<html><head></head><BODY bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><p><font size=2 color="#000000" face="Charter BT"><br>Before starting my camino I visited with a friend of mine in southern France, and he cut a branch off of a cherry tree in his yard and gave it to me as a staff. It was straight and surdy, and it was about as tall as I am, and it had a diameter of about 1.5". I carried my cherry walking staff from SJPP across the mountains. It was especially useful on the next day, out of Roncesvalles, walking down hill. On the descending slope, I would position the stick downward, into a rock crevice, and then bring my foot down against the side of the staff. It was a secure way to descend the mountain.<br><br>At Los Arcos, I was given a bit of yellow 'crime scene' tape-ribbon to put onto my staff.<br><br>At the Ayuntamiento in Orbigo, where I went to get my credentials stamped, I mindlessly left my cherry stick behind and walked out of the office and onto the street and continued walking westward. A little while later, I looked behind and noticed a woman bicycling toward me, carrying a staff just like mine, yellow ribbon and all. I wondered, "Why does a woman on a bicycle need a walking staff?", and returned my gaze to the front. "Sen~or, Sen~or..." She had noticed that I had forgotten my staff, and she chased after me on her bike. I thanked her profusely, and like all of the wonderful people along the camino, the only payment that she demanded was in the currency of camino, "Give a hugg to the saint for me." Some time later, I did.<br><br>That cherry stick was my companion, and my sheathed sword against agressive dogs on the path. Its thunk, thunk was a mantra that kept me going at times. When I entered the great cathedral, it was with me, and it left with me.<br><br>I brought it home and it is now one of my treasured keepsakes from the camino (and the yellow ribbon from Los Arcos is still attached). I don't think I would feel the same way about a piece of telescoping techno-plastic from REI.<br><br>Paul Newfield (April 23, 1999 - May 26, 1999) (pcn01awebdsi.com)<br><http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~brasscannon><br><br>And hello to my friends out there...</p>
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