Pilgrim's Prayer

on the Napoleon Route over the Pyrenees

 Lord show me the way
and give me strength to follow it

~Pilgrim's Prayer of St Birgitta (of Sweden, 1303-1373)

-given to me by Elisabet from Sweden
 before I started the Chemin from Cluny

Taking a Walk

leaving Orisson for the rest of the Napoleon Route across the Pyrenees

  
"Few people know how to take a walk. 

The qualifications are endurance, 

plain clothes, old shoes, 

an eye for nature, good humor, 

vast curiosity, 

good speech, good silence 

and nothing too much.... "

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

God on the journey

"The feeling remains that God is on the journey too."

~Teresa of Avila

The day I walked to Los Arcos the landscapes were simply stunning, all day

but for some unexplained reason (maybe I was a little dehydrated)

in the latter part of the walk everything seemed too hard

and I had this awful feeling of being lost

that I would never find a village

that I would wander aimlessly here for hours...

But when I reached the village, there was a group of Irishmen 

sitting outside a cafe who asked how I was

and for once I said the truth - that it was hard and I felt lost.

They were my angels- I sat and conversed with them

I had dinner with them and I was 'found' again.

They were all fervent Christians these Irishmen

and it seemed like God knew I needed looking after this day.

A journey that remains...

 arrow seen en route for Melide in the last days of my Camino

 "....suddenly it began to really hit me...

I was days from Santiago.  My epic was nearly over.  

Or so I thought at the time.  

Journeys like this...they stay with you, in you forever.  

Rather like having a child, 

you are never ever quite the same."

~Karin

Small Beauty

"Look closely. The beautiful may be small."   

 ~ Immanuel Kant

A black slug on the Napoleon Route across the Pyrenees.

They seemed to live in thick black leaf detritus -under trees near the top of the pass-

that saturated my socks in black muck that took forever to rinse out!!

 Church belltower in Galicia, on one of the last days of the walk to Santiago

"There are thoughts which are prayers. 

There are moments when, whatever be the attitude of the body, 

the soul is on its knees." 

 ~Victor Hugo 

seen on Kelle Hampton's blog

Seeing a church tower in the sunlight always brought me joy

and made me think of all those who in centuries gone by

had walked to Santiago. 

...a moment of communion
thinking of the ever-flowing river of pilgrims...

Shining

 my shadow on the descent from O'Cebreiro to the green of Galicia

"Shine through me and be in me 

so that every soul I come in contact with 

may feel your presence in my spirit."

~Blessed John Henry Newman

 quote found on Becky Eldredge's blog

Glorious Dawn

  the landscape just past Astorga, early one morning following a thunderstorm

“Let the splendour of your glory dawn in our hearts.”

~Liturgy of the Hours 

 Quote from Picturing God Blog

Everyday miracles

A few of the many wildflowers seen beside the path en route for Rabanal del Camino

“Take time to celebrate the quiet miracles that seek no attention.”

~John O’Donohue

h/t: quote seen on the Picturing God blog.

Sacred Ground

nearing the Orisson gite on a flatter section of the climb over the Pyrenees

'Any place is sacred ground, 

for it can become a place of encounter with the Divine Presence.'

"These words from Br. David Steindl-Rast, appeared on the 'Word for the Day' on the gratefulness.org website on New Year's Day this year. Wonderful words for the beginning of the year, they reminded me that I can stand on sacred ground and meet God anywhere.
When I am aware of God's presence, I am not only filled with gratitude, but I learn to treat others with reverence and respect."

~John Dew         Archbishop of Wellington, New Zealand

who walked the Camino Frances in 2010

Solitary Walking

 arrow someone has made in stone at a crossroads in routes

heading for Astorga on the beautiful, less-peopled 'countryside' option from Hospital de Orbigo

"How many of us are completely at ease with our own thoughts, 
comfortably at home in our own minds and bodies?
I know I'm not always in this ideal state. 
Far from it. 
So solitary walking gives me the chance to explore a little 
the murky depths of my own mind, 
to clear some weeds from the muddy pool of my unconscious, 
to sort out my ideas and beliefs, 
to shine a little light into my soul, 
to reflect on God and the nature of life, death and the universe. 
And, with luck, to meet up with some interesting people, 
and enjoy a few beers with them along the Way..."

~Robert

on his Solitary Walker blog

Robert has many reflections on walking you might want to check out,

as well as accounts of the varied walking journeys he has made.

Flowers of the Camino

 

Flowers seen beside the path nearing San Martin del Camino, 

after a long hot day's walk, mostly near highway, out of Leon.

“There are always flowers for those who want to see them.”

 

—Henri Matisse

 Quote found on 'Picturing God' website

On my last night in Santiago I had a very special conversation 

with a Frenchman I had met a few times along the Camino.

He had always struck me as a prayerful, reflective man, full of wisdom,

who thought a lot about others. 

(I was surprised though to find him on the altar of the Cathedral in Santiago as a deacon!)

In our last conversation

he told me that I was 'une fleur du camino'

-a flower of the Camino. 

But he also gently said that a flower sometimes has to die to make a seed.

His words and his love have always remained within me.

Mist in the hills surrounding O'Cebreiro

Mist seen in valleys below on the descent from O'Cebreiro

"What’s it like to be back? We can’t seem to stop walking, and on one of our impromptu hikes, Lisa observed: “I thought it would be somehow more . . . spiritual.”

I thought it would be more spiritual, too. Originally, we’d planned to walk the questions posed in John’s gospel, pondering one question each day. There are some great ones, worthy of weighty consideration: “What are you looking for?” “Do you want to be made well?” “Do you also want to go away?” And Pilate’s hauntingly cynical: “What is truth?”

On the Camino, however, the questions that consumed us were quite different: “Was that the alarm?” “Should I be paying attention to this pain?” “Can we stop for a café con leche?” “Are we there yet?”

So much for John’s questions.

But I could tell you the phases of the moon along the trek, when the first light comes, how the sun glints off the lantern of the cathedral of Santiago. I could describe magical forests in Galicia and how the morning mists create islands of the hills surrounding O’Cebreiro"....

"This is not the spirituality we anticipated; it’s the spirituality we got."

~ Martha E. Stortz

from "Pilgrimage"

an article in Santa Clara Magazine

Summer 2010 

Landscape

 Landscape after Estella

"It is a pity indeed to travel and not get this essential sense of landscape values. 

You do not need a sixth sense for it. 

It is there if you just close your eyes and breathe softly through your nose; 

you will hear the whispered message, for all landscapes ask the same question in the same whisper. 

'I am watching you -- are you watching yourself in me?' 

Most travelers hurry too much...

the great thing is to try and travel with the eyes of the spirit wide open, 

and not too much factual information. 

To tune in, without reverence, idly -- 

but with real inward attention. 

It is to be had for the feeling...

you can extract the essence of a place once you know how. 

If you just get as still as a needle, you'll be there."

~Lawrence Durrell (Spirit of Place: Letters and Essays on Travel)

The dreamers

 Two Italian women having dinner in Triacastela

-two of the many wonderful dreamers I met along the way...

"Every great dream begins with a dreamer. 

Always remember, you have within you 

the strength, the patience, and the passion 

to reach for the stars to change the world."

~Harriet Tubman

Cruz de Ferro

Cruz de Ferro in the mist, on the mountains above Foncebadon

"The mountain remains unmoved 

at seeming defeat by the mist."

- Rabindranath Tagore

Some people prepare very well for their encounter with the Cruz de Ferro

carrying stones all along the way that they will place there

in atonement for their sins or for the intentions of others.

And for some, this is a significant place where they leave behind past guilts,

and drop their burdens on the stone pile below the cross.

But I wasn't among them.

Religiously, I was quite unmoved.

It was the mist that moved me

to both delight and annoyance

-it was so gloriously thick but there was no view!

Early Morning

In the countryside after Astorga- walking early- 
with the remnants of a thunderstorm still in the air

"I'll tell you how the sun rose a ribbon at a time."

~Emily Dickinson 

On warmer days in France and Spain 

I always preferred to start walking in the morning cool.

To walk as the world awoke to a new day 

was always a time of real joy for me

deep quiet joy.

And this particular morning I walked with my Quebec friends.

It had been an unbearably hot night,

until in the early hours, a loud thunderstorm began. 

We were glad to escape early, 

though nervous lest the storm return while we were in the open.

We were all excited, after so many days of 'flat' walking

to be heading for the mountains again, 

towards Rabanal del Camino... Foncebadon..... Cruz de Ferro...

places of mysterious names, 

all in the higher land that we couldn't wait to climb.

Showing Love

With friends met on the Camino, in Santiago near the Cathedral 
 

"The only thing we really have to work at in this life

is how to manifest love."

~George Harrison

In this photo are three friends- two from Quebec and one from France.
Met on the Camino, they are jewels in my heart forever.

H/T to Mighty Ambivalent Catholic blog for quote, in a thought-provoking post

On this beautiful path....

 en route between Cirauqui and Estella

"The mind can go in a thousand directions, 

but on this beautiful path, I walk in peace. 

With each step, the wind blows. 

With each step, a flower blooms."

 ~Thich Nhat Hanh

I loved the beauty in these early days walking in Spain,

with fields so unexpectedly green and 'spring-like'

and medieval villages and bridges

that reminded you that you walked in historic steps.

Medieval pilgrims, ancient Romans and even those from times lost in pre-history

have also walked here.

Hillary Quote

My Quebec friends eating lunch near the high point on the Route Napoleon over the Pyrenees.

 “It’s not the mountain we conquer, 

but ourselves.”

~Sir Edmund Hillary

We had looked at the altitude charts for weeks,

fearing the day we had to ascend the pass over the Pyrenees. 

In the event, we found it was 'not so hard'.

The weather was kind the day we crossed

not too hot or cold, and just a little cloudy near the top.

And we found that our weeks of walking in France had prepared our bodies well.

The crossing- which we split into two with a night in Orisson-

became an event of great joy!