Stirred the Soul

CAMINO STAGE 28: Fonsegrada to Baleira Camino Primitivo Route of El Camino De Santiago. 16 miles, Day 30, 7 days to go

“Rocks, wood and water, brooded the spirit of repose, and the silent energy of nature stirred the soul to its innermost depths.” Thomas Cole

Early this morning, as we stepped outside into the dawn, it felt like we stepped into a Hudson River School painting. This school of American artists painted nature and landscapes in “En plein air,” or outdoors, in the mid 1800s. Thomas Cole, spearheaded the movement. I’ve bumped into several of his paintings in the Thyssen-Bornemisza museum in Madrid, DC’s National Gallery of Art and NYC’s Metropolitan Museum. His paintings of the American wilderness show a time before industrialization, railroads and factories, and uninterrupted rural vistas. Galicia’s still and peaceful countryside would have inspired Cole.

“None know how often the hand of God is seen in a wilderness but them that rove it.” Thomas Cole

We tackled several of Galicia’s hilly mountains (thankfully not the ones that rise up 7,000 feet) on today’s Camino. While doing so we started noticing all these stone villages with slate roofs and one large rock balancing on all the edges. I learned the people of Galicia are known as the “Stone People” because they work(ed) with stone.

Rock village from the past

The only thing we knew about Galicia before the Camino was the people speak a language which is a combination of Portuguese and Spanish. We learned this by watching a thriller mystery series called Bitter Daisies (O sabor das margaridas ) on Netflix. The lead is a female detective trying to find her missing sister who disappeared in the town of Murias (just 30 miles from where the Camino trail lies). Galicia is a great setting for a mystery with the dark clouds, rain and unpopulated areas.

It was a brutal day on the feet. We bought inserts at a pharmacy yesterday but it made little difference. We heard from people walking a day or two before us that there were people crying on this leg from foot, knee and hip pain. Switchbacks are not a thing here and pilgrims go straight up and down on slippery, rocky trails.