“Well the first days are the hardest don’t you worry any more”. Today was comparatively easy. We still have 450 miles to go. My son Jack works for Whoop a company dedicated to helping people live better lives through better health and life choices. It provides a ton of physiological data from a device you wear. One area of data is what they refer to as strain. They have many categories for recording strain, including walking and hiking. Which one is the Camino- a walk or a hike? The choice reminds me of a candy of my youth- Razzles. The ad campaign was 2 kids arguing, are Razzles candy or a gum? Baby Boomers should know what I’m talking about. To any kids reading this-Google or YouTube it. And of course, like Razzles, it’s BOTH. Again, heartfelt apologies for my lack of IT skills. When I try to add the video, nothing happens so I try again and again. Then at some point they all post either successfully or not. Bear with me. I won’t give up on either the Camino or the blog. Today we encountered two awe inspiring chapels, St. Stephen and Santa Lucia from the 12th and 13th century. Some pictures below. Santa Lucia is in need of serious repair but still quite inspiring. It’s architecture includes some pagan influences which the church often included at that time to ease pagan conversion to Catholicism. St. Stephen is in good shape and we were able to walk up to the bell tower, see shots below. I spent time in the church with memories of my mom and Father Bill King, a Jesuit teacher at Xavier who became a dear friend for life. Bill shaped my faith and converted it from Ian Anderson’s wind up model. My favorite part of today was walking with Carla holding hands on a beautiful, gentle stretch of the route with the warm sun slipping through a green canopy. Sorry guys, I’m not trying to be Alan Alda, it was just such a great feeling, the kind I hoped to experience on this journey.

Santa Lucia- a fort in the 12th century converted into a church in the 13th

My Camino passport. The last stamp came from Santa Lucia iglesia.

Saint Stephen church with bell tower

A place to rest on the Camino