A Long Way Down from the Bell Tower

Today was day 3 of the Camino Frances, and the walking, fun and observations continues.

Yesterday, it was being saved by a man with a spoon, today, it’s all about storks.

Let the stork set the example

The storks build their nests on the top of church towers, and other high spaces, and I am not talking low heights, I am talking heights that make even me scared (ok, that does not take a lot, but I mean really high.) The kind where you take a step back to take the photo, and hope that the stork is not just a speckle on the photo. Why do they make their nests to high? Is it to give the babies a chance to survive/or not?

Storks Goals in Life

Now I know storks bring human babies, but on top of that they also need to raise their own. And this is where the rubber meets the road or is it the baby stork that meets the road on the way down?

It is spring in Spain, and time to lay the build the nest, lay the eggs and watch the baby storks grow.

Which raises an obvious question:

What happens when the baby storks have to leave the nest?

Because there’s no halfway nest.
No practice jumps.
No “let’s start with a lower tower and build confidence.”

At some point, they just… go by themselves, or maybe they get kicked out by the parents.

And it’s a long way down to figure things out.

Thinking about it – it felt familiar.

Because as humans do something similar (or we are supposed to):

We spend years building the nest — safe, comfortable, well-stocked.

And then one day:

“Alright. Off you go.”

We like to think it’s gradual.

It’s not.

It’s just a nicer version of the same moment. And here’s the part that really stood out:

The baby storks don’t come back into the nest.

Not because they can’t. Because that’s not how it works. There is the strong takeoff, the distance to the ground to figure it out, and no circling back if you are unsure. It’s fly … or splash.

Now, to be fair…

Our Van der Walt baby storks got till past college before they had the fly…but they did…and they went and built their own nest somewhere else. We got lucky! and there is 7 new little baby storks that will need to fly when the time comes.

However as we all know, not all human babies fly when the time comes.

Some come back. Some stay longer than expected. And some get very comfortable in a nest they were supposed to leave.

And once they’re back…it turns out “take two” is a lot harder than the first jump.

Which makes me think the storks might be onto something.

Raise them well.
Feed them.
Keep them safe, and let them go!

Don’t install a revolving door.

Because somewhere between the nest and the ground…that’s where the flying happens.

So maybe that’s the takeaway: Be a stork. Build a safe place to raise them, feed them and let them figure it out before the splash…and if it is a spash…let them figure it out, they had all the time in the nest to learn. You now have other things to do.

Hope your baby storks took off…and did not splash.

Here is our Camino stats for the day Friday April 10th.

Walk from to Villares de Orbigo to Astoria – total 17km door to door between Auberges/Hotels

Time on the foot (ok it includes time to drink coffee – twice): 8:30 am to 1:30 pm

Total steps for the day: 28,687 for Johan, and 32,969 for me, because I am small and daintly and take only fairy steps.

We climbed the equavalent of 83 flights of stairs.