It started a couple of days ago when the walkers met a young German girl who just one day out of Porto, the start point for her Camino, had developed bad blisters. She was in pain and angry and frustrated at being in such a state so early into her journey. At that albergue that evening we shared our extensive blister kit with her and had her join us for dinner. She explained she would take a day off and would try and get to the next big town the following day. I offered her a lift and she accepted.

This morning I was one of the last to leave the albergue and decided to have breakfast outside on the picnic tables when another pilgrim, who had shared our dormitory last night came over. John is a young American seminarian who is studying in Rome. We chatted for some time about his journey and his life in Rome and what it means to be Catholic in the modern world. Then he head off to begin his walk for the day, I bumped into to him at a couple of other stops throughout the day.

At the midway point I met up with hubby and friend and joined them for their break. We were sitting outside a cafe, under a shady kiwi tree having lunch when 3 Germans arrived. Two were friends traveling together and the third young man named Timothy they had met a couple of days ago. The pals were traveling onward today but Timothy was having blister trouble. So while the others headed out I went to the car for my trusty blister kit and offered some supplies.

Timothy and I sat and shared Camino stories, what had brought us here and our hopes to return to complete what we had started.

In the meantime it seems I have found a new role on the Camino along with a listening ear to the life stories of pilgrims I also seem to be the Camino Compeed dealer.