Sunday 11 November 2018

Padron to Santiago ...

Well, that's Porto via Vigo completed in 6 days ... or 5 and a half, since the Cathedral arrives before 1 pm and just after the first rain since Padron ... forecast looking better for Finisterre next week ...

At 11 am on 11th day of 11th month, one hundred years after the end of the war to end all wars, an old Englishman and a young German agree not to kill each other ... seems easy enough walking along the parallel universe of the pilgrims, where killing each other is not at all the norm .... the question is: what brings us to such an act, forbidden in most religions and discouraged in any civilised society? Poppy wars raging on FB offer a clue ... declining to wear the symbol, supposed to represent the blood of Flanders and the determination to abandon war, hijacked by patriots offended by pacifism ... white poppy option only playing the game ... better ignore it, honour the dead by living in peace ... righteous anger and identification with nations soon followed by drums of war ... and on an on it goes ...

Rainy Santiago full of souvenir shops tempting tired pilgrims sharing their stories ... touched by the trip in this parallel universe ... meanwhile feet request special attention, having suffered in wet shoes for too long ... Farmacia not short of Compeed ... and Spain and Portugal not short of Farmacias come to that ... drug distribution systems, like money distribution systems through ATMs, very efficient ... imagine the organisation of delivering fresh paper cash every day to millions of machines around the world ... as the Greeks discovered the system has its dark side, when the cash dispensers can be turned off by shady financial powers ...

Fisterra last walked in two days, but three is better when feet want some respite ... maybe a short 20 to Negreira tomorrow ...

1 comment:

  1. Will your shoes burst into flames when you reach Finisterre, Steve?

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