Thinking

[Kiwi-family]

I have plans to walk from Valencia at the end of April.
I have discovered my insurance company will pay up if the government issues a DO NOT TRAVEL TO SPAIN mandate or the airline cancels flights. This is reassuring.
I have read posts about it being selfish to walk and I have contemplated this view.
I have also thought about the economic impact on these little places that largely rely on pilgrims - when one considers THAT it seems selfish NOT to walk.
There is nothing else I can do right now. So I wait. I pray for those impacted. I surrender. I hope.
And I make a little progress each day on what I hope will be my next camino blanket, one commemorating spring flowers in green fields.

 

[Anniesantiago]

Wow! That is BEAUTIFUL!

 

[OzAnnie]

Beautiful work.
& please , stop that thinking Rachel- not good for the peregrina ..
I was just looking at the spreadsheet you have prepared for your walk ., in particular the day out of Toledo to Torrijos 33.8k. Have you put in a possible earlier stopping point at Rielves? Being my first day out with pack etc. I was wondering how I’d go.

Also ., do you have to phone ahead on every day stage/ say for the Albergue at Torrijos ?

I’m sure everything will be fine for you to go ahead with your walk here.

Buen camino

 

[Kiwi-family]

Sorry @OzAnnie I made a couple more squares and did some more thinking....this blanket is risky, I don’t know if the idea in my head is actually going to work.....my Camino might be risky too.
Right now it looks like a disconnected mishmash of possibility....even though I’m only weeks out from my Camino I feel disconnected from it. There’s enough uncertainty for the possibility to not eventuate into reality.
I see loose ends in the blanket....the Camino uncertainty is poking out just the same - and it helps me realise in the past I have naively assumed it would come to pass. This time I am made much more aware of that which has always been the truth - on our own, we do nothing; we walk only if God is willing.
Annie I’ll reply to your questions when I can use my computer.

 

[koilife]

This time I am made much more aware of that which has always been the truth - on our own, we do nothing; we walk only if God is willing.

Indeed!

And a beautiful blanket, no matter how risky.

 

[Kiwi-family]

@OzAnnie I noted that Rielves exists (and is 24.2km from Toledo), but really do not plan on stopping there so did not add any other details - sorry, that is unhelpful to you! Here's the blurb from the Levante Amigos website about Rielves, there IS accommodation:

I have made a note on my spreadsheet of when it is required to call ahead. I might on other occasions too, but I have recorded only the times i HAVE to (as I really don't like phones and will usually chicken out unless it's mandatory!)

 

[Phoenix]

I have read posts about it being selfish to walk and I have contemplated this view.
I have also thought about the economic impact on these little places that largely rely on pilgrims - when one considers THAT it seems selfish NOT to walk.

I, too, have read the posts you mention. Some people can't seem to help themselves when it comes to judging others. They are free to express their judgmental opinions (and expose themselves as being self-righteous), just as we are free to ignore them. You do what you think is best. Buen Camino.

 

[Kiwi-family]

I, too, have read the posts you mention. Some people can't seem to help themselves when it comes to judging others. They are free to express their judgmental opinions (and expose themselves as being self-righteous), just as we are free to ignore them. You do what you think is best. Buen Camino.

@Phoenix I understand how some of those posts can come across as judgmental, but I prefer to think those people were merely expressing their own opinion and not consciously judging others - at least that feels like a generous reading to me. I appreciate their concerns, and have added them to the mix of things to consider when making a decision. Rather than ignoring them, I let them help inform my thinking. This has the potential to be quite an emotive topic and I do my best to assume the best of others and try to leave a trail of peace while at the same time offering other views if I think they may be of benefit to the discussion. Thanks for your support too.

 

[Kanga]

While I love Rachel's quilt! - can we please not wander into corona virus territory. We are trying to keep it all together in the Corona Virus thread in the medical issues section, for the sanity of the moderators, but also to keep the forum factual and accurate.

 

[Kiwi-family]

Sorry @Kanga. I started this thread which was more of an emotional response and so kept it separate from the other one that was meant for fact. Happy for you to delete the thread if it’s too much trouble to monitor. Equally happy for it to be unmonitored and let people moderate themselves!

 

[Former member 49149]

Well, I am going to take a snapshot of your beautiful blanket in the making just in case! Listen to the blanket, it has part of your answer.

 

[Paladina]

I have read posts about it being selfish to walk and I have contemplated this view.
I have also thought about the economic impact on these little places that largely rely on pilgrims - when one considers THAT it seems selfish NOT to walk.

In the event that you cancel your proposed journey, have you considered making an appropriate donation to the camino associations in the areas through which you had hoped to walk?

 

[Kiwi-family]

In the event that you cancel your proposed journey, have you considered making an appropriate donation to the camino associations in the areas through which you had hoped to walk?

No, i hadn’t! I WAS planning on purchasing little badge at the Valencia Association to join my other shells...but this is a good idea.

 

[Kanga]

I've just looked at the first two weeks of the Levante, out of Valencia, and it is my kind of Camino - long and dead flat! I'd go.

 

[notion900]

I just took up crochet and admiring the blanket.

I arrived in NZ fresh from the Pushkar Camel Fair, the biosecurity asked me how many animals I had been exposed to recently - how about 50,000?! They made me disinfect my boots and poles. So yeah go on the camino unless they stop you at the airport!

 

[JennyH94]

This would have to be the most beautiful crocheted blanket I ever seen Rachael - the colours are all glorious and the expertise in your work is fantastic. What a wonderful and comforting blanket it will be.
Cheers from Oz -
Jenny

 

[WalkingJane]

I have plans to walk from Valencia at the end of April.
I have discovered my insurance company will pay up if the government issues a DO NOT TRAVEL TO SPAIN mandate or the airline cancels flights. This is reassuring.
I have read posts about it being selfish to walk and I have contemplated this view.
I have also thought about the economic impact on these little places that largely rely on pilgrims - when one considers THAT it seems selfish NOT to walk.
There is nothing else I can do right now. So I wait. I pray for those impacted. I surrender. I hope.
And I make a little progress each day on what I hope will be my next camino blanket, one commemorating spring flowers in green fields.
View attachment 70480View attachment 70481View attachment 70479View attachment 70478

What lovely work! I knit, but am hopeless with crochet. What a nice way to have warmth at night on the Camino.

 

[Kiwi-family]

@WalkingJane I take a pair of socks to knit on Camino evenings, but my Camino blankets are all made at home and stay at home! 100g is my limit for wool luxury (especially as I also carry sketchbook, fountain pens and watercolours!)

 

[Old Kiwi]

Hi Rachael,
I am interested in where you got your travel insurance, it sounds good to me. My grandmother and mother have made hundreds of those crocheted rugs, as Kiwis do.

 

[Kiwi-family]

Travel Insurance Direct

 

[Old Kiwi]

Thank you.

 

[Kiwi-family]

@Old Kiwi note they are no longer covering for anything pandemic related. I bought my policy at the beginning of December.

 

[koilife]

@Kiwi-family, I saw this thread pop up on my notices, and I couldn't help but remember your earlier comment on the risks and loose threads of the blanket and the Camino, almost as if each was a metaphor for the other, and both a metaphor for life. I hope and pray your blanket has come together even as Valencia has unraveled.

 

[Kiwi-family]

@Kiwi-family, I saw this thread pop up on my notices, and I couldn't help but remember your earlier comment on the risks and loose threads of the blanket and the Camino, almost as if each was a metaphor for the other, and both a metaphor for life. I hope and pray your blanket has come together even as Valencia has unraveled.

Thank you so much. The blanket is turning out to be beautiful and unexpected - I’m hopeful the same will be true of life!