{"id":4404,"date":"2013-12-12T19:20:04","date_gmt":"2013-12-12T18:20:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.the-raft-of-corks.com\/blog\/?p=4404"},"modified":"2013-12-12T19:36:46","modified_gmt":"2013-12-12T18:36:46","slug":"rio-tera-valley-peace-camino-sanabres","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/the-raft-of-corks.com\/blog\/rio-tera-valley-peace-camino-sanabres\/","title":{"rendered":"Rio Tera, a valley of peace on the Camino Sanabr\u00e9s"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rio Tera, a valley of peace on the Camino Sanabr\u00e9s<\/strong><\/h1>\n
\"Rio<\/a>

Rio Tera<\/p><\/div>\n

On the Camino Sanabr\u00e9s before entering Galicia, through a labyrinth of mountains, the camino passes through the valley of the Rio Tera and alongside the Embalse de Cernadilla, which has been created by damming the river. \u00a0The pilgrim arrives first at Santa Croya de Tera with two albergues, one being private and with a good reputation. \u00a0I chose, though, to cross the river to Santa Marta de Tera where the local authority offer a basic room with beds and blankets and where I was alone. \u00a0In Santa Martathere \u00a0is a church with one of the oldest statues of St James, the pilgrim-apostle, outside the South porch.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The oldest statue of St. James as a pilgrim., Santa Marta de Tera.<\/p><\/div>\n

Another curiosity about this church is that on the spring and autumn equinox the sun enters the east window above the altar and falls directly upon a carving of the Virgin on one of the pillars. \u00a0I happened to be there on 20st March and, as I was leaving the albergue, people were heading for the Church and insisted I go with them to see this special event. \u00a0A small group watched in silence as the sun’s rays reliably, at 10 am on the dot, fully set light upon the statue. [10 am BST+1 in winter. \u00a0I have no idea why this should be significant] \u00a0I had slept well and alone in the municipal albergue so I expressed great wonder at this spectacle. It was followed by a Mass as the sun got on with its job of heading westwards, although I believe we now think it is we, on the earth, who move and not the sun. However, watching the sun’s rays climb up the pillar to the statue, I can forgive the architects for imagining otherwise and wonder how much worse off we would be if we still believed this.<\/p>\n

\"Spring<\/a>

Spring equinox, 2011, 10 am Santa Marta de Tera<\/p><\/div>\n

The valley is a gentle walk accompanied by the river. \u00a0Each day was crisp, dry and sunny like spring on the East coast of Scotland can be with some luck. \u00a0It was a joy to walk and my only care in the world was to avoid having to sleep in the same room as an Austrian man whose snoring had driven me to flit to the kitchen floor for the night in the albergue in Tabar\u00e1 two nights before. \u00a0He had stayed in the posh German run albergue in Santa Croya while I had continued to Santa Martha. \u00a0As always when we harbour fears we somehow engineer, by an as yet un-named subconscious strategy, to bring about exactly what we have been dreading. \u00a0 When I arrived at Rionegro del Puente on this uplifting equinox, Herr Gr\u00fcnter was already established in the albergue which has two rooms. \u00a0Even better, one was upstairs. \u00a0Delighted, I set up my sleeping bag in the empty upstairs room and showered. \u00a0When I returned from the bathroom my fellow pilgrim had decided to keep me company upstairs and had installed himself in a bed opposite mine. \u00a0“I don’t really like sleeping in these big rooms alone,” he said. \u00a0Feebly I replied, “I don’t mind.” \u00a0My intention was to convey that I don’t mind sleeping alone in an aircraft hangar. \u00a0I had utterly failed to convey that I minded very much. \u00a0The next day I bought some ear plugs.<\/p>\n

\"In<\/a>

In summer this must be a tourist spot. Rio Tera.<\/p><\/div>\n

This was the Camino on which I was learning about praying all the time<\/a>. \u00a0These days by the river Tera were ideal and, apart from my Austrian friend at night, were full of silence. \u00a0The camino was well-marked and easy to follow with snow capped mountains beckoning ahead. This business of praying all the time is about trying to focus constantly on the presence of God within. \u00a0The less I am carrying in terms of reactions such as resentments, or worries such as where I can buy some food or fears about not having a quiet night, the more empty I am. \u00a0Walking the Camino simplifies life to a few basics, and any problems I carry with me from the “world” in the first few days of a camino soon fade. Of course, thunderbolts happen, like Movistar phones me with threats for not paying them. \u00a0When I feel cheated by mobile phone companies I’m hardly empty enough to dwell on God’s presence within me. \u00a0Movistar and sorting my fight with them takes first place – until I can put it all in perspective.<\/p>\n

\"embalse<\/a>

embalse de Cernadilla, Sanabria<\/p><\/div>\n

The desire to pray constantly means working on perspective. \u00a0It amazes me how many day to day niggles are put into perspective by walking long distances immersed in the beauty of nature. \u00a0One of the most practical uses of religion is to help us stand back and see the trivia, that is most of life, with which we become obsessed. \u00a0The raw nature in which I can spend months on a Camino opens horizons one after the other. \u00a0Putting the trivia in its place gives me freedom for what is left. \u00a0What is there, mostly, is peace, love and light(ness). There is also the sigh<\/a>, compassion and a sense of unity with all creation. \u00a0All of this speaks of the divine within me. \u00a0My Catholicism gives me images, stories, poetry and music with which I can externalise my prayer so that I can connect with others who share the same religious\/cultural context, \u00a0It can be rich and colourful when God is present: when He is not there, there is anticipation of his return, trust, faith and waiting. Altogether, praying all the time is nearly possible and my first attempts have been helped by isolation in deserted places.<\/p>\n

\"Casas<\/a>

Casas en Entrepe\u00f1as.<\/p><\/div>\n

I was not to be spared distractions from prayer that evening. \u00a0My last night in this valley was spent in a brand new albergue in Asturianos which was attached to a brand new and huge sports pavillion<\/a> with seating for 250 and it’s own bar, all of which must serve the local population of 267 well, especially the 62% of them who have to make do on their pension. \u00a0They have the possibility of playing football, volleyball and basketball as well as pelota. \u00a0For the pilgrim, I felt that the double sized hydro-massage showers were more than we deserve: yet there were only three of these even though the albergue could accommodate six people. \u00a0What wonderful facilities Spain constructed for the few in such remote spots during its economic boom, the one before the economic BOOM!! \u00a0My thoughts overran my inner silence and kept returning to Spain’s massive public spending with a mixture of disbelief and scorn which could easily have become for me the pleasure of justified disgust at the comfort I was enjoying. \u00a0How much better it would have been to sleep under the stars had it not been for the generous heating in the bedroom and showers. \u00a0As if in compensation for my being distracted from my contemplative prayer, the albergue had been built \u00a0just far enough off the camino, and up a hill, to put off some pilgrims, which meant I was alone. \u00a0My Austrian friend must have found other company.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rio Tera, a valley of peace on the Camino Sanabr\u00e9s On the Camino Sanabr\u00e9s before entering Galicia, through a labyrinth of mountains, the camino passes through the valley of the Rio Tera and alongside the Embalse de Cernadilla, which has … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1466,3,8],"tags":[65,1459,1463,1464],"class_list":["post-4404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sanabres","category-pilgrimage-and-prayer","category-the-camino-de-santiago","tag-camino-sanabr","tag-rio-tera","tag-santa-croya","tag-santa-marta"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/the-raft-of-corks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4404","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/the-raft-of-corks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/the-raft-of-corks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/the-raft-of-corks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/the-raft-of-corks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4404"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/the-raft-of-corks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4404\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/the-raft-of-corks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/the-raft-of-corks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/the-raft-of-corks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}