Camino Day 8: Los Arcos - Logroño (16/03/15) Part I

The previous day we had walked 19km in 6 hours and 20 minutes. The next two days would involve longer walks of 28.6 km and 30.1 km respectively.

I had slept well, but had woken up in the early hours with the vivid thought as I lay in my bunk that just as the Camino occasionally intersects with “normal roads and then branches off them again, so God wants me to journey with him along his paths in my life and not follow the “normal” paths others expect me to follow. I am to follow the path he has called me to…

The Hermitage of San Blas

We left Los Arcos as the church bell tower was striking 8am and ascending a slight incline, reached the chapel of San Blas. It is noteworthy how many little hermitages such as this, that one passes on the Camino and it is interesting to think of the many hermits and anchorites that must have lived in such places dispensing their spiritual “wisdom” to medieval pilgrims in times past, making a pilgrimage to Santiago quite a much more religious journey than the more secular one people experience today. The chapels are mostly locked and silent now and devoid of life, but bear testimony to a very different sort of pilgrim past.


David stopped to re-arrange the water bladder in his rucksack and I walked on to have a little time alone. We had already agreed previously, that at times we would walk separately so that we could spend time praying, worshipping or just reflecting. David was also using his time alone to memorise Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. The landscape opened up into wide fields and vineyards speckled with more wildflowers and almond blossom and although the wind was bracingly cold, I took the opportunity to sing some worship songs and pray for my mum who was having an operation on a torn ligament in her shoulder that morning and for a friend who was experiencing emotional and spiritual difficulties. Small birds piped from the bushes and the time passed pleasantly as I took a turn to the right past a little square stone structure which was perhaps another hermitage?

 Soon enough David had caught up with me as I stopped to examine more wildflowers and we approached the village of Sansol, named after a Christian martyr from Cordoba. Ahead of us as we walked up to the village was another of the Korean ladies and what amazed us about all the Korean women we saw was that they were walking the Camino in flip-flops which we felt could not be a good idea due to friction blisters and the lack of protection for the feet? Nonetheless, none of the Korean women seemed to be experiencing any particular foot problems!

Approaching Sansol

At Sansol we found a little café cum hardware store which seemed to sell everything from scallop shells to pliers, and we had coffee and plum cake. Richard the Anaesthetist and a young French guy called Louis arrived as we were leaving and walking up to the village church, where from the terrace in front of the church portal there was a fine view down into the valley of the next village of Torres del Rio.

David outside café at Sansol

Returning to the walk we passed two middle-aged pilgrims descending towards Torres holding hands and carrying matching rucksacks with their names printed on the back. We saluted them and commented on how very romantic the scene was!

View of Torres Del Rio from Sansol

I was excited to reach Torres del Rio because in the village is one of the most unusual churches on the entire Camino Francés – the 12^th century octagonal Romanesque church of the Holy Sepulchre. Similar to the one I saw at Eunate, this one to my mind is even more architecturally delightful because the central octagon is crowned by a lantern over the main cupola, with a cylindrical staircase on one side and a semi-circular apse on the other.

Looking back at Sansol Church from Torres Del Rio

The origins of Iglesia de Santo Sepulcro are obscure; it may have been linked with the Knights Templar, as octagonal churches based on the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem are often linked with the Order and the exoticism of such churches is sometimes (probably wrongly) linked with the Templar’s demise. Other historians think that the church was built as a mortuary chapel for the burial of pilgrims; medieval burials have been excavated in front of the church where there was once a graveyard and the lantern may have acted as a beacon for bringing bodies from the surrounding landscape at night.

Iglesia Santo Sepulcro

A guardian sat at the door and stepping inside to have my credencial stamped was a wonderful experience. Above me was the wonderful lofty cross-ribbed vault which forms an eight sided star and is said to be emblematic of the Knights Templar. The extraordinarily complex design is Arabic in origin and owes much to similar vaults found in the architecture of the Islamic Caliphate of Medieval Cordoba. The names of some of the disciples were inscribed on the vault, a 13^th century crucifix hung in the apse and there was richly embellished carvings on the pillar capitals.

I spent a long time sitting in silence, tracing the ribs on the vault and listening to pigeons cooing. My reflections were abruptly brought back to the present when a friend of the guardian’s suddenly poked her head in the door and bellowed “BUENAS DIAZ!” at her friend and then looked sheepish when she saw me!

Returning outside I noted some inscriptions in the ancient stonework. David was sitting on a low wall and suggested we read the two Psalms of Ascents allotted for the day. How surprised I was and how appropriate it seemed then, given the architectural connection of Santo Sepulcro with Jerusalem to read:

“I rejoiced with those who said to me,

“Let us go to the house of the Lord.”

Our feet are standing in your gates, Jerusalem.

Jerusalem is built like a city that is closely compacted together”

In that moment it seemed like the compacted little village of Torres del Rio with it’s marvellous little temple stood symbolically in for Jerusalem and it’s ancient Temple and for a moment as Psalm 123 begins, we lifted up our eyes to Him.

Leaving Torres, David walked on ahead whilst I lingered to take a last look at Santo Sepulcro and then walking on I was delighted to find on a grassy embankment a stand of delicate Sombre or Dark Bee Orchids - Ophrys fusca. I kneeled carefully on the ground to photograph them and enjoy them close up. This was nature’s mimicry at it’s best. Orchids do not reward visiting insects to their flowers with nectar – it’s all take and no give with them! In this case the velvety deep red-brown flowers of the orchid stand out against the light green of the rest of the plant and resemble the rear end of a female bumble bee – right down to markings on the flower that look like wing tips and the female bee’s rear legs. The hapless male bumble flies in excitedly to copulate with what he thinks is a suitable female who has her head stuck in a flower, but all he gets for his trouble is a back full of pollen ready to fertilise another orchid as he tries again on the next flower!

Sombre Bee Orchid

I was lying on the ground when Richard appeared wondering what I was doing. I pointed out the orchids and he was surprised to hear that there were ground orchids in Europe. Richard was walking fairly slowly as his legs were giving him a lot of trouble and this was the last time we saw him as he apparently stopped for the night at Viana.

Hermitage of Nuestra Señora del Poyo

I caught up with David and we ascended the 570M hill of Nuestra Señora del Poyo. Poyo in Spanish means raised platform or podium and at it’s summit was another hermitage after which the hill is named. Beyond this the Camino descended steeply down a ravine picturesquely called Barranco Mataburros – the Mule-killer ravine!

Church of Santa Maria, Viana

Louis the young Frenchman who had been walking with Richard, caught up with us. He told us he was 18, from Clermont Ferrand in the Massif Central and had already walked 800 km with a 20kg pack to get this far! He hoped to walk home again too after reaching Finisterre! Although his English was not great we enjoyed talking to him and to him and he asked us about our professions and why we were walking the Camino and we explained that we were Christians. It is always interesting to hear the reasons why people walk the Camino and what was clear was that Louis had some deep family hurts in his life but was walking the Camino to face and work through them. David and I were impressed with his courage and willingness to confront his hurts. Eventually Louis stopped to have his lunch and we went on, wishing him well as we had not brought a picnic ourselves and needed to find lunch. We took the time to pray for him as we walked.

Recessed Doorway of Church

By the time we reached Viana, a lively town of about 3,600, we were ravenous and dived into a bar opposite the church portal for pintxos. As usual, the bar looked closed outside and was dead inside with only a meagre selection of pintxos, but no sooner had we ordered and started gulping and guzzling our food and vino tinto, when rent-a-crowd arrived again. The bar filled up, the selection of pintxos increased exponentially and we sampled more food and wine!

Thus fortified, we were able to take a quick look at Viana. In 1423 Charles III had founded the Principality of Viana and made it a property of the heir to the throne of Navarre. Surrounded by imposing town walls and old large townhouses the town was lively and impressive.

Portal of San Pedro

The church was closed but featured an elaborate recessed doorway and in front of it, under a slab on the ground, lies the grave of the infamous Cesare Borgia. He was the illegitimate son of Pope Alexander VI, the first person in history to resign as a cardinal, a mercenary soldier, he eventually fell foul of Alexander’s successor Pope Julius II who exiled him to Spain where he was killed in battle near Viana at Mendavia in 1507. An elaborate tomb was built for him inside the church but this was vandalised in the 17^th century and he was re-interred outside the church in front of the porch. Some say that he was the model used by Leonardo Da Vinci for the face of Christ which became the classic way Christ was portrayed in Renaissance paintings!

Surviving fresco in San Pedro

Further down the town we examined the ruins of the once impressive 14^th century church of San Pedro where surviving fragments of fresco and a ruined rose window hinted at it’s former splendour. Why it lies in ruins was unclear to us – was it war or neglect?

Ruined nave of San Pedro

Hyper-listening

Since I returned from my last trip on the Camino in September I have been musing about it’s role and significance in my life. This has had an increased importance as I prepare physically, psychologically and spiritually for the next section in March. What am I walking the Camino for? What am I getting out of it? What value does it have for me?

As a committed Bible-believing Christian it is certainly not for the traditional Catholic reasons; I know that I cannot earn points with God or have a portion of my sins wiped out by going on pilgrimage. Jesus makes it abundantly clear in the gospels that the “scandal” of the gospel is that all we have to do is surrender our lives to him and believe in faith that through his death and resurrection all the wrong things we have done in our life are forgiven and they will be – I know that peace and assurance in my own life and I know nothing I can do additional to what happened on the Cross will ever impress God. No, I just have to accept Jesus’ death as being everything I need to have right standing with God. So, given that, what value does walking the Camino have?

I think I got an answer recently as I watched a BBC TV programme called “Secrets of the Castle”. Three archaeologists Ruth Goodman, Peter Ginn and Tom Pinfold spent six months working at the largest archaeology experiment in the world; in the forests of Burgundy in France, archaeologists are painstakingly building a medieval castle, Chateau de Guedelon using 13^th Century techniques. The whole project will take about 25 years and the castle is half way through it’s construction!

I am always on the lookout for any references to the Camino on TV and in the final episode Ruth Goodman visited the Benedictine Basilica of Sainte-Marie-Madeleine in Vezelay in Northern Burgundy. The Cathedral was the starting point of the Chemin de Vezelay which ran 900km to join the Chemin de Paris and the Chemin de Puy at St Jean Pied De Port. Medieval pilgrims coming from Maastricht, Aachen, Namur and Auxerre all passed through the city.

Ruth Goodman examined the extraordinary Romanesque sculpture on the Tympanum and lintel above the main portal of the church with another historian, who pointed out the bizzarre figures in the far right corner of the lintel; they have enormous elephant – like ears! Although there is some debate concerning their meaning it is generally thought that the large ears refer to the opening lines of the 6^th Century Rule of St Benedict of Nursia which says

“Listen, my son, to the master’s instructions, and attend to them with the ear of your heart”

The bible also says the same thing – for example in Proverbs 23:12, where it says:

“Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to words of knowledge”.

It is not enough to hear with our physical ears, we also need to listen spiritually to God with our hearts. For example, sometimes my wife says something to me while I am also watching TV or busy on the computer and I hear her, but I am not actually listening and couldn't tell you a word she said! So often in the busy-ness of our personal prayer times, where we bring our lists of things to God, or in the midst of our hectic busy church meetings, we claim to hear God speak, but aren't really listening.

In the New Testament, the original Greek uses a word to express this idea – Hupakouo which means to hyper-listen like a porter at a door, but it also carries with it the meaning of not just hearing a command but being responsive and being obedient to it. The porter had to not just hear his master when he knocked at the door but also open it to let him in. So, Jesus says in Revelation 3:20:

“I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me”

The main difference between Christian meditation and the Eastern forms so popular in Western Society nowadays is that apart from the fact that Christians fill their minds with God’s word, whereas in eastern mysticism the mind is emptied, the main aim of Christian Meditation is not for unity with an amoral cosmic consciousness, but so that we can hear God, (who loves us and longs to have relationship and intimacy with us) more clearly and then respond and obey what he says to us.

That for me personally, is the real purpose of the Camino; modern life is full of noise and it can be hard not only to hear God but listen to what he says. Taking time out of normal life to walk and experience solitude allows me to hyper-listen and hopefully let Jesus deeper and deeper into my heart.

The Valley of Baka

Psalm 84:5-7 NIVUK

"Blessed are those whose strength is in you, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage. As they pass through the Valley of Baka, they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover it with pools. They go from strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion".

I love these verses because they remind me that even if we have to travel through hard places spiritually, emotionally or physically, (one translation of Baka is weeping) if our hearts are set on following after God, they can be turned into places of blessing, refreshment and personal growth.