No
pain, no glory
Camino de Santiago
The lack of
social contact in the evening was a little evened up in the morning. There was complimentary
breakfast and few people were sipping their morning coffee in the silence,
until one French guy made an opening gambit and asked me something
inconsequential. Then we engaged in a conversation and the ice broke among the
others, too. By this breakfast I got to know another Italian guy, one beautiful
Korean girl and one Englishwomen who gave me useful advice about avoiding
blisters: all you need is Vaseline in socks. It might sound disgusting, but
only one blister after 10 days of walking is a clear proof that there must be
some true in it.
…
As I was
passing once again through the Leon's city centre, I realized that it is
actually much better to do sightseeing in the morning when there are almost no
tourists in the street. I enjoyed few moments of silence in the front of
historical monuments and beautiful buildings before I went to do some shopping
in Lidl and left Leon. Today, the bike road led once again through the old
national road with heavy traffic. Riding another dozens of kilometers on a flat
surface is utterly boring, therefore, after a while I went for the beaten, old,
dusty road for walking pilgrims instead. This time, however, it was quite
difficult and I was having a hard time trudging through stones, hills, sand and
other nasty obstacles standing in my way. On the way I met a group of downhill
bikers so I hope that it is a sufficient proof that the road was no easy ride. I
knew that I should have rather saved my strengths for the Cruiz de Ferro, but
I could not simply ride along the main road as every normal biker. In the sense of two main motto of the
Camino de Santiago, no pain – no glory,
or the path is the goal, I bore my
burden gladly and took the harder way. Of course there were moment when I started to doubt
whether my decision had been correct, considering the soaring heat at noon and
difficult road, but when I arrived In Astorga, it was not all for nothing - I
reaped the reward of my hardship by having a lunch break on a bench in the
shadow with a magnificent view on the mains square, eating Jambon Serrano with
2 baguettes and drinking Sangria. I guess it was worth of taking the extra
effort, was it not?
By the way,
looking for an hour at this beautiful palace, one might wonder if Walt Disney
ever visited Spain – his drawing of Disney Palace bear such a striking
resemblance to this bishop residence that it simply cannot be overseen. Oh,and
if you were wondering what I had for dessert, today I have done it in a big
style: I visited a chocolate museum where I did not only soaked knowledge, but
also indulged myself with great chocolate tasting. This museum was grounded on
an almost 150 years-old family tradition of making chocolate. Presumably, there
were few more chocolate masters in this city because I found a small street
full of small chocolate factories and chocolate shops. I suppose that you can
imagine how mesmerized I was from this amazing chocolate tour! I did not have
enough time and had to choose between a museum of pilgrims, or the chocolate
museum. Yes, I know, as the true pilgrim, I should have visited the pilgrim
museum in order to discover something about the rich history of the holy
pilgrimage, but I succumbed to the temptation of chocolate. I am so weak – may
the God forgive me …
The tasting
was fine, but for me not enough so I went to the nearest supermarket to buy
some ice cream. With another few thousand calories more, I was ready for to
climb with my bike on the highest point of Camino Francais – the Cruz de Ferro,
1500 m above the sea level.
…
Getting up
on the Cruz de Ferro was not as difficult as I expected. I shared the car road
that did not have any extreme elevation hikes. It is a polar opposite to biking
on a beaten off-road track where you have to keep your eyes peeled at any
danger that may come to your way while gasping for breath by going up. My cyclometer
started to act up again, therefore, I can only roughly say that I have made
about 110 km with a 600 m elevation gain. Not bad, today, I must admit that I
feel tired now. That is most probably also due to the unnecessary morning bike
challenge. Anyway, I have now decided that I will take it easy from now on. I still
have to bear in mind that my health problems are not to be taken lightly. I have plenty of time now so there is really no
point in rushing anywhere.
This decision comes from a change of heart that reaches much further
than just biking. I have decided not to take unnecessary challenges in general,
challenges in which I have a slim chance to excel, but rather concentrate at
things at which I am fairly good. My diligence and goal-seeking behavior can
easily turn into stubbornness when I put my efforts just to prove myself that I
am capable of accomplishing something I have set, something totally pointless.
A good example for that was my hasty decision to study mathematics at the
economic university just to prove that I can do that. Obviously, with poor
knowledge from the high school, I was having a tough time. In the end I did not
take the exam because I realized that even if I could learn everything, it
would take me so much time that it is simply not worth it. It is just young
foolishness to jump at every challenge, wise men do not act like that. Therefore,
from now on, besides my hobbies, I will do my best to devote energy at things I
can do fairly well and that are working for me so far. A. Einstein expressed
this very precisely: Everybody is a
genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live
its whole life believing that it is stupid. My stupidity has lain so far in the foolish desire to prove that I am capable of everything I set as a goal. It might be
true in most cases, hard work is definitely very important, but the natural
talent or certain things must also be taken into account. It is not an even fight
to stand up to a starting line on a pursuit for success lacking the competitive
advantage of having at least some innate abilities for the area needed.
For
this reason I left on the Cruz de Ferro my old harmonica as a symbol that
through which I should also leave a little bit of my stubbornness here. It
namely represents my musical attempts which were not completely fruitless, but I
am aware of the fact that I will never be a musical prodigy like some people
who seem to be born to sing and play. I can only achieve the mediocre
performance in playing an instrument and that is perfectly all right supposing
that I want to have it just for fun. However, if I ever took up an idea of
becoming a great musician, it would cost me uncomparably more effort and devotion
as somebody who has a natural talent for it. Besides, nothing that you cannot
do fairly well will bring you much appreciation in the future. Therefore, this
represents my decision to divide my full attention to meaningful things and
keep up with other things I like and in which I cannot excel only as a hobby, circumscribing
a limited amount of time, energy and importance to them. The 10k hours rule does not work as
it is assumed. This decision is my oath to the future. The
only question remains whether I have really taken the right path, but so far,
the experience tells me that it works out and only the future will show
and direct me more precisely.
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