seen in the mist on a descent from Cruz de Ferro another of the person-made hearts someone was making ahead of us on the Camino Frances
"Though your heart is in exile Plant a garden of life where you stand Seek the welfare of all those around you And your welfare will lay in your hand."
Three Camino friends from Halifax, in the parish albergue at Granon
"Whilst the Camino to Santiago is essentially a Catholic pilgrimage to the shrine said to contain the bones of one of the apostles another thing I discovered is that there is no right or wrong way to travel the Camino to Santiago. It isn’t just for holy people, or those who go to Church or people of faith.
It is for everyone. But is it a spiritual experience? “What about the God bit?”
Over the last few days as I’ve thought about that question and how to answer people who ask it, I’ve been drawn to notes on my real experiences of pilgrimage. They describe for me real encounters with kindness, love, tolerance, respect, understanding. Maybe they are the "God bit”?"
on the alternative track through the countryside,
from Hospital de Orbigo, en route for Astorga
"On the Camino in Spain,
I gradually discovered that the walking becomes the praying.
In putting one foot in front of another, in the tiredness, in the blisters, in the being at one
with myself, the landscape and God, in the mind quietening, in all this, walking, pilgrimage itself, became prayer."
I concur with Andy's words about walking. There is something mysterious about the rhythm of the feet meeting the earth for kilometres and days, enduring, that can place the soul in a place of prayer.
"You can be a traveller on your own, but not, I think, a pilgrim. Pilgrimage connects you to something bigger than yourself. Pilgrimage connects you to longings that come from deep places and that cannot easily be explained.
Even the solitary pilgrim is on a shared quest,
overhearing some whispers of a conversation
that has been going on for years.
interior of chapel, Rochegude
Pilgrims don’t always have a clear idea
of what they’re doing or why they’re doing it,
but they keep going,
exchanging nods on the way."
Leaving Montbonnet on Day 2, with snow lying all around.
"There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as if everything is."
~Albert Einstein
It would be true to say I was 'afraid' when I stepped out alone into the snowy landscape on just my second morning of walking. But along with the anxiety, I knew such excitement, such gladness. How could it be that I was so lucky to be here, in the morning silence, immersed in the secrets of the outdoors, with just a slither of morning sun creeping out across the snowy fields. It was an Hallelujah moment!
I climbed onto the Meseta with my two friends from Quebec.
We weren't sure what to expect.
So much is written about this place, that I think I truly feared it.
And maybe in the searing heat of summer it truly is deservedly feared.
But our first experience was of a green magic.
We climbed a hill onto the Meseta proper,
and suddenly this landscape stretched out before us,
as far as the eye could see, just green crops and sky.
Nothing else.
Almost in unison, for the three of us,
you could hear an audible sound,
as it took our breath quite away.
"I’m now aware that what draws me back to pilgrimage time after time is the simplicity of the pilgrim’s life. We get up each day, pack the same few things into the same rucksack and set off following a well waymarked path. We have time to think, to pray, to reflect. Our needs are simply food and a bed."
My first few weeks out of Le Puy were at times lonely but they were precious days indeed as I had time to reflect on my life.
My feet kept walking on the land, finding their rhythm and as the kilometres stretched out ahead there was no hiding from some conversations with God or myself about things past and present.
Resting at a picnic spot before the climb up to Auvillar
I am a little short-sighted, and quite often don't recognise people 'out of context' down the street. But I was always able to recognise my Camino friends: we each had so few changes of clothes, it was easy to tell their colours and styles from far away!
When I was traveling in France in 2006 I stayed in a hostel in Cahors. There I met a Frenchwoman who had been walking three weeks along the Le Puy route. Her face glowed with a radiant joy. Speaking to her was what first gave me the idea of walking the Chemin myself....
Stained glass window in the chapel of Saint-Michel d’Aiguilhe, Le Puy
"Many of us are not aware of the sacred space within us, the place where we can reflect and contemplate, the space from which wonderment can flow as we look at the mountains, the sky......
....This place, which is the deepest in us all, is the place of our very personhood, the place of inner peace where God dwells
and where we receive the light of life
and the murmurings of the Spirit of God. It is the place in which we make life choices and from which flows our love for others."
It was such a special day crossing the pass over the Pyrenees from France into Spain. We had looked at the steepness of the altitude charts for weeks beforehand with trepidation in our hearts(!) but in the event found we were well prepared after weeks of walking.
I took it slowly, and reveled in the views. How fortunate to get such perfect walking weather
-not too hot, and mostly clear views- no rain in sight! There was joy in my heart as I climbed.....
Spider web in Galicia along the Camino of St James, June 2008
"If the only prayer that we ever said
If the only prayer we said was thanks That would be enough that would be enough If the only prayer we said was thanks."
From the song "We say thanks"
by Fr Chris Skinner SM
on the CD Awesome God
The first few days walking when I started from Le-Puy-en-Velay seemed surprisingly easy. Though my feet did grow tender, I got no blisters, and my 'training' back at home meant I wasn't suffering from any sore muscles etc.
But then the weather changed. It was a hard cold day on the first day crossing the Aubrac Plateau and my feet became sodden. Thus began a series of days with drenched feet that led to some blisters and the soles of my feet became so tender I wanted to scream!!!
But somehow, in the midst of all the sore feet I had a 'revelation' one day. One of the 'pieces of paper' I was carrying to inspire me held the words of the song "We say thanks" by Chris Skinner SM.
And one day I "knew" that I could spend hours each day thinking about how sore my feet were, or I could forget the soreness of my feet and make sure I noticed the glory in the landscapes I was passing through,
and be thankful.
My feet never seemed to hurt so badly again and that lesson of 'thanks' was one of the most important ones of my whole Camino.
"Purists abound on the Camino:
people who believe one should always go on the traditional track,
people who object to luggage-carrying services,
people who think rest days and short days are defeatist.
If you’re a purist, you’re on the wrong blog.
I’m a dawdler, a daydreamer, a mucker-about. An impurist." ~ From "Slow Camino"
a wonderful, developing blog about one Australian man's pilgrimage
from Le Puy to Pamplona
It is interesting to hear those planning a second Camino
who often plan, second-time around,
to travel more slowly....
take more time to appreciate the landscape, the flowers, the historical remnants...
take time to sit quietly in more places...
This isn't a Camino photo- rather it is one from my home town.
But I guess this photo shows the 'legacy' I have brought home from the Camino:
I continue to want to 'notice' the beauty around me
and celebrate it.
"The time will come When someone else who in need Will turn and run Afraid to face what lies ahead for them And you will turn and stand with them And you'll have found your strength within Your treasure in a field"
Shortly after I took this early morning photo, I happened to have a quiet meeting in a cafe with a young woman who was rather desperate over her life. Somehow I seemed to find 'strength within' from hard times in my own youth and I hope I spoke quiet words that perhaps helped her. I still think of her.
"Also met up with the Swedish church group who started in Samos.... They told us that we were the subject of their group discussion yesterday and that we are their 'Camino Heros'.....So just in case you want to know the criteria to become a subject for discussion for Swedish Lutheran church groups in the future its because:
- we told them yesterday that it hasn't really got easier for us but that we've just got more used to 'stopping the bitching and getting on with it';
-that no matter how long or short the distance the last 4 km of the day always kills us;
-that we haven't had a 'Camino crisis' but that we felt OK about that;
- that one of our strongest memories would be of laughing every day....
-after 800km and five weeks we had the less than shattering realisation that,
if given the time and opportunity to appreciate them, everyone turns out to be pretty much OK, even the bloody cyclists!"
Read the whole extract from Nell's blog here, and prepare to laugh!!! And I sooooo agree about the last 4km of the day- it's a universal rule- get used to the idea if you plan to walk the Camino- and it is especially pertinent if you can 'see' the endpoint!
"Be still, for the glory of the Lord, Is shining all around.
He burns with holy fire, With splendour He is crowned.
How awesome is the sight, Our radiant King of light!
Be still, for the glory of the Lord,
Is shining all around."
"Be still for the presence of the Lord"
recorded by Fr Chris Skinner on CD "Truly Blessed"
There were so many precious moments on the Camino that quite took my breath away, and left me in the Stillness-
~ sunrise over O'Cebreiro ~ a rainbow over the mountains at Orisson ~ spiderwebs covered in raindrops or dewdrops ~ fields of green dotted with red poppies stretching out ahead of me ~ a realisation of the courage someone showed, walking in pain
Have I been caressed by the beauty there expressed?" From the song "Morning Song/ Evening Song"
on the new album by Chris Skinner SM, "A Place at the table"
Again, this is a post with photos from closer to home,
but the desire to be 'noticing' details is a gift I brought home from the Camino
First morning- on the plateau above Le-Puy-en-Velay
"Trust that still, small voice that says 'This might work and I'll try it."
~Diane Mariechild
That first morning when I left Le Puy, I was so tentative. It seemed almost an impossibility that I should walk all the way to Santiago. But after I had reached the top of the old crater basin that held the town, and walked out into the calm of the countryside I had an incredible feeling of calm and joy. I knew I was doing 'the right thing'. I wasn't sure whether I would make it 'all the way' but I already knew a deep peace.
"And did you feel it, in your heart, how it pertained to everything? And have you too finally figured out what beauty is for? And have you changed your life?"
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy;
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
~Prayer of St Francis of Assisi
who walked to Santiago as a pilgrim
"When you finally allow yourself to trust joy and embrace it,
you will find you dance with everything."
- Emanuel
Stepping out alone into the quiet of a misty morning
cool, with dewdrops on all the spiderwebs in the bushes,
I knew I was so lucky to be enjoying this simple life,
able to be immersed in the outdoors. Simplicity, and Joy,
as the feet walked ever onward....
In 2008 I walked for about eighty days in France and Spain, along the route to Santiago de Compostela. It was a simple life in which I noticed the 'little things' and learned to be more thankful.
In 2012 I walked again, from Cluny to Conques; then three weeks on parts of the Camino Frances.
These photo-text quotes/reflections are inspired by those walks.
My hope is that some others might also find them helpful. Margaret
seen in the mist on a descent from Cruz de Ferro
Three Camino friends from Halifax, in the parish albergue at Granon
on the alternative track through the countryside,
French family walking amongst the fields and wildflowers above Bessuejouls 
Rochegude: chapel dedicated to St James
Leaving Montbonnet on Day 2, with snow lying all around.
On top of the first hill on the Meseta
Heading for Camping Pech Ibert
Resting at a picnic spot before the climb up to Auvillar
En route between Astorga and Rabanal del Camino
Stained glass window in the chapel of Saint-Michel d’Aiguilhe, Le Puy
Bridge over a stream near Espeyrac in France
"Purists abound on the Camino: 
Pilgrim monument in Villares de Orbigo
Lunch break with other pilgrims at Saint Felix, en route to Figeac
With my Quebec friends- first day on the Meseta 
First morning- on the plateau above Le-Puy-en-Velay
Daisy in my back garden
early morning mist, near Camping Pech Ibert
