Walking in Water – The Portuguese Way to Santiago by the Coast (1).
In the rain the entire path turned into a river, each day for 11 days.
Gathering storms
On February 5th, I arrived on a more than punctual Ryanair flight in Oporto airport, relieved that nobody had questioned my walking stick as a dangerous item to have in the cabin. The Atlantic coast was warmer than Madrid but the forecast for the next 10 days was for almost continuous rain and storms. I had seriously considered abandoning the flight and heading instead for Almeria where sun and daily temperatures of mid-twenties promised more comfort. However, I felt drawn once again to the Atlantic which holds a primitive allure for me and stormy weather has its own attraction. Three deep depressions, headed for the UK, promised to batter Galicia in the following few days, and they duly did.
Cabo Silleiro, near Baiona, with a storm just about to lash down.
Total Trust.
My Caminos have been leading me to plan less and to trust more that we are like birds of the air and lilies of the field. As I set off, after taking a tram from the airport to Villa da Conde, right on the Camino por la Costa, the rain began. I nipped into an old-looking bar to change my gear because I always prefer older bars. Moreover, I was beginning to sweat with all the layers I had on to protect me from the Madrid cold when I left the house at 6 am. The wind was from the south and quite warm.
Pastelaria Serra, Povoa de Varzim
Total trust is about letting go of anxieties and above all the desire to control events. I am probably attracted to this act of surrender to Providence because I recognise that a lifetime of efforts to control, manipulate and bully the world to accommodate me has generally been ineffective, if not, at times, disastrous. Failure is a great teacher and after 65 years I am slowly learning that trusting in the greater powers of the Universe (Nature, God, Destiny, Providence – the name hardly matters) is a better bet.
Total Trust and Value Added Tax
I’ve not always been a great champion of VAT. I noticed in this little bar full of interesting cases of Port, Madeira and Vinho Verde, piled high, that the bill was a proper VAT receipt.
In crisis-hit Mediterranean countries there are few citizens who don’t dabble from time to time in tax evasion and VAT tops the list of easily avoidable taxes. As the days passed walking in solitude and contemplation, my heart seems to open and fill with compassion, even a universal compassion and love, for all the earth and for everyone, my family and friends, for those I meet on the way and for past acquaintances: a love which extends seemlessly to all humanity. I find myself full of wonder at all the ways human beings collaborate and cooperate, with compassion and goodness, echoing the prayer of the Iona Community,
“With people everywhere, we affirm God’s goodness at the heart of humanity, planted more deeply than all that is wrong.”
The toxicity of the daily news, which overlooks nearly all human goodness and dwells mostly on violence, corruption and greed, fades away and I begin to rejoice in all that we, humans, are managing to do for each other. Light shines on the works, great and small, which proclaim God’s goodness at the heart of humanity and I see with clarity the astonishing goodness of most of our politicians of all hues and civil-servants who strive to alleviate human suffering, who have the task of using the money they take from us to provide for the old, the unemployed, the young, the ill and the fit and healthy and to balance the interests of businesses which provide employment and pay taxes, too, with the needs of citizens.
Taxes have leakage but most taxes end up for the common good like this walkway by the Coast in Povoa de Varzim
Setting off on a Camino is an opportunity to make an act of trust. I have been learning that trust is not an act of will so much as a passing beyond the noises of the daily world, echoing my desire to control, into a space of silence. Trust needs this space to be empty of the resentment, anger and cynicism which can invade me when the news selects story after story of greed, corruption and oppression interspersed with violence. Walking long distances is very emptying of these poisons. Trust also means diving into the depth of this clean space and bottomless emptiness. As my focus shifts from corruption and greed and tales of money mis-spent, I perceive an opening in the clouds and light shines on how much, much more we invest creatively for schools and hospitals, parks and transport systems, even for cycle paths than the greedy few siphon off for themselves. As the huge power of nature became manifest in the sea and the winds battering the Atlantic coast of Portugal, in the torrents of water turning kilometres of paths into rivers, I could feel, too, the tremendous energy of human goodness which goes unnoticed and is directed to helping those who are in need. I resolved to be a committed VAT payer. Until now I’ve been pretty assiduous in avoiding it when possible.
Walking in Water.
After unsuccessfully trying to skirt round puddles I recognised that it would be safer to convert my trousers into shorts and begin wading.
No other option.
Many of the puddles were long and fairly deep. All were muddy on one stretch. Discomfort is normal on the Camino so I was resigned to wet feet. As I began finding footholds and testing depth with my stick, I noticed that the arthritis which troubles my left ankle was greatly eased by walking through cold water. Looking back on eleven days of walking in water I am grateful for eleven days of rain and for all the pain-free steps I had whenever I had to walk in water.
Typical puddle: a remedy for arthritis.
I arrived on the first night of this Camino, launched. In Marinhas, as darkness fell and I had walked the last few kilometres perilously along the busy National 13, I hobbled into the Red Cross centre to be welcomed by a cheery trio of young volunteers who guided me to their albergue. I had walked in water in trust, surrender, emptiness and in silence through the beginning of the first great storm on this Camino. And somehow, what I was marvelling at was God’s goodness at the heart of humanity. Moreover I had resolved that the next time I was offered a service with a special price for paying in cash I’d opt for the price with the VAT receipt just like in the old bar in Povoa da Varzim. There is no logic when we are in Gods’ hands.