The last few days I was writing about the Camino here on Vashon Island and the birds and animals who are around. And around enough to say to me “that I am not alone.” But I wanted to catch up on critters on the Camino in Spain.

In the Pyrenees there were the sounds of the “clonky” bells that the cows wore and the sheep too, I can’t remember. The bells made that distinctive sound every time the cow moved and you could hear that even in the fog from a long way off.

I remember being in towns and seeing numerous sheep tracks in the poured concrete. At first I thought they were deer tracks and I wondered how all those deer wound up in town to mark that concrete when it was wet. I’m more used to seeing deer tracks I guess. And for all the sheep there were the deer over there were practically nonexistent. From what I could tell there were way more “Caution Deer!” signs than actual deer.

Actually I thought there was a real lack of wildlife there compared to comparable agricultural areas in the States. Here there are game birds all over the place in areas were wheat and corn are grown, for instance. I did hear a dairy farmer say that he lost cows to wolves but I never saw them either. There was some hunting going on in August and that was ducks, I think.

OK, walking here in a few minutes. Glad that I got this rememberance in about our beloved Camino in Spain and France. Friends are in the planning and training stages of walking this upcoming season. Awesome! Love, Felipe.