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[yingyangtravels]

Day 31

[yingyangtravels]

Day 31

“The shortest and straightest path will not show you what is there to see”

This might have been said by some philosopher, thinker, poet or writer before - but it came to my mind this morning as I zigzagged myself up a mountain to see some breathtaking views of the Mass river. I could have continued by the shore of the river - it’s easier, shorter and faster. But I would have missed out on wonderful places. Hence the thought and if it hasn’t been said - I claim it!

Long day. Getting used to walking alone again. Being just with my thoughts. Not the best day, also because…

Boy did it rain today. It rained. All . Day. Long. I was soaked to my bones. My tent now looks like a disaster zone as I’m trying to dry everything up in no space at all (because yes, it’s still raining). The walk was, apart from the rain, beautiful. I was treated to some amazing views of the valley and the river; had a kipsate for lunch in a Dutch holiday spot; and the camping site guy refused to charge me anything for the stay and shower when I told him I was on my way to Santiago. How cool is that?

I’m spending the night next to the river. Very peaceful place.

Time to celebrate! I have now reached the 700km mark. Much more to come!!!

Distance Walked: 26.53 km 
Distance Covered this trip: 84.73 km 
Total Distance Covered: 700.79 km 
Elevation gained: 707m 
Elevation gained this trip: 2,174m 
Avg. Walk Speed: 3.68 km/h

[yingyangtravels]

Day 30

[yingyangtravels]

Day 30

What was supposed to be a rest day ended up being very active. Had a great time with the girls, Liz and Opa and Oma in Maastricht. We were on a boat, explored a vast network of caves and had some good food.

Saying goodbye again at the end of the day was really, really hard. Especially to the girls. Kiki wanted to come -we agreed perhaps next time but she asked me not to take too long and to come back quickly.

Saying goodbye to Lau was also difficult, but it really hit me later once I was back in Dinant - alone. Tracing back some of the steps we took together I realized how much I will miss her and how much I dread this next stage of my hike. It is when you walk alone that you start facing your inner thoughts and that, I noticed, scares me a little. I will miss my hiking parter more than I thought, but her determination and the memories of her company will keep me strong.

I ended up doing a small hike today to a room I had booked for the night. When I booked I didn’t notice it was not really on Dinant but a few kilometers down river. Luckily, it was on the path so it gave me chance to walk a little and cut a bit into tomorrow’s walk - which as it is planned will be brutal.

Distance Walked: 4.88 km 
Distance Covered this trip: 58.2 km 
Total Distance Covered: 674.26 km 
Elevation gained: 170m 
Elevation gained this trip: 1,467m 
Avg. Walk Speed: 4.25 km/h

[yingyangtravels]

Day 29

[yingyangtravels]

Day 29

Final Day walking with my companion.

I’m sad, but also very proud of the type of person Lau is becoming. Tough but sweet, determined, confident, funny and caring. She demonstrated all of these qualities on this four days of walking.

I’ve learned from my kids a lot more than I would like to admit - and from Lau on this trip my main learning is determination. Once she sets up her mind on something, she will make it happen. It doesn’t matter how difficult or how much effort she must make to accomplish her goal - she will do it!

You can see it on her face - she adopts a no prisoners face and she says out loud “I’m determined to make this happen” and… she does.

Today was another example. We had two options for train times back to Maastricht to meet mama, Opa and Oma. She told me in the morning she was determined for us to make it in time for the first one. When I told her we would need to walk around 1km per hour faster today than the other days to do so, she just turned around and said - “Ok”.

During the trail, not only did we walk faster by almost the 1km per hour we needed - but on top of that, she wouldn’t allow any long rest stops. Result: Not only did we make the earlier train time; we arrived at the station with so much time in advance we took an even earlier train!

That type of personality and determination is something I need to draw from - especially during difficult times and to accomplish difficult tasks. Thank you Laura!

Today’s route was very muddy. A couple of places were flooded and we needed to take some detours. Highlight include walking through a cement factory and by the Leffe Abbey - which has been making beer since 1240! Sounds like yesterday…

We finished today in Dinant - a gorgeous little town situated between a large cliff crowned by a fortress and the river Mass. Very impressive.

I’ll take tomorrow a rest day in Maastricht with the girls and return to the walk (this time alone :( ) on Tuesday, with the aim of reaching Reims eventually.

Distance Walked: 12.72 km 
Distance Covered this trip: 53.32 km 
Total Distance Covered: 679.38 km 
Elevation gained: 251m 
Elevation gained this trip: 1,297m 
Avg. Walk Speed: 3.82 km/h

[yingyangtravels]

Day 28

[yingyangtravels]

Day 28

“This didn’t happen to me before. All the other times, when it was time for it, I’ve was there, ready to go!. But today this!! This is not usual!” I cried out.

And no, I’m not talking about what many of you are thinking..

What I am talking about, its that I’ve been sitting here… thinking ….for the full past half hour “what Shall I write about today!”. And to my surprise, it has been very difficult to come up with something when before it was always easy and I had a ready idea of the message I wanted to transmit. I couldn’t understand it - then, it hit me!

Before I wasn’t walking with Lau.

Before I was walking alone, immersed in my thoughts and with every step I would be, somewhere in my brain, building up the story of the day. But today, my brain was busy with something else far more important! It was busy enjoying this rare gift we sometimes have as parents. The gift to be able to share with a daughter (or a son) a unique experience that will go with both of you forever. I’m soaking that in. Every delicious, beautiful, amazing minute of it!

So my brain has no time or interest in building up a story. It is only now, now that she is deep asleep, that I turn to put into digital paper my experiences of the day.

Another wonderful day for hiking - cloudy but no rain and a nice temperature. On a very hilly path (we gained altogether over 550m in altitude) we crossed the river Mass twice, saw a sluice functioning, we had lunch in the place with the best view of the trip so far, we walked by a very mysterious castle where all the surrounding fences (of the whole land, not just the castle) were covered to block you from peeking in, we climbed and we climbed.. And then, when we thought we couldn’t have more fun, I found out that the camp site we were aiming to stay tonight did not exist anymore… So.. I turned to quickly use my googling skills and thanking god this is Europe, I found a b&b with rooms available not too far from where we were. Phew!

The B&B turned out to be a very nice place with very friendly owner who also drove us to the next town so we could have a delicious, freshly baked pizza for dinner.

Distance Walked: 15.18 km 
Distance Covered this trip: 40.6 km 
Total Distance Covered: 666.66 km 
Elevation gained: 542m 
Elevation gained this week: 1,046m 
Avg. Walk Speed: 3.09 km/h

[yingyangtravels]

[yingyangtravels]

Day 27

“I can still run!”

Lau shouted as she dashed across the camp site after finishing almost 18 km of walking through rain and sun and managing three climbs. I personally could barely move as usual after a long day of walking but there she was, hoping along.. How good is it to be that young? If yesterday I was worried whether she would make it, today I need to be worried wether she is worried I will make it!

Wonderful day today - I’m so glad Lau decided to join me. She is such good company. Always with a comment, question, joke, remark. Hours fly by. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time with her and I am sure that I will miss her company once I renew my walk alone after the next few days.

I think she has enjoyed it too but if you ask her “Are you having fun” shell just say.. “I don’t know..” - I assume it means yes in pre-teen language.

Today started a bit rainy but cleared out after lunch and I’m enjoying a wonderful sunset again as I write this. The track today was only through nature: woods, fields and valleys filled our agenda of the day and we were rewarded with a beautiful view over Profondeville on the shores of the river Maas toward the end of the hike.

Distance Walked: 17.74 km 
Distance Covered this trip: 25.42 km 
Total Distance Covered: 651.42 km 
Elevation gained: 325m 
Elevation gained this week: 484m 
Avg. Walk Speed: 3.18 km/h

[yingyangtravels]

[yingyangtravels]

Here WE go again!!! Dia 26

Time has come. It is finally time to retake El Camino.

But this time, I’m not starting my walk alone. This time.. Oh, this time I have a new companion on my adventure.

And I couldn’t be happier or prouder.

You see, my oldest daughter has decided to join for the first few days in this stretch. She’s 11 now and evolving into the most beautiful person you can imagine and she wanted to understand what this was all about. So here she is! Equipped with backpack and new shoes, she is walking by my side - oh how joyful life can be!

We started our walk today where I left off three years ago (has it really been three years already? Feels much shorter and longer at the same time…) - the lovely city of Namur in Belgium.

After arriving by train we had lunch in downtown Namur before embarking on our walk. The weather was really nice today making it all very enjoyable. We walked up to the citadel that overlooks the city and passed through some very fancy neighborhood before entering a beautiful forest and arriving at our campsite. Where set up our lux tent, showered, had dinner and enjoyed a beautiful sunset together. All simple things, all fantastic together with her.

Lau complained a little about the weight in the backpack but that was all she did a great job walking today. Tomorrow might be a different story. It will be a much longer walk - and hopefully equally enjoyable as today’s. I really want her to like hiking.

Distance Walked: 7.68 km Distance Covered this trip: 7.68 km Total Distance Covered: 633.68 km Elevation gained: 159m Elevation gained this week: 159m Avg. Walk Speed: 3.29 km/h

[yingyangtravels]

"Solvitur Ambulando" It is solved by walking.

Saint Augustine

[yingyangtravels]

Pilgrim day 25

[yingyangtravels]

Día 25

Life is but a cumulative series of decisions.

Some are made by us, some are made for us and some are made for or by others but affect us.

All these decisions, no matter if they feel big or small at the time we are making them - have the potential to be very important, significant and can alter the path life takes.

That is one of the many parallels I’ve made between this Camino and life.

Everyday, for the last 25 days I’ve had to take many decisions - go left, go right, stop and rest, stop for the night, etc. Most of these decisions were minor - but kept me on track, kept me on the path.

One decision in particular was quite important : a couple of days ago I decided to move and not stand still - and a few seconds later a tree came crashing down on that spot.

It was, by all measures, a tiny decision - one over which I did not deliberate much (if at all) but which was the difference between where I am now and where I could have been (optimistically - a hospital - pessimistically ….).

So you see, all decisions have it in them to be critical and potentially life changing. But we shouldn’t panic and freeze and try to comprehend all possible effects of our decisions - it is an impossibility - what we should do, is try and acknowledge that all decisions are powerful and all decisions are constantly shaping out lives - for better or worse.

Some of those decisions we don’t have the power to take, some of the potential effects we can’t anticipate - but, there are some important decisions we consciously take. Those decisions are the ones that life gives us to keep course (turn left/right when you need to).

We cannot predict all outcomes and hence we can’t know which of all the decisions we take are the significant decisions (move from the spot) - but by keeping true to yourself at all times and by making decisions that feel right, from the heart, you are more likely to stay in your path and reach your goal.

After walking the last 23.4 km through a beautiful path that took me - via the Mass valley and the heights of the Ardennes - from Andenne to Namur I reached the end of the Via Mosana - and I made the last decision of this first part of my journey: Namur, with its fantastic castle and citadel on the hill overlooking the rivers; Namur with its beautiful churches, medieval houses, modern shops and restaurants; Namur with its history full of war, prosperity and decisions; Namur is .. where I decided to stop.

It felt right to stop two days early and be with the family.

So, after 25 days and 626 km walked - to all I say goodbye and thank you for sharing this trip with me.

Until …

I decide to start again. :)

[yingyangtravels]

Train Sation Liege - Amazing

[yingyangtravels]

Day 25