A Furnace Full of God: A Holy Year on the Camino de Santiago

[JabbaPapa]

An excerpt from Rebekah's wonderful book has been published here : https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/artic...es/camino-de-santiago-all-walk-and-no-worship

 

[Shakey]

Just finished this wonderful book. Thank you Rebekah! My husband and I stayed at The Stone Boat last summer and our time spent talking with Kim was a highlight. This made your book really come alive after having met her. Thank you for sharing your amazing journey!

 

[jungleboy]

I'm a bit late to the party here but I just bought and read the book this week and found it to be a wonderful insight into life in rural Spain. It also offers a different and valuable perspective about the camino. 'Rebekah doesn't mince words,' as someone wrote upthread, is a great description of the writing style! Congratulations on the publication and success of the book!

 

[Camino Chrissy]

I have purchased and read Rebekah's book in August. It was interesting to get a glimpse into her life as an albergue owner in such a small village on the Camino Frances and I enjoyed all the unique stories she shared.
I have passed her book on to a forum member from my area whom I meet up with yearly for a hike.

 

[alexwalker]

I have the paperback version in my small cottage. I prefer to read it in complete silence by my fireplace there. @Rebekah Scott writes fantasticly well. I look very much forward to reading it by myself, in peace (alone). If you wonder where this is, it's Arctic Norway, the Land of the Northern Lights; Turn up sound...

 

[Camino Chrissy]

Awesome video and peaceful music, Alex! Your cottage is adorable...can you get to it in the winter?
I live in northern Illinois and 16 years ago when we moved outside the city we were out on our deck one night viewing the stars and we saw the Northern Lights for about fifteen minutes. It was incredible and hard to believe in our area...we've never seen them since.

 

[alexwalker]

Awesome video and peaceful music, Alex! Your cottage is adorable...can you get to it in the winter?
I live in northern Illinois and 16 years ago when we moved outside the city we were out on our deck one night viewing the stars and we saw the Northern Lights for about fifteen minutes. It was incredible and hard to believe in our area...we've never seen them since.

Thank you so much! We see Northern lights frequently here in the Arctic. I can tell you; although I have seen the Northern Lights all my life, they never cease to amaze me. My cottage is only 27 m2, and 80 years old, but works like a charm: Wood fireplace, Toilet gas incinerator (solar powered, maintenance free), gas fridge, gas stove. I chop my own wood from my own forest. All is perfect. A bit tough for winter, but doable. Only 20 mins. by car away.

 

[Camino Chrissy]

Thank you so much! We see Northern lights frequently here in the Arctic. I can tell you; although I have seen the Northern Lights all my life, they never cease to amaze me. My cottage is only 27 m2, and 80 years old, but works like a charm: Wood fireplace, Toilet gas incinerator, gas fridge, gas stove. I chop my own wood from my own forest. All is perfect. A bit tough for winter, but doable. Only 20 mins. by car away.

Thanks for sharing about your cottage. It sounds like a great getaway spot and like a daydream many of us have had...a reality for you.

 

[alexwalker]

Thanks for sharing about your cottage. It sounds like a great getaway spot and like a daydream many of us have had...a reality for you.

I have berries and wood in my forrests, and salmon/trout in my river. I can fire up the fireplace and read a good book without TV or any other noise...

 

[Camino Chrissy]

I have berries and wood in my forrests, and salom/trout in my river. I can fire up the fireplace and read a good book without TV...

It sounds like a little bit of heaven on earth for those of us who enjoy nature, foraging, and a dose of quiet contemplation here and there.

 

[kirkie]

I have the paperback version in my small cottage. I prefer to read it in complete silence by my fireplace there. @Rebekah Scott writes fantasticly well. I look very much forward to reading it by myself, in peace (alone). If you wonder where this is, it's Arctic Norway, the Land of the Northern Lights; Turn up sound...

View attachment 88646

Thank you for sharing such a glorious location in which to read Rebekah’s book. It is pushing me to take it out from the shelves and read it again...

 

[VNwalking]

It is pushing me to take it out from the shelves and read it again...

Same here. Though I'm pulling it off of virtual Shelf rather than a real one.

 

[alexwalker]

Thank you for sharing such a glorious location in which to read Rebekah’s book. It is pushing me to take it out from the shelves and read it again...

I bought the book some months ago and started reading it, but I put it away, because I want to go to my cottage and read it all in one go, with a glass or two of red. in total peace. When spring comes. The book is residing there in total solitude until I start next season. I am looking very much forward to that.

I have had the pleasure of meeting and staying over at @Rebekah Scott 's place 2 times. She really is running a gem on the Camino. Peaceful and welcoming.

 

[Rebekah Scott]

I bought the book some months ago and started reading it, but I put it away, because I want to go to my cottage and read it all in one go, with a glass or two of red. in total peace. When spring comes. The book is residing there in total solitude until I start next season. I am looking very much forward to that.

I have had the pleasure of meeting and staying over at @Rebekah Scott 's place 2 times. She really is running a gem on the Camino. Peaceful and welcoming.

I love imagining the little bit of me hanging out in that place that is so very far away.
We have the silence in common. It is exiquisitely quiet in Moratinos on a weeknight in December!

 

[alexwalker]

I love imagining the little bit of me hanging out in that place that is so very far away.
We have the silence in common. It is exiquisitely quiet in Moratinos on a weeknight in December!

You will be the eye/spirit on the wall here, for sure. In my thoughts while reading.

 

[BombayBill]

A Furnace Full of God. I just finished the Furnace and while I enjoyed the book it left me with mixed feelings about the CF. I’ve done the CP twice, Le Puy to SJPP, and some of the Norte. I loved all of them. I stayed in private accom and Donativos. I had many memorable experiences and met wonderful people.

But I have avoided the CF. I was warned on Le Puy that I wouldn’t like the CF. Others told me I had to try the CF, « it was special ». Then I read Rebekah’s book and especially the chapter on her « re-walk ». It seemed she was no longer enthusiastic about the CF. She « had changed or it had ».

So now while I intend to continue the walk on the Norte, or Primitivo, or Salvador I’m inclined to never do the CF. If Rebekah @Rebekah Scott is reading this post I have a question - Now you have had time to reflect on what you wrote do you think you just had an off walk or has the CF lost its lustre permanently?

 

[Anik2001]

I, for one, loved my time on the camino Frances and will do it again as soon as we can travel again. Some people return again and again, some do it once and never return. I would say: try it and if you don’t like it, you can always switch to another camino.

 

[David Tallan]

A Furnace Full of God. I just finished the Furnace and while I enjoyed the book it left me with mixed feelings about the CF. I’ve done the CP twice, Le Puy to SJPP, and some of the Norte. I loved all of them. I stayed in private accom and Donativos. I had many memorable experiences and met wonderful people.

But I have avoided the CF. I was warned on Le Puy that I wouldn’t like the CF. Others told me I had to try the CF, « it was special ». Then I read Rebekah’s book and especially the chapter on her « re-walk ». It seemed she was no longer enthusiastic about the CF. She « had changed or it had ».

So now while I intend to continue the walk on the Norte, or Primitivo, or Salvador I’m inclined to never do the CF. If Rebekah @Rebekah Scott is reading this post I have a question - Now you have had time to reflect on what you wrote do you think you just had an off walk or has the CF lost its lustre permanently?

I'm not Rebekah (obviously) but I have done the CF both when it was less walked and when it had greater popularity. There were about fifty times as many people on the CF the second time I did it as the first. It didn't bother me in the slightest. It had changed, but I'm not ready to say for the worse. There was more infrastructure: more albergues (and more comfortable albergues), more bars, more shops, more rest areas, more little donativo stands, etc. I didn't find that ruined the experience for me. There were also more pilgrims (especially the last 100km, but there were so many more pilgrims that there were always more pilgrims, right along the route). But here's the thing. I tend to like my fellow pilgrims. I like the pilgrim community. When I think about what I liked in my Caminos, fellow pilgrims tends to consistently top the list. So this wasn't a bad thing for me. If I wanted time to walk by myself, it was never terribly hard to come by even with the massive amounts of pilgrims compared to my first pilgrimage.

Again, I can't speak for Rebekah (of course) but I do note that she chose to relocate herself along the Camino Frances rather than along the CP, or the Norte, or the Primitivo, or the San Salvador, or along any of the other Camino routes.

 

[Stivandrer]

Liking it a lot or not at all, is less important than having walked it ( the CF) in the first place.
It is an important introduction to walking a Camino and has a lot to offer in terms of infrastruture, as it is stated, and the inclination to include others as others include you is the seminal experience...
But after that, I think I will merely do the CF in sections as other stretches are waiting...
Already the schooling of structuring your walk is important when I have walked other routes.

 

[Priscilla NC]

Not Rebekah (and I really loved her book): I walked the CF twice. The first time in 2016 and it was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. It was pure magic, start to finish. The second one was 2019, and I had to cut it short at Astorga because I got sciatica really bad and just could not walk any further. But I was experiencing a very different Camino even before my injury happened. I had the same feelings as Rebekah reported.

I was always very clear that it was not the CF per se, it was not the crowds (though it was crowded, especially Holy Week and into Easter), it was not 'same old same old', it was me. i was in a much different head space and was in the midst of a big life transition. I wanted to be there, moving to my new digs, and not walking the Camino. The Frances still had much magic, but I was not fully present to that.

Just my story. May you find the best Camino for your next walk.

 

[NorthernLight]

@BombayBill
I walked the Le Puy route first, and I’ve walked the Frances 3 times since then. I was warned on the Le Puy that I would find the Frances to be crowded, commercial, and noisy with traffic. That was true, but the Le Puy is more of a walk in nature than a pilgrimage for the majority who are on it. The flavour is different, but it is still something worth savouring. I always walk alone, and can still do that successfully on the CF.

 

[C clearly]

you think you just had an off walk or has the CF lost its lustre permanently?

I'm not Rebekah, either, but have recently read her book. I think her pilgrimage from Sarria to Santiago, as documented in the last part of her book, was a totally different undertaking than what you might be looking for. She walked in mourning, in December, supporting a couple who were grieving for the daughter who had died too young. The "lustre" of that camino must have been of a different nature than what most of us seek and experience on our walks.

 

[J Willhaus]

BombayBill,
You might also find the CF in winter a completely different and more intimate experience.

 

[Anamiri]

I just ordered it this week from Ivar.

 

[Rebekah Scott]

A Furnace Full of God. I just finished the Furnace and while I enjoyed the book it left me with mixed feelings about the CF. I’ve done the CP twice, Le Puy to SJPP, and some of the Norte. I loved all of them. I stayed in private accom and Donativos. I had many memorable experiences and met wonderful people.

But I have avoided the CF. I was warned on Le Puy that I wouldn’t like the CF. Others told me I had to try the CF, « it was special ». Then I read Rebekah’s book and especially the chapter on her « re-walk ». It seemed she was no longer enthusiastic about the CF. She « had changed or it had ».

So now while I intend to continue the walk on the Norte, or Primitivo, or Salvador I’m inclined to never do the CF. If Rebekah @Rebekah Scott is reading this post I have a question - Now you have had time to reflect on what you wrote do you think you just had an off walk or has the CF lost its lustre permanently?

Dear BombayBill,
Unlike the other people above, I am Rebekah Scott.
I have walked the CF many times, and every time I walk it's a little different... and I am a little different. Nowadays I prefer to walk other pilgrim trails, just for a break from what I already know so well... that's what a getaway is for, no? I love the other caminos, each has so much to offer anyone who arrives with an open mind and heart and eyes.
Still, there is NO Camino like the Camino Frances. It is the camino that sets the standard for the rest. It has been brutally exploited over the past 15 years or so, but nevertheless, it maintains a particular juju that no other path can touch.
Do yourself a favor and stop listening to what others say. Once things normalize, walk the Camino Frances. Do it in November/December, or March/April, when the crowds are thinner and the weather's OK.
I envy you. Your first Frances is a once-in-a-lifetime experience!