(Sahagun to Reliegos: 30.8 km, 8 hours with 1 hr & 55 min breaks; 40,530 steps, plus 2240 later)

Luke 15:11-31
v. 20b “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.”

Shortly into our walk today we discovered we had miscalculated the milage. Instead of 23.9 kilometers to our planned stop it was closer to 31, a distance we never intended to walk in one day. And it wasn’t like we could stop sooner because we’d already sent our packs ahead to the selected town. Whoops. This would be a long walk, and on still-blistered feet. “We can do this,” we said to each other confidently. “We can do this.” Like prodigals returning from a far country we set off, praying that the Father would see us from “a long way off” and with compassion strengthen us all the way in. And he did.  With his gifts of grapes, potato chips, a perfect picnic spot, a ripe peach, we walked through all those kilometers and were home before we knew it. Thank you, Lord, for your great compassion for your wandering children. Thank you for meeting us right where we need it.

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We ate breakfast in our room, yogurt and juice boxes from the grocery store and delicious pastries I bought yesterday made by the bakery lady’s sister–pastry squares with the sides folded in to contain the custard and fruit. At 8:10 we posed by yet another sign saying it was the center of the Camino.

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Morning in Calzadilla

(Calzadilla de la Cueza to Sahagun: 22.5 km, 6 3/4 hours with 1.7 hours breaks; 32,179 steps, plus 5260 later)

Luke 10:1-12
v. 4 Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road.

Jesus had a mission for his disciples and instructions for how to go about it. Two things he said were: Travel light. Don’t get distracted by other offers along the way. These are good rules for us too. Everything you put in your pack weighs something and you have to carry it. Are you sure you need it? Even now we have a few more things we might send to Chris. And the artistic treasures along the way are a distraction to me. If we just stayed until this opens again, if we walked another kilometer or two over that way…. Maurice wisely tells me that if we look at everything we will never get to Santiago. Maybe that’s one reason Jesus sent his disciples two by two (v. 1): When one was tempted to go off track, the other could bring him back. This is wisdom for the rest of life too. Lord, show us what it means to travel light in life. Keep us from distractions that would compromise our mission.

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We were up by six, ate the tiny breakfast we had bought at a grocery store and left town by eight, last except for the South Korean men, one of whose poles were missing. I was back to wearing my old left shoe again; it’s a little tighter on the toes but the heel seems to be a better fit. The shoes are so dusty it is not immediately apparent they don’t match. The German guy from last night who didn’t approve of pack transport was just ahead of us; he had stayed in a private room above the restaurant. Pack transport, private room–we all have our own rules (and we’ll take some of each from time to time). It was 46 degrees but we were cozy in our gloves and new fleece pullovers. My knees were cold, though, taking me back to junior high days of miniskirts and knee-highs when we worried that extra insulation would develop around our exposed joints and we would have fat knees. We were on a nice path through a little gap; the surrounding horizon of purple, pink and yellow faded by the minute. Keep reading