Day 8 - Villamayor de Montjardin, 13 miles
Two 1 gallon ziploc bags, one with dirty clothes, one with clean clothes…for 6 weeks…just sayin’😄
Today was the day of churches and monasteries… One grand, one a study in simplicity.
To avoid competing with the general masses for beds (and sleeping on the concrete floor again), we are staying at small villages inbetween the popular, recommended towns. Hundreds of years old and steeped in history, these quiet one horse towns hold the ambience I’m looking for.
Fueled by a quick cafe con leche we leave at 7:15 this morning under cloudy skies. The temperature is perfect for walking although no sun. A nice little path takes us to and through Villatuerte another small medieval village. Leaving the town is a lovely path finally in the countryside I’m craving.
We spy what looks like the ruins of a church. As we get closer, it becomes apparent that it is a tiny four walled medieval (1062 ad) church. On one hand it looked interesting but not spectacular, and I was in a nice rhythm making good time for the day, so was about to walk past it, but I couldn’t stop looking at it and finally I stopped and realized I needed to go in. The sign in Spanish said something about this church having to do with Archangel Michael…Oookaaay… mystery solved😄.
As I walked into the nearly windowless room, I was hit with a wave of emotion that brought tears to my eyes. I knew this was my place to pray for Cooper for the day. I stood at a stone pulpit in front of the stone altar (the solitary adornments) and as I prayed a vision of Archangel Michael wielding his sword came to me and I asked that he cut the chord to my grandsons illness and that it never revisits him. The tears continued to come to my eyes… I felt my prayer was answered.
I walked on ahead of my friends for a while to process this powerful experience.
We approached Estella, a fairly large town and popular destination. Shortly we came upon a stunningly beautiful church …. I groaned as I saw the huge flight of steps to enter it…pushing down my laziness, I agreed that we needed to visit this church also.
As we walked in I was first hit by the sounds of soft, heavenly chanting…where was it coming from?… I could see no one by the altar…then realized that 6 pilgrims from Paris ( 3 couples who have traveled together for 10 years) were sitting in the pews softly serenading us. We quietly walked around admiring the gold leaf architecture and stained glass windows. I walked into a little alcove and there was my statue of Mary with babe on lap, she appears to have a huge presence on the Way…I smiled and asked her to watch over Cooper, then lit a candle for him.
We walked through the busy town and approached one of the most famous attractions on the Camino, the free wine fountain at the Irache Monastery. I removed my pack to take off my scallop shell (that all pilgrims wear on their pack, as a symbol of the Camino). It is tradition to use this to get a small amount of free wine… As I was doing this I smiled and had the thought that it felt like I was taking communion, after the experiences I’d had in the churches today.
I then noticed a man and woman with a big camera setting up, they asked if they could film me taking some wine. They told me they were with Basque TV…I’ll post it if I can ever find a link to it.
We stopped for a long lunch, then continued to our destination for the night. The trail wandered through woods and countryside, and the final push was of course uphill for a couple of miles.
We are not disappointed. Tonight we have a room in what’s called a Casa Rural, a very lovely private home. The three of us in one room with a our own bathroom, quite luxurious by Camino standards. We are determined to do this as often as we are able. My feet and legs after a shower and short self massage feel the best they have been for 8 days. The blisters on my baby toes are well on their way to healing, and my knees feel great… Body getting stronger (and thinner YAY!) each day.
