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

Simplicity, Patience, Compassion

Woman who had walked from Brittany, relaxing in Ostabat,

"I have just three things to teach: 

simplicity, patience, compassion. 

These three are your greatest treasures. 

Simple in actions and in thoughts, 

you return to the source of being. 

Patient with both friends and enemies, 

you accord with the way things are. 

Compassionate toward yourself, 

you reconcile all beings in the world."

(Tao Te Ching, Chapter 67)

This French woman who I met in Ostabat was persevering despite great pain in her feet. 
I never saw her again after SJPP where I took an extra rest day. I hope she made it to Santiago, either on this walk or at a later time. She had walked pretty much alone until Bordeaux when she had met a pair of women walking, one of whom was seriously sight-impaired. 
The three walked together, helping each other. They were an inspiration.

"Thursday's child has far to go!"

 Distance to Santiago on sign on outskirts of Le-Puy-en-Velay

 "Only those who will risk going too far 

can possibly find out how far they can go."

-- T.S. Eliot

Incidentally, there was another sign 

not too many metres away from this one 

that gave another, even longer, distance estimate. 

It is probably as well I never noticed it at the time!!

And yes, I am a 'Thursday's child'
-prophetic that saying!

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

"Real Maturity" and Cats

Real Cat seen in Auvillar

"Sometimes when I get up in the morning, I feel very peculiar. 

I feel like I've just got to bite a cat! 

I feel like if I don't bite a cat before sundown, I'll go crazy! 

But then I just take a deep breath and forget about it. 

That's what is known as real maturity."

~Charles Schultz on prudence and temperance (as Snoopy in Peanuts)

H/T to Ironic Catholic for this quote 

I think that walking the Camino brings out some 'real maturity'

- when the going gets tough sometimes, you just gotta keep going-

Plus the Camino often has you rolling in laughter uncontrollably

with your Camino mates

-in a way that's not easily understood by anyone who hasn't walked the Camino-

So this humour from Snoopy belongs here rather well....
 

One of the sculptured cats of La Romieu - a town well worth the detour- don't miss it folks!

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!

 

Woyaya- We will get there

Home-made sign seen soon after Arzacq-Arraziguet

"We will get there
Heaven knows how we will get there
We know we will
It will be hard we know
And the road will be muddy and rough
But we'll get there
 Heaven knows how we will get there
We know we will."

~Osibisa 

Along the way at times, especially in France,

you would see home-made 

signs, or seats, or shelters, or food/drink stops

for pilgrims.

Always, it was great for morale,

a sign that others were thinking of you, encouraging you along the Chemin. 

Always, a little 'thank you' prayer went up...

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."'

Discovery

"All walking is discovery. 

On foot we take the time to see things whole."

~ Hal Borland

My friends from Quebec walking in Galicia,

in the last few days before we arrived in Santiago.

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....

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...)