2010 is an Año Santo Jacobeo, or “Holy Year”, one on which the July 25th feast day of Saint James falls on a Sunday. These coincidental occurrences are irregular, fairly rare, and the next won’t arrive before 2021. In Holy Years special indulgences are granted to Pilgrims and even in our modern era the number of visitors to the Santiago Cathedral spikes above one million. Perhaps twenty percent of this number will arrive on foot or bicycle claiming their “Compostela” certificate. My southern “Camino Mozarabe”/Via de la Plata pilgrim route is in ordinary years a quiet, neglected, solitary one. Until recent days it was. For a month, my Pilgrim friends and companions were select, mostly veteran, and few. Not anymore. Pilgrim traffic has picked up.
Leaving Ourense early this morning, near the foot of the old Roman bridge that would carry us across the Rio Minho, we found a Mass in progress at a church. Stepping inside, we left our backpacks at the rear and took seats in a pew among a large urban congregation. Leaving the church, we were counseled that we should take more care guarding the security of our back packed valuables. And a kind usher lady took us aside into an office to give us a stamp for our Pilgrim credentials. I’ve experienced this before. With so many kind eyes on our gear, it could hardly have been more secure.
A smoky haze was making us very much aware of a large wildfire that has been burning in the region in recent days. We took a rest stop at The Convento Clarisas today a kilometer off our Pilgrim Route. The sisters there must have taken a vow of silence. After an intercom exchange, we were allowed through a locked gate into a peaceful courtyard where we took a short break. Clearly, our presence was observed but we let ourselves out through the gate a half hour later without having spoken to a single soul.
We’re in Cea (KM 911) tonight, where a tour of nearly the whole of the town finally brought us to the “Bar Vaticano” where we enjoyed a menu del Dia dinner.
