John Meyer Books
Camino de Santiago Stage #3
“The Background”
Once again, buen Camino! As you’re reading this post, I’m currently walking across Spain on the Camino de Santiago. Here’s another mention of it in “Bulls, Bands, and London” with a brief description of its universal symbol:
“…At the end of the street was… the town’s pilgrim refugio. In case there was any doubt, a symbol of the Camino, the scallop shell of St. James, hung above the doorway.
Why a scallop shell? In one legend, the dead body of St. James was covered in scallops when it washed ashore in Spain. In another legend, a groom and his horse rode into the ocean when they saw the boat carrying the body of St. James and came back to shore covered in scallops.
Either way, it’s now a modern-day metaphor with the many grooves in the shell arriving at a single point representing the many routes the pilgrims journeyed to get to Santiago de Compostela.
Or if you don’t like that metaphor, how about… just like the ocean waves wash up scallop shells onto the beaches of northern Spain, so does God guide the pilgrims to Santiago de Compostela.”
“The Plan”
So where was I guided to this week? Well, it’s officially Day 16 of my trip, so if everything goes according to plan, I should be in the town of O Cebreiro.
Now if that seems like I covered a lot of extra ground from the previous week that’s because I took a bus or train from Burgos to Leon – skipping much of the notorious meseta. The meseta is a dry and barren plain, with no trees, and very little shade, where you can see the approaching village on the horizon but it never seems to get any closer. Pilgrims dread it. Pilgrims often avoid it altogether and take the bus.
Now while I’m also avoiding it… I’m doing it for the purposes of the plot of the book… which won’t be made clear until its release! So for now you’ll just have trust me that I skipped over the worst part of my journey… for a plot point.
For more posts about my actual Camino journey, check out:
https://www.johnmeyerbooks.com/camino-de-santiago-1/
https://www.johnmeyerbooks.com/camino-de-santiago-2/
https://www.johnmeyerbooks.com/walk-for-the-ages/
https://www.johnmeyerbooks.com/baseball-in-my-shoe/