Bill Arney

We met Dieter, a pilgrim from Austria today. We have seen him walking and pulling his pack in a two-wheeled cart harnessed to his waste. Today we passed him and he passed us as we both struggled,  in our own ways, up one of the steep, mucky-yucky, slippery,  rocky woodland paths. We had a hard time, but Dieter, you can imagine, was really sweating and panting at points as he dragged his cart through the mess. We finally found a place we could talk–a place we were both very tired at the same time. Turns out he is pulling his cart because he broke his back in four places and had to lie in a hospital bed for a year. We asked his motivation for walking the Camino.  He said, “When I was in that bed I prayed that I would be able to walk the Camino.” And there he was, walking. When we reached the top of the rise, he asked if he could interview us. He said he was making a short movie for all the people in the hospital who had taken care of him. Last we saw him, he was boarding a bus for Bilbao “because,” he said pointing to his  contour map, “I can’t make it over that mountain there.

“Buen Caminos” all around.