Today we started a new camino.

Our old friendly camino is finished, gone, just a memory. Today we walked alone, strangers among over 500. Where are all the familiar faces?

Tom and Eileen we haven’t seen for two weeks, Roger and Bryony for ten days, Victoria and Craig for a week, Janie for a few days, Trish finished in Sarria. Helen, Carolyn, John, Alison, Vee, Jackie and Peter all have a rest day in Sarria and we won’t see them until Santiago. The path and the cafes are full of people and they are all strangers.

The path was very crowded for the first hour with groups of eager, chatty, even singing pilgrims. We decided there are some tell tale signs to distinguish the newbies from the seasoned :

Their John Brierley guide books are clean and tidy. Ours are tatty, ripped, dog eared and held together with tape.

They smell like they have come from a perfumery, we smell like we slept in a barn.

Their shoes are pristine, not a speck of cow dung, ours are muddy, scruffy, half worn out and reek of something dead and rotting.

They wear white tee shirts that are spotless and still have the fold creases in them, ours are raggy, shapeless, stained, soon to be binned.

They are well groomed and have neat hair, we are in desperate need of a haircut.

They don’t limp, they haven’t suffered. Yet!

They walk too fast, they haven’t settled into the Camino shuffle.

Their outfits are all matchy and colour co-ordinated. Don’t they know your least dirty top goes perfectly well with your least dirty pants.

Their legs are a uniform colour, not deeply tanned on the back and pearly white on the front.

They twirl their walking poles like cheerleaders ‘ batons. They don’t wearily lean on them dragging their feet.

They are noisy and talk, talk, talk. They will learn that after 30 days everything you could possibly want to say to your partner has already been said – many times.

John Brierley, whose knowledge and wisdom of the Camino is second only to God, has warned us :

“Note for seasoned pilgrims: beware of signs of irritation at the intrusion on ‘my’ camino – remember that many of the new arrivals may be nervous starting out and the last thing they need is aloofness built on a false sense of superiority. A loving pilgrim welcomes all they meet along the path with an open mind and an open heart… without judgement”.

I must go within myself and find some humility and piety. It will be buried very, very deep and may take some time to find. I remember our first day. We were so excited, nervous, hyped up, keen to get going. To see this again in others is lovely.

But they are carrying so little. Not even a day pack. And there is a huge blue coach parked in a farm lane. It has just done a 27 point turn in a tiny farm yard.

We walked and talked with two irish girls, they were about 18 or 19. They were very friendly and excited and had just started today. They asked where we started and couldn’t believe this was our thirtieth day. I nearly said when we started we were just as young looking as they are, but I didn’t want to scare them.

Two other changes on the Camino. The kitsch level has gone up about ten fold. Shops selling all the rubbish you can imagine. There was a little of this before but now at times it is in your face and you almost have to step over it to go on your way.

The other is the prices seem to be increasing. There is a buck to be made and that’s okay. The Camino is a wonderful experience and we are happy to support the Spanish economy.

The new pilgrims today would have had a wonderful introduction. Gently rolling hills slowly climbing until a drop into a river valley. A patchwork of green fields, narrow lanes between stone fences or rows of brambles. The smells and deposits of the dairy industry. Heh, heh, those pristine shoes didn’t last long!

Ipod theme tune for today: Old Friends/bookends by Paul Simon

Old friends
Old friends
Sat on the park bench like bookends
A newspaper blowin through grass
Falls on the round toes
Of the high shoes
Of the old friends.