They shall bear you upon their hands lest you strike your foot against the stone

Friday:
Both Malte and Constanze have deadlines: Malte to be in Barcelona with his family and Constanze, a flight to return and help with a course in her diocese. Both have considered leaving and taking a bus further up the trail in Burgos Malte got as far as getting up,at 6am, saying his goodbyes, and then finding the hostal's door locked until 7am, 15 mins after his bus departed. Constanze, too has made abortive attempts to leave. She pines for the mountains. I didn't think she would actually leave- I hoped she would change her flight and excuse herself from her obligations, but no. So we walk to Sahagran, have a paella lunch and say our goodbyes. She is on top form, full of vitality, but we all wonder how it will be without her. Afterall, we have been together since the first day. She leaves us after lunch and we plod onwards struggling to decide which of the two possible routes to follow and where to stop.

Today blisters are back on my right heal, and I have a sharp pain on the base of my left foot. This is particularly sensitive to the stones that litter the path and so I pick my way along looking all the time for the smoothest way. Malte suffers too with his blisters, and it is hardly surprising that many of us are in significant pain: we are walking between 20 and 30km a day, every day without break, carrying at least 10kg more than our usual bodyweight. But it is not necessarily these bodily sores that are the only hardship; today we heard that a tall, apparently fit German guy had given up and taken the train to Madrid.

Nico's guide directs us to a wonderful albergue. The hospitaleros are a Canadian called Joanna & an Italian called Giovanna. Neither have more than their native tongue. "Somehow," Joanna insists, as if to persuade herself, "it works." And, in fact, it does. Fortunately Joanna is on meet and greet and Giovanna is in charge of the kitchen. We have a fantastic pilgrim dinner of minestrone, lentils and chorizo, and potatoes in olives and tuna.

Afterwards I'm asked to lead the pilgrim prayers. We have a period of sharing in our respective languages. And then, by candlelight I read Psalm 90 giving particular emphasis to the lines, "they will bear you upon their hands lest you strike your foot against the stone." I also subject the gathering to my singing of the nunc dimitis and the salve (Giovanna joining in with this).