Thursday, 26 September 2013

The team-Delphine on left, Fernande is her pal




Hi, me again. Know I’ve only just popped into your inbox but wanted to share a special evening with you. It was my last supper at the Refuge Kaserna, great hilarity as there was a really good crowd- mixed ages and unusually a number of English speakers as well as French. Then two people walked in through the French doors and were welcomed with open arms by Delphine, the current hospitallier.

It was a girl and her husband from Costa Rica just arrived in town. It transpired that six years ago the girls father and uncle set off on Camino from St Jean Pied de Port- an hour into the walk her father dropped to his knees and died on the road from a heart attack. His brother was understandably shell shocked so Delphine took him into her home and looked after him for the 8 days it took to make all the arrangements. And now his daughter and her husband arrived to make their Camino in his memory. This morning Delphine took them to the spot where he died -

 I feel that it has been a privilege to have met them and the other extraordinary people I’ve met, too many to mention but who will stay in my memory for a long time -  the 86 year old French man who recently arrived from Vezelay –  what drove him on, what drives any of them? I guess we’ll never know.

So I’m off today, feels the right time to be going, the next stage of my journey- nervous anticipation as I don’t speak Spanish but exciting to think of all the exciting new experiences waiting for me.

 
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