came across a herd of cattle, one of which practically refused to move out of our path as we approached - we look back on this and think it was trying to tell us something(!) because we continued on for another 2 or so kilometres before we realized the error of our way. There was a historic "cross" marker at the point at which we went off-track, and interestingly enough, we needed to return to this cross (the Cross!) to continue on our journey and get us back on track.
In Roncesvalles we were treated to a musical event that brought chills up and down my spine. We were walking by the monastery and heard music and walked inside, only to hear this thundering pipe-organ, its sound reverberating, and I mean Reverberting! throughout this magnificent stone cathedral! Oh the power of music to move and stir the soul!
So far on our travels, we have come upon some 20 or more small medieval-type villages. The first thing one sees when approaching these towns is the church-spire in the distance. The church is the focal point of most of these communities, rising well above the surrounding buildings and countryside. And upon coming a little closer, one hears the characteristic chiming of the church bells that marks the passing of each half-hour. A peaceful sound indeed! And the people of vision that built these settlements and held high the Cross!
Today, in Logrono, we sat inside the majestic double-spired Cathedral de Santa Maria de la Redonda for some time. What is it about these majestic structures, that transports the soul to a whole new level, beyond what words are capable of describing? Might the words of Romans 8 allude to some of the feeling one gets....
"We do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words."
And yet the greatest mystery of all is that God by his Spirit, indwells a single human heart that believes in Him, transforming that person into a "cathedral" of even greater majesty than any of these man-made structures, as awe-inspiring as they are!
We meet many beautiful people along the way, and it's a blessing to meet them! And many of them we are remeeting several times already. The pace of life is slow and rich!
Tomorrow morning we resume our walking, beginning with a 30 kilometre trek to Najera. We plan to rise early in the morning and walk the first hour in the dark, with the help a walking-companion´s headlamp.
Blessings to you all.
