- Time of past OR future Camino
- Ingles, F+M, Salvador, Norte, V.Serr., Fr.Leopoldo
In May/June 2022 I walked the latter 40% of the Norte and the extension to Muxia and Fisterra after having survived the Salvador as some kind of exhausting but wonderful warm-up. This was my second camino. As I love reading entertaining blogs and daily pilgrim diaries on this forum and elsewhere, I like to share some of my experiences from my recent camino.
I used to walk mostly from 9am till 6pm and was exhausted sometimes, so I didn't have time to write anything regularly while actually on the camino. But now, a few months later I had reflected on my most memorable moments. Including of course my most happy, surprising, thoughtful or anxious experiences. And as I like to do, I tell these moments as little stories with some details I remember and a few pictures.
I hope you enjoy and I would love to hear about similar encounters or experiences of other pilgrims.
(1) Fun with clergymen
I started the camino del norte in Áviles and I wanted to do it right. That meant to visit the local cathedral the day before starting walking to get a stamp. When I went up the stairs in front of the Iglesia de Santo Tomás de Canterbury a pilgrim just left the very picturesque church with a credential in his hand. This is the right place for me I thought and entered.
As soon as I reached the pews the organ started to play. I realized the mass just had begun, so I took a seat and looked around. There were around a dozen people in the church (it was late morning) and one priest accompanied by two assistants was conducting the mass. No chance for a stamp. At the left I saw a confessional with two seats. One was occupied, in the other there was a priest taking a nap.
Well, I decided not to disturb him and just waited till the end of mass whose procedures I was vaguely familiar with (I am not religious, but I was raised catholic before leaving the church in 1989). After 45 minutes the service was over and the sleeping priest woke up. I asked him, whether I could have a stamp for my pilgrimage and he told me to go behind the scenes with him. So I entered some kind of clergy changing room. There was the other priest and his assistants. He took one look of me and my credential and said with a very loud voice “Ah, otro alemán!” (another German). I sighed deeply, obviously looking like I am personally responsible for all the suffering my countrymen’s vacationing is bringing to other countries and replied: “Sí, hay muchos” (Yes, there are many). He burst out laughing and I was dismissed with a nice stamp and good wishes on my way.
Making clerics laugh isn’t a bad start to a camino. Towards the end of the Norte it happened again. Two days before approaching Santiago I stayed in Sobrado dos Monxes in the albergue within the monastery, which is run by monks. I arrived quite late around 6pm. The monk in charge was from the United Kingdom, so we spoke English. He explained everything and showed me the way to my chamber (I was to share it with two Polish guys I met before and a Finnish lady). As we walked through the patio towards the rooms I noticed that he had a whistle around his neck, like a soccer coach. He saw the question mark on my face and told me with a big grin: “I use this when visitors walk into areas they shouldn’t”. I nodded in deep understanding and replied: “Yeah, it’s really nice to have some fun every now and then”. And he laughed like I had told him a dirty joke. Of course this encounter made my day again.
Maybe I should also try to meet humorous monks in my everyday life!
To be continued…
I used to walk mostly from 9am till 6pm and was exhausted sometimes, so I didn't have time to write anything regularly while actually on the camino. But now, a few months later I had reflected on my most memorable moments. Including of course my most happy, surprising, thoughtful or anxious experiences. And as I like to do, I tell these moments as little stories with some details I remember and a few pictures.
I hope you enjoy and I would love to hear about similar encounters or experiences of other pilgrims.
(1) Fun with clergymen
I started the camino del norte in Áviles and I wanted to do it right. That meant to visit the local cathedral the day before starting walking to get a stamp. When I went up the stairs in front of the Iglesia de Santo Tomás de Canterbury a pilgrim just left the very picturesque church with a credential in his hand. This is the right place for me I thought and entered.
As soon as I reached the pews the organ started to play. I realized the mass just had begun, so I took a seat and looked around. There were around a dozen people in the church (it was late morning) and one priest accompanied by two assistants was conducting the mass. No chance for a stamp. At the left I saw a confessional with two seats. One was occupied, in the other there was a priest taking a nap.
Well, I decided not to disturb him and just waited till the end of mass whose procedures I was vaguely familiar with (I am not religious, but I was raised catholic before leaving the church in 1989). After 45 minutes the service was over and the sleeping priest woke up. I asked him, whether I could have a stamp for my pilgrimage and he told me to go behind the scenes with him. So I entered some kind of clergy changing room. There was the other priest and his assistants. He took one look of me and my credential and said with a very loud voice “Ah, otro alemán!” (another German). I sighed deeply, obviously looking like I am personally responsible for all the suffering my countrymen’s vacationing is bringing to other countries and replied: “Sí, hay muchos” (Yes, there are many). He burst out laughing and I was dismissed with a nice stamp and good wishes on my way.
Making clerics laugh isn’t a bad start to a camino. Towards the end of the Norte it happened again. Two days before approaching Santiago I stayed in Sobrado dos Monxes in the albergue within the monastery, which is run by monks. I arrived quite late around 6pm. The monk in charge was from the United Kingdom, so we spoke English. He explained everything and showed me the way to my chamber (I was to share it with two Polish guys I met before and a Finnish lady). As we walked through the patio towards the rooms I noticed that he had a whistle around his neck, like a soccer coach. He saw the question mark on my face and told me with a big grin: “I use this when visitors walk into areas they shouldn’t”. I nodded in deep understanding and replied: “Yeah, it’s really nice to have some fun every now and then”. And he laughed like I had told him a dirty joke. Of course this encounter made my day again.
Maybe I should also try to meet humorous monks in my everyday life!
To be continued…