Every pilgrim gets lost at least once. The yellow arrows are faithful, but not infallible — and neither are tired eyes at seven in the morning. You will take a wrong turn. The question is only what you make of it.
The Camino has a long tradition of holy detours. Ask the veterans and they will tell you about the wrong turn that led to the best lunch of the trip, the missed arrow that revealed a chapel no guidebook mentions, the extra three kilometers that introduced them to the person they would walk with all the way to Santiago. The road seems to know what it is doing even when you don’t.
There is a practice here, and it extends past the trail. The wrong turn, met without panic, becomes an offering — a small daily rehearsal in trusting that not all deviations are disasters. Some are invitations. The pilgrim who can smile at a missed arrow is learning the deeper navigation: the way is made by walking, even when the walking goes sideways.
A QUESTION TO CARRY
What “wrong turn” in your life turned out to be the way?