Refuge, refugio, albergue (del peregrino), pilgrim hostel (click here to view video)

Refuge, refugio, albergue (del peregrino), pilgrim hostel – these are all terms for the pilgrim shelters along the various camino routes in Spain. If you can spare 10 minutes to watch the Youtube video of the DVD "Welcome", you will get a sense of what the pilgrim albergues are all about.

What are they? Where are they? What are they like? Are they all huge, noisy, crammed dormitories with snoring, snuffling pilgrims? What are the beds like, and the showers? Do they give you meals?

Pilgrim shelters - albergues - are places for pilgrims (not tourists) to sleep overnight while on their pilgrimage. Found in almost every town and village, they follow in the thousand year tradition of providing shelter to pilgrims on their way to the tomb of Saint James in Compostela.

They are found in restored churches, halls, renovated barns, private homes and many other structures. Some are open all year, others only in summer so always check your guide book before deciding on where to stay.

In Ribadiso do Baixo, also known by pilgrims as Puente Paradiso, there is an award winning albergue in the restored hospice of San Anton on the banks of the Rio Isa , which dates from the fourteenth century. It has modern ablutions, a washroom for clothes, kitchen, and in 2007 we found a new bar and restaurant right next door - business must be booming!

In Leon, one of the most cramped shelters but also one of the few that separates men and women, your hosts are the nuns of the Convento Santa Maria de las Carabjalas. You can attend a mass at 8pm and will have a blessing and breakfast before you leave in the morning. There is no kitchen but you can make tea or coffee in the common room.

In Manjarin, a donativo albergue, 10 people sleep in a small stone barn on mattresses laid out on a wooden platform. There is no running water, toilet or electricity. Tomas Le Paz is a Knight Templar who conducts a Templarios ceremony every morning at 11am (when it is 12pm in Jersualem). He provides an evening meal -cooked on a gas stove - and a breakfast. He also provides tea or coffee to passing and visiting pilgrims throughout the day.

In Hospital de San Nicolas, 10 people sleep on mattresses in the loft of a restored hermitage church. The monks wash the pilgrims' feet - following the tradition of Maundy Thursday when Christ washed the feet of his disciples - you have a pilgrim blessing and sing pilgrim songs at dinner by lamplight.

Some modern albergues are like university campus digs with all mod-cons including vending machines, cafeteria, bar and computer room for internet. Not much atmosphere and little camaraderie with other pilgrims.

There are over 120 pilgrim albergues (refuges) on the Camino Frances. Some are provided by the church, some by the local government or municipality; others are owned and run by volunteers from different Confraternities of St James around the world such as the 'donativo' Gaucelmo albergue in Rabanal which is owned and run by the CSJ - UK.

There are albergues that are owned by individuals or families who have devoted their lives to providing shelter to pilgrims, such as the refuge at Manjarin which is run by Tomas Martinez Le Paz, and Ave Fenix at Villafranca del Bierzo which Jesus Jato and his family have been running almost all their lives.

Most of the church, municipal and confraternity owned albergues are ‘donativo’ – donation. However, from 1 January 2008, all the municipal or church sponsored albergues in the Province of Galicia started levying a charge of 3€.

You cannot book a bed ahead at a church, municipal or CSJ owned albergue. These are run on a first come, first served basis. Most of these also don’t accept pilgrims with vehicle back-up, those who have sent their backpacks on ahead, or who have arrived by bus, train or taxi, and many do not accept large groups.
These albergues also have a ‘pecking order’ in that walking pilgrims take priority and pilgrims on bicycles often have to wait until evening before being told whether or not they have a bed for the night.

Many of the privately owned albergues have come together under the umbrella of an organisation called Red de Albergues Camino de Santiago. They publish an annually updated fold out list of all the albergues along the Camino Frances ‘donde el camino se hace reposo’ (where the camino sleeps) with the mileage between villages and towns, and symbols indicating whether the establishment has internet, a kitchen, laundry facilities, a bar or restaurant etc.

Their ‘Rules of Use’ are that the albergues are for the exclusive use of pilgrims on foot, bicycle or horseback who have the pilgrims’ credential. However, they also provide contact details for pilgrims wanting to send their backpacks on ahead. You can download a brochure from their website:
(Redalberguessantiago.com)

Some of the newer albergues offer single and double rooms, rooms for 4 people in 2 bunk beds with en suite bathroom, rooms for 10 people and dormitories that sleep up to 80 pilgrims. The charges vary from 5€ for a general dormitory to 9€ for a private room.

Few albergues offer any meals but some, in the more remote areas, offer a communal evening meal and, perhaps, bread, biscuits, tea and coffee for breakfast. These are either ‘donativo’ or for a few euros. Some that come to mind are Eunate, Villa Mayor Monjardin, Granón, Tosantos, Arroyo San Bol and Manjarin. Pilgrims might be asked to help prepare the evening meal and to wash the dishes afterwards.

Some albergues have kitchens although most of these are usually poorly equipped with shortages of pots and pans, crockery and cutlery. Most albergues have electricity and those that don’t, cook on gas stoves and eat by lamplight.

There are very few albergues that have single beds. Villadangos is an exception with beds in one large room and bunks in smaller rooms: Bercianos also has a room with beds and in Azofra - a large modern albergue - there are two beds per cubicle.

Most provide bunk beds in dormitories or rooms that sleep from 10 people to 200 people. None provide linen so sleeping bags or liners are essential. The majority offer blankets and some even provide a pillow.

There are a number of albergues where pilgrims sleep on mattresses on the floor. This, in my opinion, is often more comfortable than sleeping on a bunk bed especially if the mattress is soft or lumpy or if the bunk is a triple deck bunk!

All but the most basic albergues have showers, basins, toilets and wash tubs for washing clothes. Some provide washing machines and dryers. There are a minimal number of albergues that do not have electricity, running water or even toilets. (Manjarin, San Bol, Hospital San Nicholas, Convento San Anton). These, almost medieval refuges, are often the most spiritual, atmospheric places to stay.

Itzandegia at Roncesvalles is the first albergue a pilgrim will stay in along the Camino Frances in Spain. It is a large restored 12th century stone building with a vaulted ceiling that has 100 bunk beds, a heating system and hot water for the showers. It is necessary to show the Pilgrims' Credential and the inscription ticket at the entrance. Price: 5 euros. (They do not have blankets).

In Larrasoana the beds are in the old municipal hall as well as a second building not far away that caters for overflow numbers. The ablutions are in a pre-fab hut alongside the building.

There are two albergues in Pamplona – Paderbon which is run by the German St Jakob Association and for 4€ you can stay in a large modern albergue in the newly restored church of Maria y Jesus.

The albergue ANFAS outside Estella is run by people with special needs.

In Granón you climb a spiral stairway up a tall bell tower of the church and sleep on mattresses on the floor. The donativo albergue has a box with an inscription – “Give what you can – take what you need’. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEkftcdOmjk

Yellow Arrows lead the way along the camino paths and also in the towns and villages to the albergues.
Albergues close for most of the day so that volunteers can clean up and get it ready for the daily influx of new pilgrims. Most only open at about 2pm and you have to leave by 8am or 8h30 the next morning.
If you arrive at an albergue that is still closed, you put your backpack down on the ground in line and wait for the volunteer 'hospitalero' to arrive. Some hospitaleros ask you to take your boots off before entering the dormitories. You might also be asked to leave your walking sticks in a predetermined place.
You usually have to sign in by writing your name, age, nationality, starting place, whether you are walking, cycling etc. into a register. Your credential is stamped and you give a donation or pay the required amount.
You might be shown where the bedrooms and ablutions are, and you might also be told the rules of the house - lights out, time to vacate in the morning etc.
You mark your bed by unrolling your sleeping bag onto it. You leave your backpack next to the bed and go off to shower, wash clothes, find food or sightsee.
Shower and bathrooms are usually uni-sex. Two places I've stayed in did not have shower curtains or doors.
Most albergues have a curfew - 10h30pm or 11pm when lights are switched off and doors are locked. Pilgrims may only stay one night and the only exception might be if you are injured and cannot walk the next day.
Pilgrims staying in the albergues will have free medical treatment for minor injuries such as blisters, tendinitis or pulled muscles.

In most towns you have the option of staying in alternative accommodations such as small hotels, hostales, fondas (inns) or even up-market paradors. A single room in a small inn can cost from 20 - 30 euro: hotales from 30 - 45 euro: hotels from 45 - 60 euro.

Paradors are the state-run hotels that are found throughout Spain. In 2008, they range from 100€ a room to 500€ a suite. Many are restored medieval castles, Arab fortresses, palaces, monasteries and convents.

The Hostal de los Reyes Catolicos in Santiago was built in 1499 as a pilgrim hospice and hospital. It became a hotel in 1953 and is one of Spain’s most sumptuous state run Paradors. The cost of the rooms range from 210E to 525E per night. It retains the tradition of providing a free meal to at least 10 pilgrims each day.

Stone barn at Manjarin. Pilgrims sleep on mattresses on the floor

Modern albergue in Azofra: Kitchen, 2 beds to a cubicle, splash pool.

Albergue Vegetariano in La Faba run by a German 'hippie'.

El Parral - huts in the park in Burgos (A new albergue will open in the city in September 2008)

Albergue de Atapuerca. Small kitchen/no cooking/8 to a room: www.albergueatapuerca.com

Albergue San Javier in Astorga - noisy, wooden floors, nice courtyard, equipped kitchen, friendly hospitaleros

New, private albergue in el Ganso. Friendly owner, use of kitchen, 3 bed room downstairs, bunk beds upstairs, use of washing machine

Beautiful gardens - Boadilla - bunk beds or on mattresses in the loft: family run

http://www.boadilladelcamino.com/

Arroyo San Bol - very basic, bunk beds, no running water, medicinal spring, gas stove (no electricity) no toilet. New Knight Templar took over in 2008

New Terradillos de los Templarios albergue: Cafeteria, bar: 4 bed ensuite rooms cost 9 E: general dorm 5 E: www.terradillos-jdemolay.com

My favourite albergues? (Not the 'best' most upmarket, clean, modern, but the best for atmosphere, caring and spirituality.

*Eunate – meal by candlelight – walk around the church in the moonlight (Check opening times – sometimes is closed if there is no hospitalero)

*Granon – sleep on mattresses in the bell tower of a church – sing for your supper (Open all year)

*Tosantos – sleep on mattresses - pilgrim blessing in the attic chapel – pray for pilgrims who have left a prayer request (not sure of opening times)

*Arroyo San Bol - Run by Francisco, a Knight Templar – no running water, 1000yr old medicinal spring at the back, no electricity, no toilet –.(Open April – mid October)

*Convento San Anton – magical, basic albergue in the ruins of the San Anton convent (Open to end of September)

*San Nicolas - – sleep on mattresses in the loft of a restored church – communal meal cooked by Italian hospitaleros, pilgrim blessing includes washing of pilgrims feet (late June to mid-September)

*Bercianos – ancient straw and mud house, watch the sunset before being allowed to have a communal dinner
*Manjarin – Atmospheric albergue run by Tomas the Templar - basic, no running water, electricity or toilet. Sleep in a stone barn on mattresses – stay for the Templario blessing and ceremony at 11am. (Open all year)
*Villafranca del Bierzo - Ave Fenix run by the Jato family for almost 30 years – Jesus Jato is a healer. (Open all year)
*La Faba – Albergue Vegetariano run by a German hippie who sells incense and Eastern jewellery: pick the vegetables in the field next door and help cook the dinner.

WEIGHT WATCHERS - FOR BACKPACKS

Travel light ......don’t take too much stuff.........your backpack should not weigh more than 10 – 15% of your bodyweight……. a too heavy backpack will spoil your pilgrimage .....
Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! We all hear this, over and over again, at workshops, on Forums, in Guidebooks and from experienced pilgrims. But it just doesn’t sink in.

How on earth can you travel for 4 – 6 weeks with only 3 pairs of knickers? How can you manage with only 2 pairs of shorts – come on!
2 T-shirts, 1 long sleeve shirt, 1 warm jacket, a raincoat and no pajamas – give me a break!
What do I sleep in? What do I wear when we go out to a restaurant? (** See answers at the end of this post.)
What about when I come out of the showers – surely a light sarong can’t weigh much, or a little black jacket, or a flimsy nightdress? Surely an extra two pairs of lacy panties weigh nothing at all and an extra bra or two can’t overload the backpack? If I take those lightweight, two-in-one trousers – that will give me an extra pair of long trousers and a pair of shorts – clever me! If I take these trousers I could slip in a pair of lightweight matching shoes to wear in the evenings. After all, I can’t go out with boots, or flip-flop sandals. And so on, and so on, and so on.

Don't be fooled – EVERYTHING WEIGHS SOMETHING.
And, when you add all those somethings up, you find that instead of a 7kg pack, you have a 12kg pack: and, if you start off with a 12kg pack – before adding water, food and perhaps a guide book – your pack will grow to 15kgs, and then you WILL be in trouble. Put your backpack on Weight-Watchers or a Weigh-Less program. Treat it like an overweight friend who you will have to carry for 800km. Weigh it empty and weigh EVERYTHING that goes into it's mouth!

So, the first thing you need to buy is a good digital scale that will weigh articles up to 5kg and take it shopping with you. Weigh everything you buy and if one t-shirt weighs less than another, buy the lighter one: remember - every ounce, every gram - counts.


Start off by weighing your friend - does your pack weigh too much to begin with? 1kg to 2kg is too heavy.
Because most backpacks are made for people who climb mountains, or go on long camping trips they are made of heavy duty, rip-proof fabrics to cater for stoves, cooking gear, tents, pins and food. Some have facilities for snow hooks and poles. They invariably have inner frames to help stabilize the loaded pack and they come with wide, padded hip belts to take the weight off the shoulders and onto the hips.

The Mountain Backpackers of SA will tell you that you don't need any of this reinforcing if you intend carrying less than 8kg of 'soft' contents, consisting mainly of clothing. Unfortunately, few outdoor centres have even heard of the camino and when they hear "... I'm going on an 800km hike..." they will obviously try to sell you a heavyweight, sturdy, endurance model that probably weighs up to 2kg empty. Don't buy it!!
Most backpacks that are sold in the outdoor shops today are of the "internal frame" variety. This means that there are metal strips embedded in the backpack on the side which will be next to your back to help make the pack more rigid and therefore more comfortable to wear. These strips can be bent so that the pack fits more snugly against the body.
If you keep your pack weight down to under 10kg you don't need an internal frame.

New generation backpacks are made with ultra-lightweight, rip-stop fabrics with features like thermarest backing for comfort and rigidity, detachable hip belts, shoulder pockets to stuff with socks or camping towels for extra padding and so on.

EG: The Gossamer Gear Murmur ultralight pack is for loads of 9 kg (20 lbs) or less and for trips of 1,000 miles/50 trail days or less. It sports a webbing only hip belt, is a one size fits most pack and weighs in at a paltry 212g (7.5 oz) fully loaded with all its features. The Murmur has side pockets, side compression straps, a pad holder pocket, an adjustable sternum strap and a minimal hydration bladder shelf. http://www.gossamergear.com/cgi-bin/gossamergear/Murmur

Or you could try the OMM 32L that weighs 575g lean weight and 77gg with all fixtures: This pack can do it all. It's been on the top of Everest and on a major new route in Peru. And of course help people win numerous marathons. It has the Lean-weight chassis system for a comfortable and stable carry. The unique UGR enables skis and ice axes to be carried. It's covered in mesh pouches for extra storage (big enough for a helmet) and has zipped waist band pockets. Compression straps give a stable carry when your not fully loaded. Tow loop. This bag can be used for any sport where a rucksack is required.
If you want something a little more substantial, the GoLite range have packs like the GoLite Gust that weighs as little as 570g (1lb 4oz).

It is a good idea to try on several backpacks before choosing one to purchase. If in doubt, take along an experienced backpacker to help you with your choice. (Don't buy a backpack that is too large for you with the idea that you might at some time need the extra capacity.)

What about clothing? Make a list based on experienced pilgrims' list and stick to it - no extras! These days you are spoiled for choice. Even chain stores like Mr. Price Sports stock ultralight underwear, shirts and shorts made of wicking fabrics that wick the sweat away from the body. They wash well and dry quickly. Weigh the clothing - you might have a choice of 2 pairs of shorts, or trousers, don't buy on colour preference - buy the pair that weighs less. If you are a short person and the t-shirts are all mid-thigh in length, cut a few inches of the bottom of the shirt. Every gram/ounce counts!

If you are walking in summer, you won't need a -10oC sleeping bag that weighs over 1kg (2.2lbs). Buy a sleeping bag liner instead. Silk liners weigh about 230g and a polyester liner only a few grams more. (Most pilgrim refuges have blankets so you won't freeze. If it is very cold, wear all your clothes to keep warm.

Toiletries: Take sample or hotel sizes bottles of shampoo/soap/toothpaste etc: Spain is a first world country with more Farmacias than bottle stores! You can top up all your toiletries along the way. Take a large lightweight camp towel: 8 plastic pegs: a mesh laundry bag.
Medication: Take tablets out of the boxes and pack them in small zip-lock bags.

This is my summer pack list for the camino - broken down into what goes in the pack, what I wear and what I carry in a waist bag/shoes/poles etc. My pack never weighs more than 5kg to start and about 6kg with food and extra water.

/Back%20Pack%20list%20for%20the%20Camino.xls

Remember, if you intend taking your backpack into the cabin when you fly, it will have to comply with weight and dimension restrictions.

To read more about the advantages of ultra-light backpacking, visit this site:
http://www.the-ultralight-site.com/backpacking.html

PS:
* You wear one - wash one - wear one - wash one... day after day after day!
* If you buy shorts with built in undies you won't need more than 2 extra panties to wear with the long trousers.
* You sleep in the clothes you are going to wear the next day.
* You wear your boots or sandals to the restaurant - like all the other pilgrims do.
* You wear the same long trousers and jacket to every restaurant you go to.

When you get to Finisterre you might want to burn the lot - just like the medieval pilgrims did!

Buen Camino!

el Camino de Santiago - 2002

El Camino de Santiago

We trained for months to walk the trail.
Got all the guide books in the mail
We knew that we would never fail
el Camino de Santiago

We caught the bus on our first day
to Roncesvalles, and I must say
that the twisting roads blew me away
el Camino de Santiago

Men and women in one dorm
In every single shape and form
Undressing in situ is the norm on
el Camino de Santiago

Thirty-nine years I have been wed
And no other man has shared my bed
But the man on top made my face turn red
el Camino de Santiago.

When the lights went out I prayed for morning
But I couldn’t sleep because of the snoring
And the bare-arsed man? I tried to ignore him
el Camino de Santiago.

When we reached Larrasoana the beds were full
“You can sleep on the floor,” said the mayor “if you will”.
The man in middle back-fired all night.
el Camino de Santiago.

By the third day we’d learned a thing or two.
If you wanted the laundry, shower or loo
You had to hurry to get into the queue
el Camino de Santiago

Some shower cubicles didn’t have any doors and
no hooks to hang clothes so they went on the floor
the water was freezing, my body felt raw.
el Camino de Santiago

On day number four, at last some sunshine
The Irache fuente offers water or wine
I think I’ll like the Camino just fine!
el Camino de Santiago

We’re now in wine country – in La Rioja
A ninety year-old woman offers figs, love & water
Saw Santiago Matamoros in the church of St James
El Camino de Santiago

Long shadows at daybreak, white trails in the sky,
Red poppies, green fields, and stork nests on high
And sunsets so beautiful they make you cry
el Camino de Santiago

Yellow arrows to follow day after day
Concrete stele with scallop shells showing the way
Vineyards, cherries, fields full of hay
el Camino de Santiago.

We met Germans, Italians, Carlos from Brazil
(the lady from Chile was awfully shrill)
Yanks, the French, a priest from Seville
el Camino de Santiago

Queso and pan and bocadillos too
This is the regular pilgrim’s food
A Menu del Peregrino is waiting for you
On el Camino de Santiago.

At days end I’m tired and just want to sleep
But first I have to attend to my feet
Blisters and plasters, a rub with Deep-Heat
el Camino de Santiago.

I have hair like straw and a pilgrim tan
Brown face, brown legs, brown arms and hands
We all look the same, each woman and man
el Camino de Santiago

I am sick of mud. I am tired of rocks.
I’m fed up with Compeed stuck to my socks.
Churches all look the same, Romanesque or Baroque
el Camino de Santiago

In Burgos the albergue’s in cabins - quite rough
But worse are the trees that shed thick, white fluff
I sneeze through the night – my sinuses stuffed
el Camino de Santiago

It is four in the morning; what is that racket?
A pilgrim is rustling a plastic packet
If I knew who it was I would give him a wack!
el Camino de Santiago.

At Hospital de Orbigo they abandon siesta
to celebrate an annual Medieval Fiesta
Then after Astorga the Marageteria
el camino de Santiago

Four days of flat walking on the meseta
with horizons that go on forever and ever
It’s raining and the path is getting wetter
el Camino de Santiago

It rained in the night and the path was slush
The pilgrims’ language made me blush!
One slipped and fell and said “Oh Fuck”
el Camino de Santiago.

At Manjarin the views are vast
and from Tomas the Templar a Gregorian chant
and the Cruz de Ferro, a famous landmark
el Camino de Santiago

Logrono, Najera, San Juan de Ortega,
San Anton, Fromista and Mansilla Mayor
Orbigo, Astorga, Villafranca del Bierzo
el Camino de Santiago

My mind switches off and I’m walking quite fast
I am part of the landscape, of present and past
Have I been here before - in a previous life?
el camino de Santiago

We meet different pilgrims everyday
My memories of those met before fade away
Are they ahead or behind? Who can say?
el Camino de Santiago

We entered Galicia at O’Cebreiro
The mist was so thick that it hid all the arrows
The first thing we saw was a Celtic Palloza
el Camino de Santiago

Past barnyards and farm yards, ankle deep in cow-shit.
Small hamlets, quaint houses and churches quite rustic
Corriedors through forests of Eucalyptus and oak
el Camino de Santiago

Got a sello at the barracks-like complex of Mont de Gozo
Everyone agreed that it was a real eyesore.
Then highways and traffic, the forests no more
el Camino de Santiago

No bagpipes to meet us, no cheering, no medal
We looked up in awe at St James’ Cathedral
We’d made it! We’d done it! We all felt the thrill.
el Camino de Santiago.

Climbed stairs to hug the saint above the altar
Touched the Tree of Jesse carved by Mateo the master
Entered the crypt to look at Saint James’ casket
el Camino de Santiago

A Santiago cross, a certificate, a book fill of sellos,
Souvenirs of the journey - Ultreya e sus eia
But memories remain my most valuable mementos
of El Camino de Santiago.

The lessons I learned are with me still.
Let go, be kind, don’t be critical.
We’re all pilgrims on our journey to heaven
along el Camino de Santiago.

2002

PREPARING FOR YOUR PILGRIMAGE

"This is a great moment, when you see, however distant, the goal of your wandering, the thing which has been living in your imagination, suddenly become part of the tangible world. It matters not how many ranges, rivers or parching dusty ways may lie between you; it is yours now for ever." Freya Stark

Time magazine described the camino as the "Himalaya of Hiking trails". (July 5, 2004) Although it cannot be even remotely compared to climbing Mt. Everest, most camino trails are pretty long hikes as hiking trails go being ± 500 miles or 800km on the Camino Frances - 600 miles on the Via de la Plata - and, if you plan on walking from Paris, Le Puy or Vezelay, you'll walk double that distance.
(By comparison the linear distance between the Himalayan camps to Everest is not great - just over 8.5 miles or 10k - but it is the altitude gain in the mountains that is the most difficult).

Just as dozens of climbers don’t reach the summit of Everest, each year hundreds - if not thousands - of pilgrims do not achieve their goals of walking the entire route, from their chosen starting place, to Santiago de Compostela.

Many pilgrims underestimate the physical challenge of walking for between 5 and 10 hours every day for 4 to 6 weeks with a backpack on and are unable to maintain the pace they set for themselves. They have to resort to catching buses or trains in order to keep to their schedule.

Others suffer blisters, tendonitis, cellulites, strained muscles, shin splints, stress fractures, twisted ankles or knees, broken limbs, colds, flu or sheer exhaustion on the trail. Many have to stop walking, rest up for a few days or go home.

Some just give up when they realise that they are not enjoying the self-inflicted regime of rising early, eating frugally, walking in rain and mud one day and in dusty, blistering heat the next. They can’t adjust to walking in a foreign country, eating different food or sleeping in cramped, noisy dormitories.

On one of the camino Forums a young woman who started in St Jean Pied de Port gave up three days later in Pamplona. “It was just too big for me” she wrote “I struggled on the mountain. I didn’t like the refuges. I didn’t like the food. I just forgot why I wanted to do it in the first place so I have stopped walking but I will visit some of the towns along the way and then go home.”

Nobody in their right mind would attempt to climb the Himalaya without serious training and preparation. Besides collecting and testing the necessary clothing and equipment, and doing lots of physical training, mountaineers and long distance hikers should be mentally and psychologically prepared.

Although hundreds of reasonably fit people walk the camino every year without a heavy regime of training beforehand, the majority of us need to develop our fitness, to be physically strong and to be mentally, psychologically and spiritually prepared. You’ll have a much better chance of enjoying your pilgrimage, of coping with the crossing of two or three mountain ranges, of withstanding the extremes of climate, the change of food and water and of maintaining your focus if you are walking fit, mentally strong and spiritually prepared to accept all the gifts the camino has to offer.

►Physically:
You wouldn't leave by car on a 1000km journey without having a service or at least checking the oil, water, tyre pressure and filling up the tank. Make sure that you are in top physical shape for the long walk. Ensure good health by eating a balanced diet, lots of fruit and vegetable and increase your protein intake to build more muscle, and calcium to strengthen bones. This is not a sprint or a marathon where you need to bulk on carbohydrates. A course of multi-vitamins might balance what your body is lacking. Try to regularly get a good night sleep. Your body recovers while you are sleeping and depriving it of sleep will result in exhaustion and sluggish muscles.
Besides your daily walking training, do specific exercises to strengthen back and shoulder muscles. Whilst watching television, lift weights – perhaps leg lifts with a heavy towel across both feet - to strengthen tummy and torso. For shoulders and arms, hold a 450g tin in each hand and do weight training for arms and shoulders. With arms outstretched on either side of the body rotate the tins to the count of ten; then bring hands to shoulders to the count of ten; bend your arms and bring elbows and hands together, level with shoulders – open and close to the count of ten. Before you go treat your feet to a pedicure so that toenails are short and problem spots are dealt.

Here is an article on multi-day walking that might be useful:

Multi-Day Walking Tactics - Dave Spence
It is one thing to walk a marathon or half marathon for a single day - blisters can be endured to the finish. But to pick yourself up and do it again day after day requires more training and planning to be able to finish each day in good enough shape to keep going.
• Do not skimp on building up your mileage to be able to complete the required distance.
• Walk your long distance workout (3/4 of the longest distance you will be walking), have a rest day and walk it again. Observe any new problems that may develop.
• A month before the you go, try walking your long distance workout on back-to-back days and see what problems you may develop.
• Test your clothing, shoes, pack, diet, snacks and fluids thoroughly on your long distance training days in advance of the event. Do not use anything new or different during the walk.
• When you're on a multi-day walk, you have to carry everything with you on your back - and a common cause of suffering and lack of enjoyment is simply that people carry too much. So, the basic rule is: accustom yourself to modest needs, and travel light. If in doubt, leave it out. Total packed weight therefore, ca 5kg (7kg with sleeping-bag), which, together with the weight of your sack, should just squeeze into airline hand-baggage. To this must be added when walking any food and drink; 1 litre of water weighs ca 1kg but is essential in hot weather.
• Pay careful attention to foot problems. These are the stoppers. Learn how to prepare your feet to ward off the blisters.
• Many long distance walkers have to stop because of overuse injuries. The most common injuries seem to be stress fractures of the feet and or lower leg. Consuming a diet high in calcium both before the trip and during the trip will help reduce the incidence of these types of injuries.
• The focus of a well-designed walking training programme must include a great amount of "impact" activities, like walking, running or skipping. Forget cycling and swimming except to add some variety, these non-weight-bearing activities will not help to significantly develop bone density. 3-4 days a week should be spent engaged in vigorous weight bearing activities. The principal of specificity states that the adaptations to training will be specific to the imposed demands. That means if you want to get the best results you need to do activities that are most similar to the activity you want to increase your performance in.
• In addition, weight-bearing activities used, as training will stimulate specialised cells called osteoblasts to lay down stronger bone. This increase in bone density in the lower leg = decreased risk for stress fractures.

►MENTALLY:
Are you mentally prepared for a multi-day pilgrimage walk and all it entails? Can you ‘switch off’ from your regular life for 30 days or more and forget about the responsibilities of work and home? Are you prepared to live out of your comfort zone? Are there certain characteristics in people that irritate you – that make you say, “I can’t accept it when people……?” Can you overlook your companion’s frailties or habits? What are your hopes, fears or expectations? Just as with the physical preparation you will need to prepare mentally for walking day after day in all weathers, all terrains in a different country even when you are feeling below par or when you start to question why you are doing this journey. You will have to be prepared to accept the hospitality of your host country without criticism or complaint. Some of your overnight accommodation might not fulfil your expectations. How will you react to cramped dormitories, lumpy beds, unhygienic ablutions and rowdy tourists? Restaurants, shops and other public facilities might not live up to your standards. “Pilgrimage” is a metaphor for life and there will be good and bad days, unplanned for difficulties, upsetting and distressful times – just as there are in ‘normal’ life. If your expectation is that the walk is going to be a constantly happy traipse through picturesque countryside, enchanting villages, quaint towns, ancient cities with exotic locals and charming little bistros and restaurants – you are quite right. But there will also be busy, dirty highways, uncaring motorists and surly innkeepers, industrial approaches to cities, churlish waiters and poor food. Can you accept the good with the bad? Turn these negatives into positive lessons. They will give you an opportunity to consider the privileged life you have back home, how good our roads are, our standards of accommodation, our friendly waiters and shop assistants. Make a pledge to be a good pilgrim. Sign a contract with yourself before you go:

I undertake to be a good and supportive companion; a grateful visitor, a thankful pilgrim passing through foreign lands. I will be friendly and kind to all I meet and will be a good ambassador for my country. I cannot control the places, events, people or experiences I encounter but I can control the way I react and interact in these circumstances. I will not criticise or complain if things are not up to my expectations. I will endeavour to walk this ancient pilgrimage trail with appreciation and joy, always mindful of the millions who have walked before me and of the multitudes that are still to follow. I will walk this way with integrity and will keep an open mind to all the lessons it can teach me. Signed:…………………….

By being physically and mentally prepared, you will be more receptive to the spiritual gifts of the trail. It is difficult to appreciate a stunningly panoramic view if your back aches, you have a stinging blister on your heel and you are still smarting from the rude remarks of a waiter or shop assistant. All your energy will be focussed inward, to the physicality of your situation.

► SPIRITUALLY Spirit (n) L. spiritus - breath, courage, vigour, the soul of life. There is spirituality on any trail, especially those that take you into wilderness areas. People talk about feeling energised when they are in the mountains or on the seashore. Bracing mountain air literally fills one with vigour (the soul of life). Are you ready for the spirituality of the pilgrimage? Television has brought many of the beauties of the world into our living rooms so we might feel that they are familiar, commonplace. Can we look at the view through the eyes of medieval pilgrims who had never seen such sights as mountain ranges, waterfalls, hills covered in poppies? Look for the beauty in everything you see. Not only the natural sights like mountains, misty forests and vineyards but also in the faces of the people we meet, voices, cowbells, church spires, Roman bridges and walls. The beauty will balance out all the ugly sights we see – rubbish tips, car graveyards, congested traffic.
Spirituality has religious connotations. One can feel it in the Pyramids of Giza, in Inca temples, in Buddhist Tibet and in the Christian churches and temples of Europe. Medieval pilgrimage trails in Europe are based on the faith and belief of millions of people who were seeking absolution for their sins and the intercession of saints so that they would be assured of a place in their heavenly home. The churches, cathedrals, abbeys, monasteries and convents are not tourist attractions but holy structures, witnesses to the 2000 year old faith of the Catholic (universal) church. Even if you are not a part of the Catholic church or do not adhere to any organised religion, open your mind to the spiritual experience of the churches and cathedrals. Be open to the prayers and blessing of others. A 1000-year old pilgrim blessing in the monastery at Roncesvalles, Spain, states:
“The door is open to all, sick or well; not only Catholics, but pagans also. To Jews heretics, idlers, the vain, and as I shall briefly note, the good and the worldly too.”

The idea of your walk started as a seed – planted and waiting for germination. All the preparation has helped it to grow. Now is the time to nurture it and feed it so that it evolves into a strong and beautiful experience. The way we experience it can bear fruit, not only for ourselves in the lessons we will learn but for what we will pass on to others who want to follow. We have a responsibility to ourselves and our companions to be prepared, to step out of our comfort zones, to walk with an open mind, to embrace the beauty, to turn negatives into positives, to have a sense of humour, to be kind to each other and to strangers and allow them to be kind to us.

WALKING IN THE RAIN
One thing is certain on any long hike you will be walking in the sun and in the rain. Chances are it could be cold and wet on the occasional rainy day and if the contents of your pack and your rain gear are not waterproofed, everything you possess might end up soaked. With careful planning and packing, walking in the rain can be an invigorating rather than a miserable experience.

· Pack everything into plastic zip-lock bags, even the little things like medicines and cosmetics etc.,
· Have a waterproof inner liner to keep all your goods dry.
· Make sure that your backpack cover is large enough to wrap around the whole pack.
· Gaiters, ankle or knee high, will keep the water out of the top of your shoes.
· A rainproof, sweat-proof jacket and over trousers or a good hiking raincoat that covers your backpack are essential.
· Most rain jackets and ponchos have hoods but a wide-brimmed rain hat will also keep the rain off your face.
· If you stop whilst walking, be careful not to put your pack down on a wet patch of ground. Water can easily soak into your pack.
· If you have no option but to walk in the rain, change your attitude towards rain and concentrate on the good things.
Be aware of the changing tapestry of the landscape; the deeper colours of the hills and the trees, soaked clean by the rain. Everything is greener, more lush and alive. Crops stand taller, trees no longer droop; rivers and waterfalls change from sedate to spectacular. Take deep breaths of the cleaner, washed air. You will feel revitalized and more energetic walking in the cool rain. Do you remember playing in the rain as a child? There was nothing better than skipping and dancing while raindrops spattered on your face making your skin glow and eyelids flutter. And what joy to stomp in the puddles – exhilarating!

INTERVIEW WITH ST JAMES IN SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELLA

We are honoured and delighted to have Saint James the Greater with us today. He completed walking the camino Frances yesterday and has agreed to this exclusive interview.
As you know, St James was a disciple of Jesus Christ and one of the 12 apostles. He was the first apostle to be martyred in Jesus’ name and the only apostle whose death is recorded in the bible. Legend says that after he was put to death in Jerusalem, by the sword of Herod Agrippa, his body was brought to Spain in a stone boat with no sails, blown to the port of Jaffa in 7 days by angels. He was buried here but his tomb remained undiscovered for over 800 years. Once it was rediscovered, pilgrims started walking in ever increasing numbers from all over Europe to venerate his remains. There are many sculptures, paintings and statues of Saint James as a pilgrim but he has told us that this is actually the first time that he has walked the pilgrimage road to Santiago, although he has walked to Jerusalem on a number of occasions.Q: Welcome to Santiago, Saint James. You have just completed walking the camino Frances from Roncesvalles to this city, named after you. Were you surprised to find so many churches, cathedrals and monuments - not to mention pilgrims - honouring your name?

A: Absolutely! I couldn’t believe the legend that has grown up around my name and feel quite humbled by all this posthumous adoration. I must say that my brother and some of the other guys are really jealous! But then I had to wait about a thousand years to be recognized.

Q: What name do you prefer, Iakob, Iakobos, or one of the more modern versions like Jacques or James?

A: I don’t really mind what you call me. My parents called me Iakob but some people called me Yakob. I was known as Yaakov Ben-Zebedee but if you prefer James, that is fine by me.

Q: Your brother was John?

A: Yes, but his given name was Yohannan Ben-Zebedee, which we shortened to Yohn. So, John is also fine.

Q: Can we talk about your parents for a while? Your father was a fisherman and your mother was the daughter of a priest?

A: My father was named Zebedee. He and his father before him, and my brother Yohn and I were fishermen. My mother died when Yohn and I were young.

Q: She was named Salome – sister of Mary?

A: Actually no, her name was not Salome – I think that was the name of the daughter of Herodias. I’m not sure where the confusion with her name started, but I know that the tax collector – Matthew – would never have made that mistake. I’m not sure who wrote the first book but it wasn’t our Matthew, he was very meticulous. My mother’s family were Zealots. My father always told her that we got our revolutionary passion and tempers from her side of the family!

Q: Is that why you two were named Boanerges?

A: You heard about that! It’s actually a loutish name in Mishnaic Hebrew! My cousin called us that because we were often impatient and aggressive. We wanted the revolution to start, to bring in a new order and sometimes we were overly eager. Anyway, we didn't really understand that he didn't intend starting a revolution to overthrow the state. He was a different kind of saviour!
Q: How do you feel about being one of the most visited Saints in Christianity with millions coming to your tomb to be saved?

A: This is a matter of linguistics and devotion rather than theology. There were no saints in the Tanakh, only Holy men and all of them were ‘saved’. Remember, Yahweh has not spoken to man directly for thousands of years – not since the time of Job. I’m sure any good reader of scripture knows that they will not get to the father through me!!

Q: Let’s talk about Spain. There has been some controversy about whether you actually evangelized in Spain, or built a church after seeing an apparition of the Virgin. Can you tell us about that?

A: Well, the year that I was supposed to have seen her in Hispania, Mary was still alive and well in Ephesus! She was living with John then. She was quite amused when that story started doing the rounds. There were no churches then anyway - we were still meeting in each other’s homes.

Q: Let me rephrase the question. Did you bring Christianity to Hispania?

A: Listen man, in my day the term "Christian" meant follower or proponent of some Messiah and was actually a derogatory term. We were called Pisciculi and we were fishers of men. "So many fishes bred in the water, and saved by one great fish," wrote Tertullian. He was a great writer - but I digress. Paul was supposed to come to Spain about 10 years after my death to teach and to start a new gentile mission in that area where they had never heard the preaching of Yeshua. I don’t think he ever did come here.

Q: You know, of course, that the reliquary in the crypt of the cathedral is supposedly contains your remains?

A: Yeah – I went to have a look at it yesterday after the pilgrim’s mass. I’ve heard over the years that my head is in the cathedral in Jerusalem; that my leg is in the church of St. Saturnin in Toulouse in France; that an arm was in Valencia from the year 640, and that my left hand was in Reading Abbey in Britannia. I’m not sure how many other bits are scattered about the world!

Q: What do make of the many churches and cathedrals along the way?

A: They are marvelous structures but there is something that really shocked me. The Tanack taught us that displays of statues and likenesses of yahweh elohim is one of the ways that idolatry began. Our biggest problem in the early days was fighting idolatry. We taught that, as YHVH has no shape or form, people should not worship before ‘things of naught’. I saw many life-like statues, even a statue of a crucified Yeshua, hanging on a cross, covered in old skin!! It is an abomination and if I could have, I would have torn it down with my bare hands! Can't they read?? Have they not read Acts? Don't they not know that our Lord was hung on a tree? Excuse me for displaying anger but all these man made likenesses appear to me as Pagan idols. They are the work of men's hands, unable to speak, see, hear, or feel, and powerless either to injure or to benefit, so it surprises me that they adorn the altars of every church. It angers me that people bow down before them. Where did we go wrong when millions of 'believers' are climbing stairs to hug a bejeweled, metal effigy of me!!?

Q: There are numerous statues and carvings of you – as an apostle, as a pilgrim, or as Sant’Iago Matamoros,

A: I have seen them and am amused by them. The likenesses of me as an apostle and a pilgrim are acceptable, but I have never been on a horse – although I rather fancy myself as a horseman and warrior!

Q: Your likeness as Santiago Matamoros was carried over the oceans to the New World where you were instrumental in helping to conquer many people. How do you feel about that?

A: That was my likeness, not me. I am, however, amazed that our message planted such strong roots in the West. We are an Eastern religion. Our ministry began in Asia when Yeshua travelled in Lubanan, Palestine and Egypt. Our roots are from the East and were transported to the West by the passion of the apostles and disciples.

Q: What do you make of the church today with its different sects and denominations?

A: There were always different sects even in Judaism. There were the Pharisees, the Sadducees, Essenes and many others. This is the way of the world.

Q: Did you attend Mass along the way?

A: Oh yes, frequently and the priests were very capable. But what struck me as odd is that I never saw any teachers - priests - on the actual paths to Santiago – why is that? Yeshua was a street preacher. He walked for miles, preaching in the streets, in the courtyards of the temples, on mountains and besides rivers and the sea. He preached as he walked from one village to the next and even though he preached in the temples from time to time he didn’t build any churches. Where are the street preachers?

Q: Are there any other observations that you would like to share with our readers?

A: Yes – there are a couple of things. You can't blame us for thinking that the Romans finally won the day! They adopted the religion, chose the most feared symbol of all Christians – the cross – as their symbol, and established the head of the church in Rome, of all places! We couldn't believe that the church didn't remain centered in the East, but that is the way of man. Why didn’t they keep the Ichthus which we all used after the great fire to identify each other? They knew this was our secret, coded name - meaning "Jesus Christ, Son of God, our Savior". At least they adopted the fish headdress of the priests of Ea as the miter of the Christian bishops.

Q: Do you know that there was a split in the Roman church that started around 1517?

A: Yes, we know all about that, and what started the split. Our message was clear in the scriptures – why mess with them - and is it not true that in the Tanakh "nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it?"

Q: The Roman Catholics, the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox and the new Anglican churches do not believe that the bible, or the Sola Scriptura, is sufficient as the final authority of Christian doctrine. They believe both the Bible and Roman Catholic tradition are equally binding. What would you say about these two different schools of thought?

A: I am tempted to say “no comment” but I won’t. All I will say is that from the time of Constantine until now, the people who belong to the Christian churches have evolved, grown, changed and are still learning. But, they are still not at peace. Why? Do you know why? Do you remember Agnes – you probably knew her as Mother Teresa? She said, “If you want peace, go talk with your enemies, you don't make peace with friends”.

Q: I think we have time for one last question. May we ask where you will be going from here - back ‘home’ or to do more evangelizing?

A: I was never very good at evangelizing!
I am going to be travelling to Oviedo first to have a look at the Sudarium - remember John spoke of it - and a few other relics. I can't believe that they escaped the Perisans and made it out of Palestine safely. Then I am going to India to do some fishing with my good friend Tenzin Gyatso.

Q: Thank you very much for speaking to us Saint James. I know that you have a busy schedule here in Santiago and wish you God-speed to Oviedo and to India. Before you leave, do you have a message for the many pilgrims who walk long distances to your shrine?


A: The early church was a pilar of fire. This might surprise you but I would like to share a verse written by my friend Besht who was a great scholar and mystic who said, “When you walk across the fields with your mind pure, then from all the stones and all growing things, and all animals, the sparks of their soul come out and cling to you and become a holy fire in you”.

HOLY YEARS IN SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA

What is a Holy (or Jubilee) Year?

The origin of the Christian Jubilee goes back to Biblical times. The Law of Moses prescribed a special year for the Jewish people: "You shall hallow the fiftieth year and proclaim the liberty throughout the land, to all its inhabitants; it shall be a jubilee for you when each of you shall return to his property and each of you shall return to his family. This fiftieth year is to be a jubilee year for you: you will not sow, you will not harvest the un-gathered corn; you will not gather the untrimmed vine. The jubilee is to be a holy thing to you; you will eat what comes from the fields."(The Book of Leviticus 25, 10-14)

The trumpet with which this particular year was announced was a goat's horn called Yobel in Hebrew, and the origin of the word jubilee. The celebration of this year also included the restitution of land to the original owners, the remission of debts, the liberation of slaves and the land was left fallow. In the New Testament, Jesus presents himself as the One who brings the old Jubilee to completion, because he has come to "preach the year of the Lord's favour" (Isaiah 61: 1-2).

ST JAMES’ FEAST DAYS
In the early Middle Ages the 30 December was St James’ Feast day, based on the old Hispanic (Mozarabic) rite. In the 11th century King Alfonso VI abolished the Hispanic rite in favour of the Roman rite and 25 July became the principal feast day to commemorate the martyrdom of St. James. December 30 was incorporated into the present liturgical calendar as the Feast of the Translation of his relics. And, just to confuse matters more, although we celebrate his Feast Day on 25th July using the Roman Rite calendar, it was formerly on the 5th August on the Tridentine Rite calendar.

HOLY YEARS IN SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA

Watch a video of the 1915 Holy Year here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsnB1mLZwlQ

Whenever St James's day - 25th July - falls on a Sunday, the cathedral declares a Holy or Jubilee Year. Holy Years fall every 6, 5, 6, and 11 years: the most recent ones were 1982, 1993, 1999 and 2004. The next Holy Year will be 2010. This will be the 119th Jubilee Year and the 2nd of this century.

The Puerta Santa (Holy Door), which gives access to the Cathedral from the Plaza de la Quintana is opened on 31st December on the eve of each Holy Year, and walled up again a year later. As in the past, pilgrims reaching Santiago during a Holy Year, and fulfilling the conditions for it, are granted a plenary indulgence. (This means that you can get remission for all of your worldy sins). The plenary indulgence is given, not only in Holy Years, but also in ordinary years on Easter Sunday; 21st April (the anniversary of the consecration of the cathedral); and on St James's three feast days. (25th July, 30 December and 23 May).
On the eve of St. James' Day (the 24 July) a magnificent firework display is held on the Orbradoiro facade of the cathedral called the "Fuego Del Apostol”. An impressive statue of St. James as a warrior is taken from the cathedral and carried through the streets. Further celebrations are held to commemorate the removal of the remains to Spain on 30 December. You can read accounts of Holy Years in 1951 and 1965 here:

/Holy%20Year%201951.pdf

/Holy%20year%201965.pdf

This is a list of Holy Years from 1604 as supplied by the Archdioces in Santiago:

1604 1700 1802 1909 2004 2100 2202
1610 1706 1813 1915 2010 2106 2213
1621 1717 1819 1920 2021 2117 2219
1627 1723 1824 1926 2027 2123 2224
1632 1728 1830 1937 2032 2128 2230
1638 1734 1841 1943 2038 2134 2241
1649 1745 1847 1948 2049 2145 2247
1655 1751 1852 1954 2055 2151 2252
1660 1756 1858 1965 2060 2156 2258
1666 1762 1869 1971 2066 2162 2269
1677 1773 1875 1976 2077 2173 2275
1683 1779 1880 1982 2083 2179 2280
1688 1784 1886 1993 2088 2184 2286
1694 1790 1897 1999 2094 2190 2297

Over 10 million pilgrims are expected to visit Santiago in 2010.

Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims are expected to walk to Santiago in 2010 - not only because it is a Holy Year but because the next Holy Year will be eleven years later.

The relics of St James in the crypt of the cathedral in Santiago.

Hugging the saint after walking to Santiago in the 2004 Holy Year.

This list shows the growth of numbers of pilgrims who received the compostela in Santiago. These numbers do not include pilgrims who walk sections of the various caminos, or who do not apply for the compostela.

1985/6 2.491
1987 2.905
1988 3.501
1989 5.760
1990 4.918
1991 7.274
1992 9.764
1993 99.436
1994 15.863
1995 19.821
1996 23.218
1997 25.179
1998 30.126
1999 154.613
2000 55.004
2001 61.418
2002 68.952
2003 74.614
2004 179.944
2005 93.924
2006 100.377
2007 114.026

NON THEIST PILGRIM

We are all born atheists

Last Friday we attended the funeral of my cousin’s husband. One of our other cousins came out from Canada and after the funeral I gave her a lift back to the friends she was staying with. She asked me about my walk on the camino and seemed confused when I said that I am an atheist who loves walking pilgrimage trails.
“Why are you an atheist?” she asked. “What made you stop believing?”

I smiled and told her that I was born an atheist – that I had never been a ‘believer’. There is a perception amongst Christians that atheists are people who have fallen off the religious wagon and need rescuing – who need to be brought back to the fold. I was never a Christian or a theist. I never did belong to the fold. I attended the Sunday schools of a number of different church denominations as a small child and the occasional church service as a teenager but I had no strong feelings about Christianity, religion or deities. I didn’t have a wonderful childhood but nothing dramatic happened that would have turned me away from a religion if I’d had one.

Unlike my husband, whose grandfather was a Lutheran priest and missionary from Norway. He came to South Africa in 1909 and set up a mission in Zululand. My husband’s father, who was born in Norway, died when Finn was about 2 ½ years old. He and his mother returned to the mission where they lived until he needed to move back to Durban to attend high school. Finn had a missionary upbringing, attending church services and often helped his ‘mor far’ with his priest’s robes before a service. He was christened and took confirmation classes in the Norwegian Lutheran church.

My mother’s father was a deacon in the NG Church and I remember ‘oupa’ reading from a Dutch bible at the dinner table before we said grace. I don’t know if my father was a Catholic or a Protestant or whether he ever went to church. I was never christened or baptised and didn’t attend church until I was about 5 years old when my parents divorced and my older sister and I went to a home for girls from broken homes. The committee were Methodists so we attended the local Methodist Sunday school. After a few years the committee changed and we attended the Full Gospel Church. I loved the stories of baby Jesus and the angels just as I loved those about Father Christmas and the fairies. (I think I stopped believing in both round about the same time.)

When my mother remarried and we left Wylie House to live in Woodlands we attended the local Presbyterian Church. When that was relocated we started going to the Congregational church. By then we were in our teens and rebelled at having to go to church on a Sunday. My sister left home and I stopped going to church altogether.

When I met Finn he wasn’t a regular church goer but we went to the St Olav’s Lutheran Church on special days like Easter, Christmas, weddings and funerals. We got engaged and planned on being married in St Olav’s but because I had not been christened or confirmed, this was not possible. I was told that I would have to attend confirmation classes and after a few weeks of instruction, at the age 21, was duly confirmed into the Lutheran church. I did not particularly want to be confirmed into the church, but if I wanted to marry the man I loved in his church, it was something that I had to do. Both our children were christened at St Olav’s but they did not go to Sunday schools and we rarely went to church.

There was a period in my life where I reached out to Spiritualism and Christianity. Our younger son was born in 1977 with a crippling bone disorder and in an effort to 'leave no stone unturned' we tried many different things to alleviate or cure his disorder. We travelled to faith healers, tried spiritual healers and various different potions and lotions. I joined a charismatic, healing bible study group based on the ‘faith and presumption’ evangelism of Hagin and Copeland - popularised in the late 1970's. I found the talking in tongues, ‘claiming of gifts’ and the ‘positive prayer’ ministries rather disturbing. One night, after I told the group that Mark had broken a limb and was lying in a traction frame at home, our leader suggested I offer my cardigan to the group for ‘soaking prayer’, which involved laying of hands and speaking in tongues. In order for Mark to be healed I was to take the cardigan home and cover him with it. When I reported back the following week that this didn’t appear to have the desired effect, I was told that I did not have enough faith. They were right. I didn’t have the courage to take my 18 month old child with a fractured femur out of the traction frame and pronounce him cured by virtue of my prayed upon cardigan. Suffice it to say, I didn’t go back to bible study. This was not a catalyst on my way to becoming an atheist, rather an affirmation of my convictions.

Although I am not religious, I have an interest in the history of religions, in religious art and architecture. I particularly love walking on ancient pilgrimage trails. Hinduism is considered the oldest formal religion with four main denominations that differ basically in the god they worship as the Supreme One. Judaism is almost as old, being based in Abraham who lived about 1800 BC although the Egyptians predate them both and the Mesopotamians and Chinese predate them all. Australian aboriginal beliefs probably go back 60,000 years or more and, if Africa is the cradle of humankind, there were most certainly even earlier animist beliefs that involved animals and plants, the skies and the seasons.

Most visitors to holy sites – religious or not - respect the sites and have a sense of their sacredness. The holy sites of Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh in India (the most sacred place of pilgrimage for Hindus) or Bodhgaya in the state of Bihar (the most holy site for Buddhists): the pyramids at Giza and the temples to the many gods and goddesses that shaped their lives for thousands of years. Secular pilgrims walk the paths to the 88 Buddhist temples on the island of Shikoku and visit the many Christian monuments and churches on the way to the tomb of St James in Spain, to Jerusalem or to St Peter's in Rome. One need not be a Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim or Christian to enjoy visiting these sites.

The world is either 6 000 years old (according to the bible) or 4.5 billion years old (according to science.
The oldest tree system ever found is a Spruce that has been dated to 9 500 years.
The oldest human fossils, found last year at Atapuerca in northern Spain, along with stone tools and animal bones, are up to 1.3 million years old.
The oldest dinosaur fossils are approximately 230 million years old.

In the spiritual world, Christianity and Islam are the new kids on the block: Christianity having been around less than 2000 years (since about 30 AD) and Islam about 1400 years since 610 AD. A human being has a fleeting lifespan of perhaps 70 – 80 years and I prefer to spend my fleeting moment without fear of gods or demons, angels or devils. I have met many people who I could call angels and a few that could qualify as devils! I live my life according to human-kind’s morals, hopefully tolerant of other’s beliefs, as a pacifist and vegetarian pilgrim. I expect others to grant me the same respect.

“We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.”
Teilhard de Chardin ©

WONDERFUL VIDEO FROM JOHAN

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUbhlh1p0WM

Pilgrim Memorials

This week a 60 year-old pilgrim, Paul Anthony Warsop, from Nottinghamshire in England had a heart attack and died whilst crossing the Pyrenees from St Jean Pied de Port to Roncesvalles. The report says that he was just 7km from Roncesvalles when he told his friend that he wasn't feeling well. He collapsed on the side of the road and although paramedics tried CPR for over half an hour he was pronounce dead.
Last year in April another Englishman died when crossing from St Jean. He was caught in a snow storm and although he was found a mere 50m from a road, he was suffering from hypothermia and died in the hospital in Pamplona.
There are many memorial plaques, statues and crosses to pilgrims who have died on the camino. If you scroll down a few posts on this blog you will a post on Memorials with
photographs of some of the memorials to pilgrims who died on the Camino Frances.
In medieval times, the pilgrim who died whilst on pilgrimage would have a safe passage to heaven, bypassing purgatory altogether.
RIP

THREE-IN-ONE CAMINO 2009

Things change! On Saturday Linda asked if we could pleeease... walk to Santiago. Well, just the last 100km that is. So - we are now planning to start at Lourdes and walk to Somport: walk the Aragones route to Pamplona: get a train to Lugo and Ferrol and start walking the Camino Ingles from there to Santiago. This way the girls will get to see Santiago de Compostela, hug old Jimmy and earn a Compostela. And we will spend an extra day in Madrid on the way home.I am happy with the changes because I get to walk on three different routes, and visit Santiago for the 4th time.
And... I am thinking of volunteering as a hospitalera for a week or so afterwards. If I do have an opportunity to work at an albergue, I'll start straight after Santiago and go home a week or two later. Let's see what happens.

FERROL

ANSWERING THE CALL - PLANNING THE NEXT GROOT TREK!!!

Here begins the journey
now begins the day
with one step upon the path
my soul is on its way!
© JS Selfe

Chemin du Piemont Pyreneen
http://vppyr.free.fr/vpp_cartes.php
http://www.ariege.com/cheminstjacques/etapes/index.html
http://vppyr.free.fr/vpp-index-etapes.php3
http://www.chemins-compostelle.com/voie-du-piemont.html
http://pagesperso-orange.fr/vtt.compostelle/piemont.htm
http://www.pyrenees-pireneus.com/RANDO-CheminPiemont-Etapes.htm

Decisions, decisions.
el camino calls and we dream about returning but we are like curious, sentient beings searching, trying different paths, different routes, all to the same destination - ourselves?? I couldn't resit the call and am planning to walk the Chemin du Piemont Pyreneen from Narbonne - on the Mediterranean coast - to Pamplona in Spain via Lourdes and St Jean Pied de Port. Well, maybe that route - maybe not!

Perhaps I will walk the first half of the Piemont and then swing left at Oloron St Marie to the Somport Pass and over the Pyrenees onto the Aragones route which joins the camino frances at Puente la Reina.

This is, by all accounts, a stunningly beautiful route and it would be a pity to miss it. After the Somport Pass and Jaca, we will visit the monastery of San Juan de la Péna with it's massive overhanging rock (that gives it its name). Here is a legend about San Jaun.

"One day in about 732 a noble Mozarabic youth from Saragossa went hunting deer in these mountains and he chased a steer until it fell over the cliff. The young man almost fell over as well but he was able to rein in his animal. Looking over the edge he saw the dead steer lying next to the entrance of a deep cave. Inside the cave was a tiny shrine and on the ground, lying dead with his head on a stone was the venerable hermit Juan de Atarés. The youth buried the hermit, sold all his own wordly goods and with his brother came to live in the cave. Before they diedm, they handed over the hermitage to two disciples and thus the fame of this saintly place reached the outer world. In this tiny sanctuary was born the Kingdom of Sobarbe which gave birth to the Kingdom of Aragon." (Walter Starkie - The Road to Santiago)

http://www.monasteriosanjuan.com/monasterio-san-juan-de-la-pena.php?L=en

As there are no English guide books for the Piemont section, I have bought the French Guide - Le Chemin du Piemont Pyreneen: de la Mediterranee a Roncevaux.
I have also downloaded about 32 Google Maps as well as a couple of profile and stage maps. I have received the brochures I sent off for the Languedoc Roussillo region and also for the Midi-Pyrenees.

EARLY STAGES OF PLANNING
For now, it is my two old walking buddies Val and Marion who will be joining me and perhaps Linda, who hasn't done any long distance walks but is a good walker and who we have known for many years.
In 2001 Val, Marion and I walked the Wainwright's Coast to Coast in England. In 2006 we walked the Via Francigena from Switzerland to Rome.. Marion and I walked the Camino Frances from Roncesvalles to Santiago in 2007.

ADDICTED TO THE CAMINO

I think about the camino every day - dream about it at night - and yearn to be back walking those well trodden paths. I can understand why some people return time and time again - not only to walk different paths, but to walk the same paths. It is as though the camino hasn't finished with you yet; hasn't taught you all the lessons that need to be learned; hasn't revealed all its secrets or truths, and so you keep returning, searching..........................

What makes the camino addictive?

The camino is basically just a long, hard hike through the mainly rurual north of Spain. There are only four large cities of note - Pamplona, Burgos, Leon and Santiago. Many of the little villages are run down, partial ruins, empty churches and converted monasteries. But, there are so many things that make it unique that unless you have walked it it is difficult to understand the pull to return. Not everyone who walks it has this call, but if you do experience it, it is almost impossible to ignore. Perhaps it is the adrenaline rush of the physical, mental and psychological test that one goes through walking over 800kms, day after day for a month or more, crossing mountains, rivers, difficult paths, through all kinds of weather. Perhaps it is the energy one becomes addicted to - the endorphins that are released by continual exercise. On the camino I can walk up mountains with a backpack on - at home I tire just walking to the shop!Our ancestors must have had this basic survivial rush every day but we no longer need to fight off wild animals to survive or kill for our food, following the herds or seasons to feed ourselves. Perhaps walking the camino duplicates this 'genetic memory' of being vulnerable nomads.

Perhaps it is....

the adrenaline rush you get on the way to the start ... it is a new beginning.. the start of a wonderful adventure.... embarking on a journey through history and of self discovery

The first stamp in the credential marks the beginning ...
The first step on the way ..... and starting most days with a stunning sunrise... (How many of us, in our busy lives, see a sunrise every day?)

Yellow arrows and shell markers that lead the way ... you rely heavily on these and once back in your own suburb or city, you find yourself still searching for arrows and your heart misses a beat when you glimpse a yellow blotch on a street. Crosses are found all along the camino - they are a testament to the passion of those who went before and even though I am not religious, I find crosses to be a comfort symbol - a warding off of evil spirits perhaps! Breathing in fresh mountain air ..... no pollution, traffic, billowing chimneys, just clean air.

Spectacular wildflowers in the spring

and bountiful harvests in the autumn.

spider webs glistening in the morning dew

White and Black European storks on their nests
and deep blue skies with white jet stream trails

Brilliant green vineyards and bodegas

Quaint villages and tiny pueblos with straw and mud buildings
Romanesque churches and ancient monuments

Communal meals in the albergues
Singing for your supper in a renovated church Caring hospitaleros at the pilgrim refuges

Watching the sunset with other pilgrims and singing pilgrim songs before supper

Eagerly anticipating each new day - unsure of what you will find over the next hill
Approaching the last village of the day as though you have come home
The freedom of walking every day, leaving yesterday behind, no concern for tomorrow.
The simplicity of a physically strenuous but uncomplicated lifestyle
Stepping off the treadmill of our ‘real’ life, with no television, telephones, newspapers, meetings, deadlines or bills to pay.
Watching a shepherd leading his sheep

or people working in the fields

cows being led to pasture Walking on a Roman Road or bridge
Simple crosses in a wire mesh fence

Hugging a tree

Angels in the sky .... Stained glass windows


Witnessing the daily progression of dawn to dusk

Walking through history every day
The charm of going back to basics - no en suite bathroom, no electricty, no running water

The Spiritual Path

"You cannot travel the path until you have become the path."

Gautam Buddha

"It is not the road ahead that wears you out. It is the grain of sand in your shoe". Arabian proverb."My turning point was my pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. It was then that I, who had dedicated most of my life to penetrate the 'secrets' of the universe, realized that there are no secrets. Life is and will always be a mystery." Paulo Coelho "The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeing new landscapes, but in having new eyes." Marcel Proust "There are no foreign lands. It is the traveler only who is foreign." Robert Louis Stevenson
"If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion and avoid the people, you might better stay at home." James A. Michener "Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not." Ralph Waldo Emerson
"The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart." Helen Keller

"It is the people on the camino that make it so special....."

House by the side of the road - Samual Walter Foss

THERE are hermit souls that live withdrawn
In the place of their self-content;
There are souls like stars, that dwell apart,
In a fellowless firmament;
There are pioneer souls that blaze the paths
Where highways never ran-
But let me live by the side of the road
And be a friend to man.

Let me live in a house by the side of the road
Where the race of men go by-
The men who are good and the men who are bad,
As good and as bad as I.
I would not sit in the scorner's seat
Nor hurl the cynic's ban-
Let me live in a house by the side of the road
And be a friend to man.

I see from my house by the side of the road
By the side of the highway of life,
The men who press with the ardor of hope,
The men who are faint with the strife,
But I turn not away from their smiles and tears,
Both parts of an infinite plan-
Let me live in a house by the side of the road
And be a friend to man.

I know there are brook-gladdened meadows ahead,
And mountains of wearisome height;
That the road passes on through the long afternoon
And stretches away to the night.
And still I rejoice when the travelers rejoice
And weep with the strangers that moan,
Nor live in my house by the side of the road
Like a man who dwells alone.

Let me live in my house by the side of the road,
Where the race of men go by-
They are good, they are bad, they are weak, they are strong,
Wise, foolish - so am I.
Then why should I sit in the scorner's seat,
Or hurl the cynic's ban?
Let me live in my house by the side of the road
And be a friend to man.

LESSONS LEARNED

Let Go: Before I left to walk my last camino our Confraternity of St James had new sew on badges made. I loved our badge and attached it to the front of my hat so that everyone could see it. Many pilgrims commented on it and some were amazed when I said that it was from South Africa. Some Europeans are surprised to find 'Africans' (especially white ones!) walking el camino. When we got to Sarria we went into an outdoor shop to buy new socks. Marion considered buying an Altus raincoat but couldn't make up her mind. When I paid for my socks, the shop owner looked at my hat and, seeing the CSJ of SA badge, asked excitedly if he could have it. What? I instinctively backed away and said, "No, no! This is from my confraternity back home. I have carried this badge on my hat all the way from South Africa." He went to the doorway of the shop and pulled down on a cord hanging there to reveal a huge world map with badges and pins attached all over it.

"I haven't got a South African badge" he said. "I would very much like a South African badge. Perhaps I can give you one from our Amigos and you can give me your badge.?"

"No, I don't think so," I replied a little irritated by his persistence. This was MY badge and I didn't want to give it away.

We started to leave the shop and I suddenly thought, "What am I doing? Why am I so attached to this piece of embroidered cloth? Why can't I let go of it? I can buy a thousand more when I get back home if I want to. I went back to the young man and apologised. I asked him for asomething sharp so that I could unpick the stitching on the badge. He gave me a huge smile and found an Amigo badge to give to me.

We carried on up the hill where we had lunch. On the way down, Marion decided that she DID want an ALTUS raincoat so we went back to the outdoor shop. As soon as the young man saw us he pulled down the map to show us the CSJ of SA badge firmly stick somewhere between Durban and Cape Town.

It was such a little thing for me to give away and yet such a big thing for the young man to add another country’s badge to his map. Why do we get so attached to ‘things’? Sometimes we have to let go - even little things can become obsessions.

Divest yourself of psychological baggage: Once you have divested yourself of material baggage (see previous post) you have to learn not to carry any disappointments, concerns or trials of today with you into tomorrow. You always have to move on. You are walking for survival and don't have time to sweat over the little things. So what if your underwear or socks didn't dry overnight - pin them to your back pack, they will dry in the sun! If you left something behind, lost something, so what? You can still walk - you can replace it if you need to. Psychological baggage might be that you think you can't survive without your en suite bathroom, or clean cotton sheets, or a dinner table set with tablecloth and serviettes. Believe me - you can! You find that YOU are not your en-suite bathroom, or any of the other trappings of the society you live in. You came into this world with nothing and you can survive on very little. You can sleep in an old converted church with no electricity and allow the monks to wash your feet.
You find your way within as well as without: OK - so I stole that from a DVD called the Within the Way Without but I know now what the title means. Whether you are walking alone or with companions, you walk an inner spiritual journey as well as an outer physical journey. Starting the camino has been likened to a birth. Eventually you emerge - after a long, sometimes difficult journey - a new person. As you slough off all your preconceived ideas and expectations you open yourself to a new experience, a more simple truth and an honest journey. I wanted to share these thoughts and feelings with others but it isn't easy to convey them in an email or an online blog. I often felt that I was walking with members of my family - I would think "Hey, Mom! Look at me now!" (My mother has been dead for 13 years but I still talk to her.) Or, I am sharing with my friends who I send emails to back home. I am even walking with historical figures and the many millions of pilgrims past. In a non-esoteric sense, they are watching over you, sharing your journey and urging you on. You don't ever have to feel alone. We are pilgrims in this journey through life.
Kindness of strangers: You are amazed at the kindness of complete strangers. Strangers who wish you 'buen camino' along the road. Those who include a bowl of figs, nuts or biscuits at the table where you stamp your credential. Farmers who put out apples, cherries or rasberries on the side of the path for passing pilgrims. Those who volunteer to serve pilgrims in the many refuges along the way and especially those who prepare meals for the pilgrims - every night. The priests who say special pilgrims' mass in huge empty churches where only a few old women and a few pilgrims attend. Those who take time to dress your blisters, to tend to your pulled muscles or massage your feet. And, fellow pilgrims who meet you with a smile, offer a helping hand, share their food or plasters. And, the many hundreds of volunteers who mark the way with yellow arrows or pilgrim stickers, ensuring that you do not lose your way. There is an armada of people who work behind the scenes on any trail, be it in France, Spain, Switzerland, Italy and elsewhere.

The triumph of the human spirit: Along the way you see young pilgrims, old pilgrims, small skinny pilgrims and large overweight pilgrims. I saw a young man in a wheelchair in Arzua who had started in Pamplona. I met Lucy from Canada who cried every day for the first couple of weeks and felt that the camino was punishing her with rocky paths, bed bugs, rain and other obstacles. I told her that the camino absorbs everyone's hurts and troubles and that perhaps she was putting obstacles in the way herself - that perhaps she was the pilgrimage. When I saw her walking up the hill to the lighthouse at Finisterre a couple of weeks later, she was happy and excited and confident. Her spirit had triumphed and she had overcome. What a wonderful accomplishment for her! I saw people walking with bandages and plasters, some hobbling with painful feet - but determined to continue.
You learn to ignore pain: You carry on walking even though your feet are sore, the muscles in your legs are throbbing, your back is aching and you are so tired that you are almost out on your feet. I got the most dreadful blisters in the first two days of walking in the rain from Roncesvalles. The Compeed plaster had turned to muck and when I took off my socks, the plasters stuck to them, pulling the skin off my heels. I dressed them and bandaged them and walked in Crocs until I could buy a pair of sandals. I then walked the rest of the camino - about 650km - in sandals. The camino teaches you to carry on - to persevere - to not give up. I came home feeling convinced that if I could walk 650km, crossing 3 mountain ranges, 70 odd rivers on dirt, shale, river rocks and scree with raw, wonded heels, in a pair of sandals - I could do anything!
Learn to accept and not to criticize: This is something I am still learning. Perhaps it takes two or three camino experiences before it sinks in?
"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow mindedness." Mark Twain
I noticed, reading through my notes of my first camino, that I wrote a lot of negative things about places, refuges, food, even about other pilgrims. I called some small pueblos "dumps" and described a few albergues as "septic": I wrote about "loud" pilgrims, and described the menu del peregrino as "prison food". I complained about the few times we didn't have hot water for our showers. What arrogance!
Who was I to criticise? I was a visitor in their country - they were my hosts; some of the 'dumps' are hundreds of years old with a wonderful history. The refuges were renovated barns or old church towers - lovingly restored and staffed by volunteers to provide shelter to ungrateful pilgrims like me - often donativo! And the food - many of the little places you stay in don't have shops - certainly no supermarkets - and all food stuff is brought in by vegetable vans, bread lorries or fish trucks. Locals buy what they can, cook the food for you and it usually costs less than 10 euro for a three course meal. Spain has chronic water shortages and even though local residents might have to go without, they suffer the over 100 000 pilgrims who all demand a hot shower at the end of the day! We must learn humility and gratitude.
All things bright and beautiful: You become attuned to all of nature around you - rising with the sun, massaging mother earth with your feet, hearing the wind in the wheat, a weasel scampering over a wall, bird calls - even a field mouse in the grass. Spring flowers never looked so spectacular or autumn flowers so beautiful. A sunrise gives you a lump in your throat and a beautiful sunset leaves you breathless. Some people avoid walking across the meseta but it is on those long, straight paths that you have time for contemplation and reflection. After a few days, you no longer think - you just ARE - you can just BE.

Time slows down: I read an article that claimed: " Time is only as fast or as slow as your brain perceives it to be, and now researchers are finding that it may be possible to gain some control over the pace of life. It appears that taking your focus off of time will make it seem to slow down." For me, this confirms what I wrote in an article for Odyssey Magazine.
http://www.odysseymagazine.co.za/ezine/articles.htm#2 )
"When you rise in the dark, hit the road before dawn, follow the traverse of the sun from east to west, day after day, you lose all sense of time. You become a part of an animate landscape, in synch with the tempo of the earth. The rest of the world recedes until it plays no part in your life. You walk for hours oblivious of the distance you have covered. Days stretch into long, stimulting periods of time broken up by dawn, stopping for coffee, walking till mid-day, finding lunch, lazy afternoons, early to bed, long night sleeping. The average pilgrim takes between thirty and forty days to walk t el Camino from the Pyrenees to Santiago. One could cover the distance in one day by car, but for you the world has slowed down to a pilgrim pace."
Imagine hiring a car in Pamplona and driving on the A-highway to Santiago. At 100km per hour it would take about 8 hours. So, you have 'done' the camino Frances in 8 hours. If I try to picture that, it is like a high speed, fast-forward film with everything blurred, and sounds a jumbled, chipmunk squeak. They say that speed, distance and time are related to each other because, speed is directly comparable to distance when time is constant. For the walking pilgrim, every day is a 'looooooonnng' day and a week is like a month in normal time and a month is forever.
To be continued .................

LESSONS LEARNED

There are many lessons to be learned on long distance walks, especially historic pilgrimage trails. Here are a few lessons that I have learned on my walks.
You need very little to be happy - and even less to survive!
On my first camino everyone told me - "Don't take too much stuff." I was determined to carry less than 8kg but, oh dear! you just have to have those nice trousers that have zip-off shorts: and a little black jacket for evening: and pajamas: and a sarong (after all, it doesn't weigh much): and a book to read: and ........ the list goes on. After three days of walking in the Pyrenees I thought my tibias were going to push out through the bottom of my feet! And, the shoulders and back! Ouch!! We took everything out of our backpacks, sorted them into essentials and definitely don't want to carry anymore piles and visited the first 'correos' we came to. I posted 3kg to myself in Santiago. I have bought a new backpack for each long walk I've done and think I will stick to this Pro-Lite, 30L that weighs 630gr and weighs 5.8kg fully packed and 6.8kg with a Litre of water.
Homelessness: You have no base, no space to call your own, and you learn what it is to be homeless. You don't mind sitting on a pavement, or on a park bench like a homeless tramp eating yesterday's bread and dried out cheese. Some times shop owners eye you with suspicion, as though you are a homeless Romany gypsy! I now smile at homeless people instead of avoiding make eye contact.
Hunger: You learn what it is to be hungry when there is nowhere to buy food and you have to go to bed and start the next day without having eaten. You are grateful for whatever nature provides - berries on the brambles, a fallen apple, ripe figs on the side of a road, an abandoned vineyard provides a welcome bounty! You talk about food and what you would really like to have at the end of the day. But, you are always grateful for the soup, chips, salad and flan that the menu del peregrino dishes up! Some of the most joyful moments were when I found a menu with vegetables on it!
Small Comforts: A bed with sheets is a luxury and being given a pillow is like winning the lottery! When you do book into a small hotel, you feel like a millionaire sleeping in a bed, with sheets, and a pillow! And little sachets of shampoo are gold nuggets!
Water: You have no kitchen to replenish your water so finding water 'fuentes' with potable water is such a blessing, especially on a hot day. Where there are no 'fuentes' a spring with fresh water is a bonus. And a river where you can paddle your feet is just bliss! You are grateful to the stranger who placed large stepping stones across a stream so that you don't get your feet wet. You are also grateful for the way marks and signs that show you the way. They become your best friends and you feel panicky if you don't see one for a while.
The roof over your head: You walk in the rain, in the sun, in the wind, sometimes in the snow or in hail. You are so grateful for a bed in a refuge. To be able to wash your clothes, have a shower, lie down on a bed. "Little things mean a lot" takes on a whole new meaning!
To be a stranger:You know what its like to be a stranger in a foreign land - sometimes viewed with suspicion, sometimes ignored, but many times treated with kindness and generosity.
Each day is a new beginning:
You learn to enjoy each new day - to put yesterday behind you - not even thinking of tomorrow. Some days you can't remember where you were the day before! Yesterday is gone and tomorrow is too far away to care about. Each day is new and exciting - walking through new landscapes, seeing different places, meeting new people.
Meeting angels on the way:
Many pilgrims say, "The best thing about walking the camino was the people I met and shared with".
"It is an exhilarating paradox. You make your discovery of self in the company of others. Through someone else’s belief that you exist, and have a right to exist in your own way, you begin to find your solid ground within. From that place of inner reality you are able to reach out - perhaps even to forget yourself temporarily - to make contact with others. Being with others allows you to go on learning who you are. Feeling safe about who you are, you can afford to appreciate others’ differences, as well as the ways in which you are alike." (Stephanie Dowrick - an ordained Interfaith Minister)
Amen!!

TIPS FOR WALKING THE CAMINO

READ A BOOK ABOUT THE CAMINO
If you only read ONE book about the camino (other than guide books and pilgrim's stories) please make it THE PILGRIMAGE ROAD TO SANTIAGO - The Complete Cultural Handbook by David Gitlitz and Linda Davidson. This is THE authoritive book on the history, folklore, saint's lives, arcihtecture, geology, fauna and flora of the camino Frances. Understanding what you see on the camino comes from what you KNOW - so let David and Linda enlighten you and enrich your experience. The camino isn't just a long distance hike - it a journey back in time, through history and folklore and your walk will be that much more rewarding if you know a little more about the places you will pass through than the average tourist.

LEAVE YOUR 'EGO' BEHIND (Or - STEP OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE)
Walk the camino as a pilgrim - not as Mr/Ms Jo Soap. Keep an open mind about where you sleep, what you eat, who you meet. Seek out the smaller, basic, atmospheric refuges. If you only want to stay in the 'nice, up-market' modern albergues, you might as well go to a hotel. Be open to what the camino can teach you. Don't be put off a place if your guide book says "Basic albergue, no electricity, running water or toilet". Sleeping on a matress on the floor inside a stone barn beats camping anytime. These refuges are usually small, intimate, friendly places with communal meals and pilgrim blessings. In his book on the camino, Prof. Conrad Rudolph (Chair of medieval art and art history, University of California) describes the albergues as the 'soul' of the camino. If you don't try them here, on the camino, where will you ever have an opportunity to try them? If you leave your 'EGO' behind and become 'as a child' you might just find a new, deeper, more attractive self!

DON’T TAKE TOO MUCH STUFF
(Nobody listens to this one!)
“I’m packing an extra pair of shorts – they weigh next to nothing: or a little black jacket for eating out at night – it hardly weighs a thing: or a sarong to wear when I come out of the shower – it’s as light as a feather."
Don’t be fooled – everything weighs something and when you add it all together, you find that you have another kilo or two in your backpack. Weigh everything and choose the lightest – not the most flattering! If you do take too much stuff, you can post it to yourself in Santiago where they will keep it for up to two months.
DO SOME TRAINING
“I’m fairly fit and spend most days on my feet so I don’t need to do training for the walk.” Famous last words of a pilgrim who ended up with tendonitis after 5 days hiking and had to pack up and go home. (She also walked too fast and carried a very heavy backpack.) Wear in your boots: try out all your clothes: buy the most comfortable backpack and hike with it packed with at least 5kg. TRAVEL IN OLD CLOTHES
Wear old, throw-away clothes to travel in to Spain. You can donate them to a shelter or leave them in your hotel room.

TAKE YOUR PACK INTO THE CABIN
To be safe, keep your backpack with you in the cabin. Luggage does go astray and you could be delayed for days if your backpack doesn’t arrive with you. Most airlines allow 10 - 15kg as cabin luggage. The dimensions are usually 25cm X 45cm X 56cm. These are so that the bag will fit in the overhead compartment.

DON’T RUSH – IT’S NOT A RACE
We met an Australian pilgrim in Roncesvalles in August who had walked from St Jean Pied de Port. “A friend told me about this walk,” she said. “He is a good walker and he told me that he had walked from St Jean to Roncesvalles in 6 ½ hours. I made it in just over 6 hours and can’t wait to let him know!” ‘What can she possibly have seen along the way in 6 hours?’ I thought. I know that you have to constantly look at the path, checking where you put your feet. If you don’t stop every now and then to look at the view, you don’t see the beauty of the view back into France. You'll also be too tired to do any sightseeing, so take it slow!
USE A WALKING STICK
Most of the camino paths consist of rocks, pebbles, gravel, mud – more mud - and (in Galicia) mud and cow shit! Some asphalt paths run parallel to the road but there is very little road walking. If you have joint problems – ankles, knees, hips etc – walk with a stick or two. There are some pretty steep hills and it’s not the going up that is a problem, its coming down!

TAKE GOOD RAIN GEAR

Some people like ponchos, others prefer rain trousers and jackets. I highly recommend a hiker's raincoat made by ALTUS that covers you and the backpack - no need for a pack cover. It is lightweight, sealed seams, unzips down the front and has added Velcro, has air vents on the chest, has a rain hood with a peak and, best of all, it has a ‘hump’ at the back so that you can put it on over your backpack. You can buy them online for about €20 from http://www.barrabes.com/

SHOES OR BOOTS? In 2007 I walked almost the whole Camino in hiking sandals. All-terrain running shoes are popular although some pilgrims swear by boots for ankle support, especially in winter – you don’t need heavy mountain boots. Take an extra pair of sandals or slip-ons to wear around the albergue.
A SLEEPING BAG OR LINER IS ESSENTIAL
Most refuges insist that you have a sleeping bag (so that you don’t sweat all over their mattress covers!) In summer you will get away with a liner – silk or fleece – but in winter and spring you will need a warmer bag. Buy the lightest one you can find – mine weighs 540gr but you can also get mummy bags that only weigh 350gr.
A SPIRAL IMMERSION HEATER

Take a little spiral immersion heater, plug for Spain, and a camping cup. Most of the refuges have electricity but they don't all have kitchens. We were the envy of other pilgrims when we boiled water for tea/coffee in the morning or made cup-of-soup for supper at night and we often had a queue waiting to use the heater.
SECURE A BED AWAY FROM THE BATHROOM
Close to the bathroom is always the noisiest place to be with pilgrims opening the door and flushing toilets at all hours of the night.

WASHING AND DRYING CLOTHES
8 Plastic pegs and a 2m nylon cord to use as a wash line. Useful when it rains and you can string it across the bars of the bunk beds to dry wet socks etc., also when the lines are full.
8 large safety pins to pin damp clothing onto the backpack so that it can dry during the day whilst walking. Nobody cares if your knickers flap on your backpack as you walk along

EMERGENCIES
112 is the Europe-wide emergency number. It works even if you have no money in a pre-paid mobile phone or even if your supplier has no network. It works 24/7 365 days - and the operators speak many languages. The number for the Guardia Civil in Spain is 062.

THE CAMINO DEVIL
Don’t take any notice of the little ‘Camino devil” who will sit on your shoulder and say:

“You don’t have to do this. It’s only a long, hard hike – not a search for the Holy Grail.

Who are you trying to impress?

You are - too old, too unfit, too tired, too cold – give it up.”

Ignore him dear pilgrim and when you reach Santiago give the saint a hug and thank him for watching over you.