[Gocamino] Difficult Day
Rosina
blaroli at aol.com
Sat Apr 18 07:49:36 PDT 2009
Shoot!
I wish I had been there.
Nothing physically hard, interesting, challenging or exciting has ever happened to me or others in my four Caminos.
Spiritual upheaval yes.... but outwards, nothing.
How very life-enlarging it must be to have such challenges and survive them.
Hugs to all!
Rosina
-----Original Message-----
From: Sil <sillydoll at gmail.com>
To: Charles O'Brien <chasobrien at gmail.com>
Cc: gocamino at oakapple.net; hme347 at aol.com; peregrino_05 at hotmail.com
Sent: Sat, 18 Apr 2009 10:11 am
Subject: Re: [Gocamino] Difficult Day
At a CSJ of RSA meeting in early March I suggested to a wanna-be pilgrim
hat she wait until May, rather than risk walking from 19th March. Ha!
hey had 16 straight days of sunshine in March and very little rain.
he weather is just soooo... unpredictable. Who'd have thought snow storms
nd blizzards in October - and near the end of April.
il
009/4/18 Charles O'Brien <chasobrien at gmail.com>
> I'm truly torn on this issue. I admire the sense of adventure that gets a
few of us to drop our remote controls, lift our flabby cabooses off the
couch and actually do something physically arduous with an element of
risk. I've walked the Camino in my 50s and 60s [once when 100 pounds
overweight] and if that's not stupid enough, I continue to road bike in a
state where motorists see bicyclists as acceptable targets, much like
prairie dogs.
That being said, when these adventurous types--I repeat, whom I
admire--misstep, misjudge, or just do something just plain foolish, t
o whom
do they turn? Who bails them out? The Ski Patrol, Sheriff's Posse
Volunteers, Mountain Rescue, or in this case, SOS Navarre and Navarre Agency
Emergency personnel. Now other men and women must put themselves in danger
to save them. Stepping out of bounds with one's own life is one thing,
playing at 'Blanche DuBois" is something else again. as I said, I'm torn. Oh
well . . .
Sitting here in my warm home, drinking hot coffee while cold rain falls
outside, I wish Glenn all the luck in the world. Buen Camino.
On Sat, Apr 18, 2009 at 7:21 AM, <hme347 at aol.com> wrote:
> Don't these pilgrims check weather reports or talk to locals before they
> attempt such a treacherous journey? Again, why do they insist on going this
> time of year? It's like driving a car after drinking alcohol.
>
>
>
> Howard Mendes, NYC
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Sil <sillydoll at gmail.com>
> To: Glenn Jilek <peregrino_05 at hotmail.com>; Gocamino <
> gocamino at oakapple.net>
> Sent: Sat, 18 Apr 2009 7:57 am
> Subject: Re: [Gocamino] Difficult Day
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Glen - 8 pilgrims were rescued in one day.
> http://www.diariode navarra.es/ <http://www.diariodenavarra.es/> reports:
>
> Troops of the Fire Service of the Government of Navarre rescued eight
> Camino
> de Santiago pilgrims this afternoon near Roncesvalles who were in
> difficulties because of intense storms occurring during the whole day in
> the
> Pyrenees of Navarre.
> The rescues were carried out in three=2
0different incidents, because when
> the
> first troops were rescuing a pilgrim of 45 years, they were asked by
> another
> pilgrim to help three other companions who were about 4 miles from
> Roncesvalles and showed signs of exhaustion and mild hypothermia.
>
> Then, at about 18.16 pm, the Fire Service was called out to help four
> French
> pilgrims who had lost their way on the same route.
>
> The SOS Room 112, Navarre received the first call at 14.51 hours about a
> pilgrim of 45 years who was about 3.6 kilometers from the Collegiate
> Church
> of Roncesvalles and could not continue his way because he suffered cramps
> in
> his legs. At 15.51 hours the troops mobilized located him and moved him to
> a
>
> hostel in Roncesvalles.
>
> An hour later, when the troops returned to their headquarters they were
> alerted that three other pilgrims were also in distress and disoriented.
> They were located in Burguett at 1720 hours and moved to the hostel where
> they would spend the night.
>
> Finally, at 18.16 hours, four French camino pilgrims requested assistance
> of
> the SOS Navarre and Navarre Agency Emergency personnel moved back to Park
> Burguete and its location for later recovery.
>
> Not a good time to be on el camino!
> Sil
> 2009/4/17 Glenn Jilek <peregrino_05 at hotmail.com>
>
> >
> > From: peregrino_05 at hotmail.com
> > To: ramirez_amor at hotmail.com; chascingold at aol.com;
> > blicbliketybloch at yahoo.com; maritjanse at aol.com; e.vrijer at chello.nl;
> > ebsweetfire at gmail.com; glkubala at prodigy.com;
>
elizabethpeulen at hotmail.com;
> > guha2005 at hotmail.com; gregory.rawlings at fhwa.dot.gov;
> jollyczar at gmail.com;
> > cstohs at windstream.net; daroczia at hotmail.com; peredamontero at yahoo.com;
> > g.janse at kpnplanet.nl; rjilek at aol.com; jose.sepulveda at insightbb.com;
> > szonyikatalin at t-online.hu; ushaluna at hotmail.com; mudworks at insightbb.com
> ;
> > betsy.cupp at ky.gov; daszenka at yahoo.com; gjohnson1940 at yahoo.com;
> > h.reither at t-online.de; palomapedraza at yahoo.com; wesrita at comcast.net;
> > m.carlshields at insightbb.com; jessicavillalobos at yahoo.com;
> > brentsweger at yahoo.com; l.spenser at insightbb.com; roachie_76 at hotmail.com;
> > katherinewatkins at alumni.pitt.edu; bbarbera at lexmark.com; vpopera at aol.com
> ;
> > jimpierce6 at yahoo.com; bbbramlett at aol.com; david.gordon at insightbb.com;
> > pieterpannevis at gmx.net; judithamtmann at verizon.com; chawla393 at aol.com;
> > rosborne at roadrunner.com
> > Subject: Difficult Day
> > Date: Thu, 16 Apr 2009 13:54:45 -0400
> >
> >
> >
> > I had one hell of a=2
> 0day yesterday!!!!
>
> >
> > I arrived in Jaca by bus from Pamplona and settled in for the night in a
> > very nice refugio. I met two Germans who grew up in Spain. They came
> here
> > two weeks ago to walk, but found that Somport, the starting place higher
> up
> > in the Pyrenees, was snowed in. So they started at the nearest village
> > about 6 km below. They returned to Jaca and wanted to do that section
> to
> > complete the Camino Aragon. That night there was thunder, lightning and
> > pouring rain. They said that probably that meant snow in the upper
> > altitudes, but we all made it to the
lower village. There we met a
> Spaniard
> > and a Frenchman who also wanted to go to Somport. When the bus came to
> take
> > us up, the driver said that there was much snow and the Germans dropped
> out.
> > We decided to see for ourselves. Yes, the driver was correct...in fact
> a
> > blizzard was still going on. The Frenchman took a bus back, but the
> > Spaniard, with more grey hair than I and mischievious eyes said "Let´s
> try".
> > He bought me a cup of coffee, and somehow I saw some wisdom in his eyes
> and
> > decided to trust his judgement.
> > We left and started walking but there were about 6-8 inches (16cm) of
> new
> > wet snow. We could not even see the path, so walked the road down.
> There
> > were few cars to dodge, and it was only a bit tense when the snowplows
> came
> > by. I took a couple of Photos but not more because of the wind and
> snow.
> > It
> was really beautiful when you could raise your head to look. It was a
> > very steep decline so gravity helped us down. It took a bit less than 2
> > hours with some stops to talk about the sites and try to photograph
> them.
> > The Spaniard, Jose, had left a bicycle at the hotel at the village
> Canfranc
> > Estacion and would continue on by bike. Canfranc Estacion, he told me,
> was
> > used in the filming of Dr Zhivago, and is a grandiose trainstation of
> the
> > early 1900´s. I continued by myself.
The snow had become just cold
> rain.
> > The path was a still very steep downhill trek made of rocks of various
> > sizes from pebbles to small boulders. This made it very difficult to
> keep
> > your balance, especially since the rain and runoff from the tops of the
> > mountains turned some stretches into little streams of water. My ankles
> > would be going one way, my knees another, and my hips still a different
> > direction to keep balance. Along with this being my first day of
> walking, I
> > was quickly becoming very tired and hurting a bit. I knew I would not
> be
> > able to make it back to Jaca, and saw that there were accommodations in
> > Villanúa. This meant only 16 km that day, but they were strenuous ones.
> > Just as I got to the town, the temperature dropped, and a strong wind
> came
> > up. Then it began to hail...pea sized hail. To my dismay, I found the
> > first Refugio closed...and the second...and to my horror the only hostel
> in
> > town was=2
> 0closed. I stopped in a bar and asked about a place to stay and
> > they told me of some hotels on the main highway. By this time the hail
> was
> > thickly frozen on my hat causing the brim to droop. I walked on to the
> > highway. Then I saw a door open and a repairman was there talking to a
> lady
> > (Isabel). I went up to them and told them of my situation. The lady
> > invited me in, perhaps the frozen20look of desparation spured her
> compassion.
> > She and her husband (Felix)from Logroño were there on holiday. They
> made
> > me hot tea and he phoned around to find that even the hotels on the
> highway
> > were closed. He explained that the last day of ski season was Easter
> and
> > that was probably the reason that everything was closed. It didn´t
> explain
> > the refugios being closed...but then there were obviously not many
> > "pilgrims" around. After sitting and warming up and getting refreshed.
> > The weather had cleared up a bit, and Felix called the next village,
> > Castillo de Jaca, and secured a room for me. Any room would have done,
> but
> > this one had a tub...a rare and welcomed feature during my time in
> Spain. I
> > soaked for a half hour. What a delight!!!!
> >
> > All emotions that I experience here on the Camino, are more intense than
> > normal. This is especially true when I experience these random acts of
> > kindness like I did from Felix and Isabel. There seem to be a lot of
> > mysteries on the Camino, and one is tuned to
> interpret them mystically. I
> > chose to think that the hardships of that day set me up to have the peak
> > experience of the kindness shown to me by these two EX-strangers. That
> is
> > what I will take back with me from this difficult day. That is what
> will
> > remain in my heart forever.
> >
> >
> >
> > Glenn
> >
>20>
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Windows Live™: Life without walls. Check it out.
> >
> > _________________________________________________________________
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> >
> >
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>
>
>
> --
> Sil
> http://amawalker.blogspot.com/
> www.vfpilgrims.blogspot.com
> www.csjofsa.org.za
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-
il
ttp://amawalker.blogspot.com/
ww.vfpilgrims.blogspot.com
ww.csjofsa.org.za
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