Palencia polished to spotless shine

The Ditch Pigs Camino Cleanup was small but mighty this year -- six people from five countries, traveling on foot, cleared Camino Frances litter from Castrojeriz to Sahagun -- and the Camino Madrid down to Grajal de Campos!

That's about 120 kilometers in five days!

Ditch Pigs don't keep track of how many bags or bins they fill, but they labored from dawn to dusk, Sunday through Thursday. Kindly donors paid for gas in the cars and food in the bellies. This year, lodging was covered at Peaceable Kingdom Spain, PPI headquarters in Moratinos, Palencia.

Generally speaking, over the 14 years of been picking up trash, the Camino trail has become a cleaner place. There are still a few dark spots out there, and way too many "pilgrims" continue to leave white tissues behind the bushes, but today's hikers no longer drop dozens of plastic bottles, candy wrappers, cans, and cigarette packs along the trail. The volunteers no longer need to carry shovels and rakes to remove layers of waste laid down over years of thoughtless dumping.

The work continues, but it's not such a heavy job these days. And as the Pigs' median age increases, less lifting a good thing!

This year's crew was Jacques Piguet from Switzerland, Lynda Martens from Canada, James O'Malley from England, Jim Mercereau from US/Madrid, and Michael Matynka (aka "Wise Pilgrim") from USA/Galicia. And Rebekah Scott, chief Ditch Pig, from USA/Moratinos. Patrick O'Gara and Paul Garland held down the fort, and Fred Sheppard lent his Kangoo car to the cause. About 22 Peaceable Projects donors covered the costs of this, PPI's flagship annual activity.

Rebekah Scott
Moratinos Palencia Spain