Why a pilgrimage - Memories from a previous blog

Before we even commenced any of our journeys in Spain, we were told by many people that the El Santiago pilgrimage would be a journey like nothing else we had ever done. Some people told us it will have an immense change on your life forever, something that I could not really comprehend at the time, especially for me, being a Nurse for over 40 years and being faced with the trial and tribulations of many hundreds of people, some who became very close to me. What could be more life changing? 

Reading this from a post written in 2012, then considering our following three Caminos, to where I am today, I would be right in saying my life has changed considerably. 

To this day with some of my community visits I still hear the stories of life from many in their (more than me) senior lives and I know that in time I will have some rather special stories to tell any community visitors that I may have. I will have one very special story to tell, after all, aren't we on a journey from the day we are born, life is a journey, the Camino is just one story in life's long and wonderful journey.

I love the Chinese Proverb - "The Journey is the reward"

If you allow it the Camino will reward you every single day, not just while walking (or riding) every step of The Way, it will reward you for every day forward

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On this journey, every single day has the potential of presenting something completely new, as well as some almighty challenges.However what stands out to me is that it requires a hell of a lot of personal effort, and an even greater willingness to take the first step. Is this a dislike - no way - its about coming to terms with what is happening in your life and taking some steps to change.

The day by day steps and the experience cannot occur until that almighty first step is taken. To me this first step is not the one taken on the Camino path but the one that is taken at home when you make the decision to Walk the Camino to Santiago. The planning of the route, the packing of the backpacks, the arrival at the beginning of your walk are all the little dolly steps, also filled with some degree of excitement and agitation. Again, isn't this what life is about, One cannot function adequately on a daily basis unless the day's journey is planned to some degree, daily life no matter where you are or what you do requires planning.

El Camino de Santiago is certainly worth every single cent that we have spent, we call them the necessary costs to cover the external experiences. These external experiences covers the route, where you sleep, the rubbish on the side of the pathway, and the internal adventure that makes this entire experience life-changing.

Mountain climbs on a just about daily basis, the latter two which later become the daily dislikes. BUT there is no denying  it is the Camino. I learnt to take the mountains one step at a time, trying not to look up to see how far I still had to go, but more at looking back to see what I had achieved. Achievement is far greater than fear of the unknown.

Everyone on the "Camino" is there for many different reasons. Some of these will finish the journey others will not. One thing is for sure, everyone will find that they spend some degree of time in deep thought. Whether this thought creates a clarity of insight that forever enhances the quality of their life afterwards is entirely up to that person. What that is worth is also up to each person!

The most frequently spoken phrase along the Camino is “Buen Camino” with a the literal meaning "good path". When you pass a pilgrim along the way you simply say “buen camino”, to which that pilgrim responds “buen camino”. This little phrase is a greeting, a wishing them well, and an acknowledgment that you are sharing the Camino. There were times when the one you acknowledged did not respond, this is usually not because they are ignoring you, more that they are in deep contemplation and they don't even hear you.

Usually the five most frequently asked questions one gets asked when returning from the Pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostella are -  Where did you get the idea from? ; Why did you do it?, How did you train?, How did you get on?, and Will you do it again?

Admittedly the first two we were often asked while we were walking. The most common answer from myself were "I've always wanted to do it for over thirty years" and "I did it for me to offload and de-clutter my mind, later at home and to this day, I add - we are back home with wonderful memories.  My John he just tells everyone " I did it to keep Susan safe" - I tell him if that's what he wants to say that's OK with me, as long as he is telling himself the real reason! De-cluttering my mind certainly helped and when I had to pack up our home that we sold after our first Camino I did not have a problem with giving things away. From a huge residence to smaller one usually creates some degree of insecurity and fretting over thing that are no longer needed, I totally believe that my Camino helped me with this.

How did we train, this is something that has altered over the years, for me it is a necessity and I am sure my training has paid off even though I do say that where we live there is no way you can train effectively for this journey. We live in the subtropical area of Australia - snow not in this part of Australia. Our coldest day temperature is never below 10 C and night on very limited occasions about 5 -8C degrees. The first day of our very first Camino we had sleet our second day snow. We didn't even have the proper clothes. Would I do the Pyrenees again - yes with better equipment and warmer clothes.

Will I do all this again, my answer has always been yes, this time, I have to just say let's see what next year beings. Mentally I can, physically,  will wait until I return home, then decide.

Do I have dislikes of the Camino? I am sure that the major issue I have is to the rubbish that people just drop everywhere, plastic bottles especially. You know sometimes I have a little tear of sadness to think that plastic has caused so much heartache in our world, yet one of my uncles who is no longer with us, was a pioneer in the introduction of some plastics into Australia, many years ago. He was an industrial chemist working in the plastics industry -  now most of us just want them removed so that the world is a cleaner place.

What have been my greatest moments, many, too numerous to list, however one that really stands out and I think gives an indication what the Camino does is - while waiting for our coach to leave Santiago and go the Madrid for the flight home we met a man about 60 yrs playing a harmonica. He has been walking the Camino from St Jean to Santiago then back again for seven years. I asked him about family - he answer was "the pilgrims of El Camino de Santiago are MY family. This could be taken as a great sadness if he has blood relatives somewhere and he does not see them as family, but if he is solo as he described, what joy he must get from meeting and sharing stories from the hundreds of people who journey across Spain every year.