While you can walk .....

In Estella on 18 September I finally had to accept that walking the Camino came to an frustrating end for me. A stress fracture in the left leg makes it impossible to walk more that a few paces at a time so I hanged up my boots. From now on we will take the bus, we are now not more peregrinos but became busgrinos on the busmino. A lesson in handling dissapointment and frustration.

While you can walk ..... have a new meaning for me.

But the best of the Camino, the people you meet in the alberques are still making it an experience not to be missed.

And having an iced coffee Spanish style.

And finding an original Micheal Angelo painting in a cathedral.

Or having the love of your life preparing a meal with ingredients from a Spanish supermarket with a bottel of vino tinto.

Walking and looking

Some pictures on the way

Mobile blogging .........

It just take too long to blog on the mobile phone. I will rather spend time talking to the fellow peregrinos and post more when back home. A few pictures on the way maybe.
Climbing the Pyrenees 2 days ago  starting at 13h00 .... Belinda said 'Kilimanjaro was a walk in the park on the first day,but the Pyrenees is not a walk in the park.'

As the saying goes, only mad dogs and Englishmen goes out in the midday sun, and I am not an Englishman........

But it is an amazing amazing time. Already made good friends,climbing the hills slowly also the hills of the heart.

Departure day

Leaving On A Jetplane 

The words of this song by John Denver from the 1960's, are ringing in my head this morning.

"All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go

I'm standing here outside your door

I hate to wake you up to say goodbye

But the dawn is breaking, it's early morning

The taxi is waiting, he is blowing his horn

Already I'm so lonesome, I could die

So kiss me and smile for me

Tell me that you wait for me

Hold me like you never let me go

I'm leaving on a jetplane

I don't know when I'll be back again

Oh babe, I hate to go"

In our case it is a bit different:

Our only two bags are packed

we are ready to go.

I am sitting here writing this blog

and will soon wake you up - with a cup of coffee.

The dawn is nearly breaking, because the cat woke my up.

I am not lonesome.

A kiss would be nice when you wake up.

I won't have to wait for you.

Hold my hand

when we leave on a jetplane.

I know when we will be back again.

Oh babe, I love to go.

God willing, we will be back.

We make our plans but the outcome is not in our hands.

As it is written in Romans 8

"For I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from his love. Death can't, and life can't. The angels won't, and all the powers of hell itself cannot keep God's love away. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, or where we are - high above the sky, or in the deepest ocean - nothing will ever be able to separate us from the love God demonstrated by our Lord Jesus Christ when he died for us."   Quoted from the Living Bible

I always wonder what did the writer saw as 'high above the sky'? There were no jetplanes at that time. 

Today we fly, high in the sky, thirty thousand feet high, a long way down.

Pre departure butterflies in the stomach day

Not a normal day - the predepature day

Wake up early

one day to go

what must still be done?

where is my notes?

what did we forget?

what pain is that in my back now?

and the knee as well!

Take a deep breath - whatever is not done is better left undone.

We are now all ready to go - backpacks are packed and weighs in at 6 kilos for Belinda and 7,5 kilos for me. It will be a bit more with snacks and water on the route but it gives a feel of freedom to be able to get rid of everything that is not essential. 

Amazing how quickly you pack everything when everything adds up to as little as possible.

FREEDOM from all the stuff we deem essentials, but are not !!!!!!!!!!!!.

Had a meal tonight with the initiators of this adventure, our friends Christo and Nelda. What a blessing to have friends like them. Sad we can't all go together, but who knows what the future holds - maybe, I wish, more shared adventures.

This amazing journey has already started - got a mail in Spanish from someone who wants to share the taxi from Pamplona to Saint Jean Pied de Port. Thanks to my friend Google translate, it became clear we will even be on the same train from Madrid to Pamplona.  Looking forward to meet Isabel and her friends. The best part will probably be the people we will meet - for the introvert in me, an adventure indeed...

Two days ago we had a very interesting Bible study reading from Mark 4.
In Mark 4 verse 36 it says "Leaving the crowd, they took Jesus along in a boat just as he was."
The words "just as he was" jumped out at me. No must still do this, get that, be taught something or learn something else. Just as he was.

Lets go, just as we are, on this journey and also the journey of life. He is there to take care, even in the storms we might face, just as He did that night.

My fellow peregrinos - at this stage

These are my travel partners at this stage.

This is Msafiri, the traveller. He is trying out his travel seat on my backpack. From here he will look and see how we travel. Msafiri is a Swahili word and means traveller. It was the name of our guide on Kilimanjoro in 2004. His mother gave him the name because he was born on a train.

As Cliff Richard sang in the song Living Doll. 

"I got myself a walking talking living doll" that has been my travelling companion for the last more than 30 years.  Without her I would not have become a peregrino.

Table Mountain from Constantia neck

Why don't we do this more often? It is so accessible and beautiful and on our doorstep.

SouthAfrica.info says this: "The Cape Floral region is a Unesco World Heritage site and a global biodiversity hotspot, containing more plant species than the whole of the British Isles."

From Constantia Nek to the dams on top of Table Mountain, all the way on a jeep track, 15 kilometers with a total ascent of 843 meters.

Looking south, south-east with False Bay in the distance. 

Dam at the Overseers Cottage.

Hely-hutchinson Reservoir

Fynbos splendour

Got to do this more often.

Walking down to Constantia Nek in the afternoon - all in the shade of the mountain

Melkbos to Blouberg along the beach

Today Christo and Nelda started their training walks for their camino trip.

We walked from Melkbos to Blouberg along the beach - 10 kilometers.

The waves were massive and it was high tide! We had to watch the water all the time and mostly walked above the high water mark where the sand is soft, making the walking tough and slow!  A not so easy walk, but we had a great time and the cappuccino at Big Bay was just the way to end a great day.

Lunch on the beach after an hours walk.

Nelda and Belinda - happy with the progress.

Running from the surf to keep the boots dry.

Perigrinos on their way.

For we walk thru life but once and then are no more.

Belinda and me

The end of the day's walk. Sharing a story about how a mosquito will bounce off  a Kingsley Holsgate outdoor shirt.  

Jonkershoek again

Beautiful Jonkershoek again with lots of wild flowers!
Walked 16,5 kilometers in five hours! Very tired at the end.
But keep in mind, with the adjustment for height variance, it is equal to 21 kilometers on level ground.

Mount Cedar weekend

Fantastic weekend at Mount Cedar.

Jonkershoek Stellenbosch

Short walk in Jonkershoek, Stellenbosch for Belinda to try out her new hiking boots

Short sunset walk at Blouberg