4 may

Walked from the Monasteria de Oseira to Bandeira, 45 kilometres. And lovely kilometres they were. Nice villages, great hills, lovely weather.
When I went to get a beer in Lace, after 3,5 of straight walking, two women greeted me and said: Hey the dutchman. I looked but couldn’t figure out where I met them. Hi, I said, where did we meet again, hoping that it wasn’t in Ourense, the day before. It turned out we met in Mombuey, at what one woman rightfully called ‘the worst albergue of the Via de la Plata’. And then it dawned on me and I started remembering the faces. When I arrived they were standing in front of the church. I asked them where the albergue was. They answered in choir that it was just behind my back.
I remember they asked me where I came from that day. When I answered they decided I was one of those people who walked for distance instead of for experience, like them. Well they must have had a lot of experiences, because what took me six days, they have walked in 15 days. But they stayed a few days for the thermal baths in Ourense. But after we had a nice chat I walked another 3 hours to Bandeira, something they will do tomorrow only.
I was thinking about Beevor’s book about the Spanish Civil War. He’s very critical about the strategies of both the nationalist and republican armies. Most offensive actions are done in a completely inept way, according to him. The most important reason for it is the fact that generals forget about their main goal in action, and get lost in fighting all kinds of unnecessary battles.
To me it is a description of life itself. It is something that dawned on me gradually. There are many good reasons to do something, and there always are good excuses to not do it, or to focus on something else. But that is not the way to deal with life. When there is a good reason to do something, excuses, even the good ones, are irrelevant. Fight the good fights in life, that’s what it is all about.
One more day of walking. Looking forward to it. Looking forward to it to end.