Lone wolf

[George Greenia]

Not to make anyone apprehensive but I had the really delightful experience 
of crossing paths with a wolf on the Camino.  It was when we were biking 
from Paris to Santiago in June, 1998 and I was alone for the moment, Tom 
having fallen behind a couple of kilometers to take some photos of the 
Galician countryside just beyond Ligonde and heading north toward Vilar de 
Donas.  When it emerged from the underbrush and trotted across the road 
ahead of me, I thought it was just another of the large dogs the local 
farmers keep, but as I kept staring at the muzzle, lack of collar and lean 
look I was sure it was a wolf.  Looking pretty lean and dry myself from 
weeks of biking, it hardly gave me a sidelong glance before vanishing into 
a field of tall scrub.

I had pretty much talked myself out of having seen a real lupus ibericus 
until we visited a museum of natural history in Santiago and I unexpectedly 
crossed paths with a stuffed relative of my lone wolf, this time in a glass 
case.

That said, the native Galician wolf, the only species you'll ever run into 
on pilgrimage, is a very small wolf and as with most wild animals more 
scared of us that we are of them.  Wolves, bears, wild boars and even lions 
flourished along the Camino in medieval times but domestic dogs are the 
only thing to worry about now.  If your water bottle has a nozzle, squirt 
it into a barking dog's mouth; it will choke on the water but be otherwise 
unharmed and back off.

george


At 02:45 PM 09/16/2001 -0400, you wrote:
>Ida -  Definitely go.  I would not worry about terrorists in France or 
>Spain and the rail lines are safe.
>Rae - This is the first I heard of bears on the Camino. I never saw a wild 
>dog, snake or mosquito in the month I walked from SJPDP to Santiago. I was 
>worried about "wild dogs" after reading stories and hearing rumors.
>My advice is to put all your usual apprehensions about travel aside and 
>enjoy the experience spiritually and otherwise.  Yes, there are some 
>pretty wild, uninhabited areas along the way, but usually you are fairly 
>close to populated places and other pilgrims if you need help.  Howard Mendes


George D. Greenia, Editor, La corónica
Director, Program in Medieval & Renaissance Studies
Dept. of Modern Languages
College of William & Mary, PO Box 8795
Williamsburg, VA  23187-8795
gxgreeawm.edu
tel     757-2213676
fax     757-221-3637 
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