REFLECTIONS OF YESTERDAY

Day one of the Camino Frances

Yesterday was my first day walking. I did the upward climb from st. Jean Pied de Port. I don’t know the exact elevation but you can see from this map it’s nearly straight up. Only 5 miles but very hard especially when one has not trained.

The bottom is St. Jean Pied de Port and I walked to Orisson. Note the incline.

At one point a woman I was walking with dropped her bottle and water spilled all over the road. I shared mine with her but then later on I ran out and a young man shared his with me.

I didn’t hike with what I called “the walking wounded” two years ago. We were more like “the crawling breathless”. And yet we stuck together and encouraged each other on until finally we rounded a corner and there was the Auberge Orisson.

There were people there waiting to serve us. They showed us to our rooms, gave us our tokens for the shower, and when we ordered food they brought it to us at the beautiful veranda overlooking the valley. We were truly welcomed and made to feel comfortable.

Another interesting note to the day…as I was leaving St. Jean Pied de Port I met 4 Americans starting out on the camino.

Me: Are you American?

Them: Yes

Me: Where are you from

One of them: Ohio

Me: Me too. Which town?

One of them: Dayton

Me: No way! I’m from Dayton

It turns out we all live with 20 miles of each other. Two were from Dayton and the other two were from Montana and Colorado.

It is truly a small world

Buen Camino

Published by michelleperram

I am me, a person with love for others, a passion to be creative, and a desire to be a cheerleader for others. I’m a wife, a mommy, and a grandma (you can call me by my grandma name “Lady M”). I’m on a search to grow and connect more fully with God. I didn’t grow up particularly church, married a man who had, and we raised our three daughters in the church. I found a place to belong in the church and somehow discerned a call to go to seminary. I received a Masters of Arts and Religious Communication (MARC). I went on to become ordained as a deacon in the United Methodist Church and served in media ministry and Christian education. As clergy I found that I didn’t have a place to belong in the church so I left the United Methodist Church in 2010. I still believe and I’m still on a quest to draw closer to God. And I’m going to walk the Camino de Santiago. View more posts