Moments of Bliss

As I wait for winter to end (or, in the case of Kelowna this year, for it to actually begin and then end), I won't be traveling anywhere. However, I decided to repost some writing I did in 2016 while walking the Camino de Santiago across northern Spain.

Here is a post entitled 'Moments of Bliss', which I wrote on May 22, 2016—Day 28 of our 40-day walk to Santiago. We had overcome the aches and pains of the first few weeks of walking 20+ km every day; my husband was finally recovering from his chest infection, and I was spending a lot of time 'in my head' as I walked.

Date: May 22, 2016 - Day 28

Destination: Foncebadón

Distance: 22 km

Time: 5 1/2 hours, 9:30 am to 3:00 pm

Terrain: Mostly gravel or dirt trail, last 10 k gradual uphill, last 5 k slightly steep uphill and rockier. Parts of the trail had turned into a stream due to recent rain.

Weather: Sunny but quite cool most of the day and VERY windy.

Total distance to date: 512 km

We had a decent sleep and Erik woke up feeling a little better this morning. There are no bars open early in this small town so we hit the road at 9:30 and stopped for coffee an hour later. It’s quite windy and almost cold out today, despite the sunshine. I am bundled in two shirts, my fleece, my rain jacket, scarf and mitts.

The landscape has changed now that we’ve left the Meseta with more hills, small trees and scrub brush. There are lots of places to hide for a pee but of course you never have to go when that is the case. The towns are very small but picturesque with plenty of crumbling buildings from long ago.

We hit a small town every 3-4 km today and stopped for a few minutes in each of them. I had a banana and a piece of cake and an iced tea but that was it all day.

We had a gentle climb up and down for most of the day but after Rabanal, the trail narrowed, and we had a steady climb up for about 6km to the tiny town of Foncebadón, population 10. It is so small and isolated that I doubt it would survive without the Camino traffic.

We checked into Pension El Trasgu which is a lovely loft, super clean, and quite new but with a classic decorative touch. And only 45€ for a habitacion doble con baño. I highly recommend it.

There are two restaurants in town and they are only open until 7 pm so we went to the medieval themed La Taberna de Gaia which our pension owner had recommended. It had wonderful medieval decor and good food (no pilgrim meal – yay!) with Celtic and medieval music playing.

Erik and I both ordered the ribs, veg and potatoes that came on a bread plate. Since I had hardly eaten all day, it really hit the spot to have a big meal at 4pm.

We started to chat with another patron, Javier, and he bought us two local liqueurs after dinner. We’d already had beer and wine so that was a bit over the top, but we had fun trying to communicate with him and with the waitress/cook/owner. We managed to weave back to our room around 5:30 and took it easy for the rest of the evening.

Erik is definitely on the mend now and although he is still coughing and sounds congested, he said that today was one of his best days on the Camino so far!

Moments of Bliss

I was reading a thread on a Camino forum where a poster was asking when the feeling of euphoria was going to set in. She’d heard that it often happens in the second or third week, but all she was feeling was fatigue and aching muscles. Many people posted their advice and opinions, but it really got me thinking.

I suspect that by euphoria, she means the endorphin rush you can sometimes get from long workouts. I’ve certainly felt that rush when cycling and running, and many Pilgrims claim to have felt it at some point along the way.

However, I really don’t expect to feel euphoria when I’m on this walk. Instead, I am keeping my mind open for moments of bliss. I find that those moments can happen almost every day, often when I’m least expecting them

To me, a moment of bliss is an immense feeling of happiness, contentment, and appreciation. It might be just that—a moment—or it might last as long as an hour. The key is to recognize those moments and appreciate them when they occur.

A moment of bliss could be the feeling I get when I’m looking out at the beautiful scenery and realize how lucky I am to be here; it could be the satisfaction of reaching the top of a big climb; or it could be the exaltation of finally arriving at my destination. Sometimes it’s simply the feeling of warmth as I slip into a hot bath after a hard day’s walk.

Or it might be my favourite moment of them all—the feeling I have when I’m sitting in a plaza in the early evening, and all of the local families are gathered around visiting while their kids play in the centre. It’s a feeling that I cannot adequately describe other than to call it a moment of bliss.

Some days it’s hard to find a moment—I might be cold, tired, or sore; the trail difficult or tedious; the food mundane. But if I open my eyes and my mind, I can almost always find at least one moment of bliss in the day: that first sip of café con leche, the beautiful flower on the roadside, the stork bringing food to its young, the ancient crumbling building with a tree growing through the fallen roof, the blue door laden with Camino shells, the stained glass window in an old church. The possibilities are endless.

Will you have euphoric days on the Camino? Maybe. But if you have your mind set on experiencing a general feeling of euphoria all day long, you will likely be disappointed.

Watch for the moments of bliss in your day, but don’t go looking for them with a sense of expectation. Just pay attention so that you notice and appreciate those moments when they happen, whether you are on the Camino or living your everyday life.