Day 19 Beauty

Amazing sense today of having made it to the Iron Cross, Cruz de Ferro.

The Iron Cross

This is the highest part of the Camino – over 1500m so considerably higher than Ben Nevis. Every picture of the cross tends to show it damp and shrouded in mist. Today was glorious sunshine, picture perfect weather. I climbed to the top and dropped my very little stone from the back garden. It’s quite a sight – a large mound of stones brought one at a time by pilgrims from all over the world. A bunch of Germans held an impromptu service near us as we sat and took in the place.

Mountains to the south

What got me today though was the landscape. It was just so, utterly, beautiful. I heard a lovely sermon at St Mary’s Souldern by a visiting preacher. He said that the ability to appreciate the undefinable beauty of creation was a clear fingerprint of God – no animal need is met by such appreciation but it is as real as any other delight. I walked over wooded hills with snow capped mountains as a backdrop; I walked on hillsides covered in honeysuckle, lavender and heather where the fragrance was like Chanel No 5 on steroids; I walked in a cool valley where there were no human sounds at all, just perfect peace. It was almost the definition of beauty.

It says in the Bible in Psalm 14 that “the fool has said in his heart there is no God”. That’s such a kind and gentle way of putting it when you look at His fingerprints in the landscape.

The mystery bird puzzle is solved. It’s a lapwing, very common in England. Thanks to Allen and, yes, I’m an idiot.

The blisters are coming along nicely. I’ve discovered a technique that involves antibiotic cream, Compeed, ibuprofen gel, surgical tape and gauze that seems to do the trick. Clearly my next career is going to be less to do with IT and more to do with blisters.

Edited with BlogPad Pro