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

a significant journey

 My Camino shoes, all washed and scrubbed up for the journey home
-hopefully clean enough to get through our Kiwi quarantine checks-
somewhat more battered than when they started the journey.

“Every significant journey changes us in some way.  

We are hardly ever aware of this while we are in the midst of it.  

We may have hints and glimpses of these changes 

but it is only later, in looking back 

that we gasp in amazement at what was being formed and shaped in our lives.  

Only then do we recognize how a new attitude, 

a stronger dedication, 

and a fuller passion stretched us into the fullness of life.  

Then we are able to identify the journey’s ability 

to propel us into unexpected growth."

- Joyce Rupp Walk in a Relaxed Manner

 Seen on Andy's Pilgrimpace blog- thanks Andy.

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.

A Long Walk

 Countryside near Saugues on the Le Puy route

"What on earth has happened to me 
in these 5 years since my first Camino? 

Then I simply decided to go for a long walk 

but of course I discovered as we all do 
that as well as the physical act of walking 

which is deeply meditative, 

the simplicity of the way of life, 

the friendship of strangers 

and the beauty of the countryside 

are actually a powerful spiritual brew."

~Johnnie Walker

Pilgrimage and Church

 Church in the village of Gaillac, as seen soon after leaving Cajarc

"Above all I suppose the experience opens my mind to God 

in ways which Church never does. 

Increasingly I’ve become bothered again by aspects of Church: 

by the lack of caring, the focus on power, 

the marginalisation of women inevitable in a male dominated organisation 

and the pompous self regard of many leaders. 

Now I find these feelings fading and taking on a new perspective. 

When I rage about it I want to take them all, Pope included, on pilgrimage. 

I realise I can only take myself."

~Johnnie Walker

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 

Compostela

"When I got upstairs to the office I asked if they had seen the queue. 

“Tell us” Eva said and when I did she blessed herself. 

“Headbangers” all, I thought fondly. Me included. 

Why else would we stand and wait for a stamp and a certificate 

which to many is just a piece of paper?

The answer is of course that it marks the end of a significant journey. 

A personal pilgrimage which has taken time and effort."

~from Johnnie Walker's blog posting,

about his experience in the Pilgrim Office

When I finally stood in the square in front of the Cathedral in Santiago

I knew I had achieved something that was both

-very simple- a succession of day walks, mostly not too hard, and also

-amazing- a feat of endurance and perseverance that had taken me nearly three months.

I wasn't really sure whether I should ask for the Compostela, or the non-religious certificate, 
but I knew I would treasure the piece of paper I was given at the Pilgrim Office!

Addendum: 25 August 

Rebekah has just reported a tragic death on her blog, where a Frenchwoman died in an accident on the journey home, after finishing her pilgrimage and receiving her Compostela. Those at the Pilgrim's Office immediately arranged a memorial Mass to pray for her. It adds a whole new layer of 'special-ness' to the meaning of the Compostela.

'...my friends at the pilgrim office in Santiago de Compostela got to work. They looked up the pilgrim credentials, they hustled over to the cathedral office, and the Monolithic Catholic Institution everyone rails against worked like a well-oiled machine to celebrate a beautiful memorial Mass for "la peregrina Frances."'

living in the moment

Rebekah and Paddy's bodega, Moratinos

on the Meseta

"I´m making a concerted effort to really see the world that´s moving around me,

to train my mind to not spend all my time thinking
about what happened yesterday or ten years ago or last week, 

or what I hope will or will not happen tomorrow or next month or when I´m 64.
All I have is now. And I want to live here."

~Rebekah, resident in Moratinos

 Blog: Big fun in a tiny pueblo

Beauty

The village of Hontanas, 

on the Meseta, mid-June 2008

"Beauty consoled and strengthened me

during the countless times my legs and feet hurt from walking

and my shoulders pained from carrying my backpack.....

...... The natural splendor around me gave me hope

when my hungry soul longed for a touch of enthusiasm.

Always the many forms of beauty on the Camino

reached out to me,

asking nothing more than that I embrace their gifts."

~Joyce Rupp

in 'Walk in a Relaxed Manner: 

Life Lessons from the Camino'

Pilgrimage in the tougher times

Pilgrim leaving Rieutort d'Aubrac
on a morning that promises difficult weather conditions, like the day before.

"Brendan who was leading the Novena said,
“If you don’t feel like doing this,
if you are angry, if you have problems, if your faith is weak…
you are especially welcome…
come on the journey with us and let us support you through these nine days together.”

In that moment I realised that last year that’s what my Caminos
including the nine day journey in Clapham
had done for me.
I’ve learned that pilgrimage is not just for the good times in life,
it can also be about sustaining us
through the times of great difficulty."

~From Johnnie Walker's post
'Pilgrimage is not just for the good times'

"What about the God bit?"

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”?"

~From the blog: Camino to Santiago de Compostela
by Johnnie Walker

walking becomes the praying

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."

~ From Andy's Pilgrimpace Blog
'a short walk from Swanwick'

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.

Simplicity

Heading for Camping Pech Ibert

"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."

~Johnnie Walker
on `The Simple Life'


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.

Glowing...

En route between Astorga and Rabanal del Camino

"Glowing...
this is the thing about pictures of people on the Camino.
This light within...
As if the Camino washed the soul and cleared the eyes."

~Claire Bangasser
in a comment on Johnnie Walker's blog

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....

dawdlers and daydreamers

"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...

Pilgrim life as it is lived.....

Lunch break with other pilgrims at Saint Felix, en route to Figeac

Some gems from Nell's Camino Frances blog:

"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!

Step by step....

With my Quebec friends- first day on the Meseta

"......concentrate on only the next step; and keep walking.

Think about what is working well

- not about your aches and pains.

Don't think about the total number of kilometres you are walking.

Only think about what you are walking today.

Right now.

Step by step, hill by hill, rest stop by rest stop

- that's how you accomplish your goal."

Lynne, from Santiago Forum

I carried these words of Lynne's with me -and on some of the hard early days

when the rain was heavy and the tracks were like streams

and my feet were tender

I repeated these words to myself, and they got me through!

(until finally, thankfulness took hold...)