- Time of past OR future Camino
- Camino Frances 2007,
Via Francigena Italy, 2008,
Jakobsweg Austria 2010,
Camino Frances 2011,
Le Puy to Lourdes 2012,
Via de la Plata 2013,
Future:
Ökumenischer (Via Regia), Germany,
Lycian Way, Turkey
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I haven't walked the Bibbulmun, but have done some other bush walking here in Australia. You don't have to walk it in the height of summer, but can choose a more pleasant time of year. And most snakes would be sensible enough to keep out of your way unless you see them a little way off and are deliberately trying to sneak up on them. I rarely see them if I am walking even when they are relatively slow in early spring or late autumn. That just leaves the bugs, and I have yet to hear of any serious adventurer being deterred by that aloneThe other option was Bibbulmun track in Australia. Hot, buggy, and infested with snakes. The choice was easy. (okay ... maybe next year)
I wonder, do those who found it because of "The Way" get made fun of more than those of us who found it thanks to Shirley MacLaine?
I do not care about meaning. I just go. Something just tells me to do it. Good enough for me. On the Camino, meaning is in some kind meaningless to me. Can't explain it, though.
I am curious - was there a “defining moment” that made you decide to do the camino?
Wow
Plenty of great posts
Never expected so many different wide ranging stories of what was the defining moment
Look forward to reading more...
I just love Fried Green Tomatoes!!! I too watched The Way .... in fact I watched it with my husband and a good friend ... I discovered later unfortunately that "that good friend" and my husband were "very good friends !!". It's been a year today since my husband left me .... I've heard that miracles happen on the Camino. It's not a miracle I'm after so much .... I just want to get back to the person I used to be and I'm looking forward to doing something for myself for the first time really in 27 years. From what I've learned on this forum, this is something for you and you alone .... I hope you get back there one day. .... Cheers Trish.For me it was a perfect storm of things. Turning 60, empty nest (mother of one), and I hesitate to say, watching "The Way". I had never heard of the Camino de Santiago trail before seeing the movie. After hurricane Sandy I went to check on our tiny w/e house in the Poconos mountains. I went to the local Walmart to buy cleaning supplies and picked up a few DVD's from the $5 bin; "Fried Green Tomatoes", "Jackie Brown" and "The Way". I "hesitate" because there was quite a not-so-subtle negative attitude on the trail about being there because of the movie. It was something to hide and be embarrassed about. Pretty ridiculous. Who cares how or when you discover the Camino. Does it really matter? Anyway, I researched it, trained and left 10 months later for the Camino! It is part of me, and I it. I'm ready for more......
Ditto ... will be walking in September .... and can't stop thinking about it. I'm excited and fearful all at the same time. Maybe I'll see you there! Cheers TrishOn a church pilgrimage to Fatima and Lourdes last year (October 2012) one of the stops was at Santiago de Compostela. I had read nothing about it, and knew nothing about it, except that one of the priests at a nearby university had walked the Camino and wrote a book about it. (To the Field of Stars - Kevin A Codd). As I am a reluctant reader, I only read about 10 pages before we left. We arrived in Santiago in the evening and the next morning we were offered the opportunity to walk the last 5 km into the city and to the Cathedral. We arrived at Mont de Gozo just before sunrise and entered into town through a morning mist. I was enthralled! Later on during the trip, we could see pilgrims on the trail from our bus. Santiago was tightening his grip upon me. We were told that one could obtain the Compostela by walking the last 100 km of the trail; and some of the others in our group toyed with the idea of doing that. I returned home knowing that this was something I HAD to do, and that I would not be satisfied unless I attempted to start from SJPP. Others from our group continued with their daily lives and often speak of our pilgrimage in its entirety. But for me the most impressive part was that I HAVE to walk the Camino. I have been reading all I can about it, and have slowly been putting my kit together. I will walk in September 2014 and I think about it every day!
What a great book. Thanks for the recommendation Jenny.Great thread Jirit!
I first heard of the Camino de Santiago when I read Shirley MacLaine's book 'The Camino' back around 2002. It was that book which made me take the first step towards the cliff. A number of Camino memoirs followed over the next several years.
However, the book that made me leap off the cliff and 'fly' was "The Year We Seized The Day" by Elizabeth Best and Colin Bowles, which I read in 2011. As soon as I finished the book I set in train plans which resulted in my Camino last year.
I'm heading back next year as an Hospitalera ... can't wait !!!
Cheers - Jenny
Cheers Annie - my pleasure.What a great book. Thanks for the recommendation Jenny.
Annie
In January 2012, I was six months away from my 70th birthday. I was getting old really fast, losing confidence in myself and finding myself afraid to do so many of the things I loved to do. I was sliding very quickly into becoming an old woman. Then I saw the film “The Way”. By the time I walked out of the theater, I knew I was going to do it, I was going to Spain and walk as far as I could. In the days that followed, the doubts set in and I told myself I was crazy for even thinking of doing something like the Camino. Only, it didn’t let go. Somehow I knew that if I didn’t go, I would regret it forever and my life would basically be over. I can honestly say the Camino was calling me and I couldn’t drown out the call. I had dreamed for years of doing a long trek somewhere. This was it..this was my dream. Mind you, I had never been east of Colorado or on an airplane for more than 4 hours...ever!
So, on Sept. 11, 2012, I found myself walking out of St. Jean Pied de Port, uphill into the greatest adventure of my life. And it saved my life! And I’m going back in May 2014 to walk all the way to Finisterre! Buen Camino! And thank you AnnieSantiago!
Thank you Amanico! What a nice thing to say.That is a beautiful example, and very brave from you coming from so far away... I was very moved by your story, congratulations on your next camino too!!!
It was def a journey to put myself back together after a particularly brutal year; my beautiful, strong grandson (age 1 and a half) was diagnosed unexpectedly with a very aggressive type of cancer and I had spent the last nine months (after quitting job, school) supporting my daughter as she supported him. Almost lost him twice as he went through some of the most agonizingly harsh treatments ever invented, and I guess the helplessness of watching two people so very very dear to me suffer so intensely while i stood by helplessly, kinda shredded me.
When a month opened up, after chemo and radiation was finished and he was in a stable place awaiting more therapy, I got all kinds of signs that she needed space. I was having a hard time not smothering them, so I thought of the camino, bought a ticket, packed and went.
I left lots of tears in lots of churches along the way, both for where we had been, where we might be going, and because I missed them so terribly, but I found the walking was just what I needed to do. Came back a little stronger for my family. Hope so anyways.
His health/life/prognosis is still up in the air, (scans in January) but instead of worrying, the camino taught me to take it a step at a time and have faith all will be well, whatever happens. When I first took him in my arms when I returned, I felt so purely glad and full of love for that perfect moment together. Thank you, Camino.
Given the state of grief I was traveling with and in, I felt the spiritual side of the camino very intensely. Therefore, I didn't feel like taking pictures or seeking out a good meal (though I loved and respected everyone else's state of mind on this), I just wanted to be in a constant state of prayer, not for a specific outcome for my grandson and daughter, but for general grace and strength and right action in the coming months and years as we continue to walk a metaphorical camino with this beautiful, sweet child with cancer.
Just updating for all my camino friends, my sweet, beautiful grandson joined the angels Friday Dec 20 at 8 in the morning. He was on hospice and at home in a beautiful bed overlooking the ocean when he died, and it was peaceful, after lots of travail. But I miss him so already.
The camino was and is such a help, I feel it brought me the strength I need to be strong for my family, tho most times I really have no idea what to do with this grief...how to act, what to say. One foot in front of the other. That's all I know. Utreya!
Totally agree with you dougfitz......I haven't walked the Bibbulmun, but have done some other bush walking here in Australia. You don't have to walk it in the height of summer, but can choose a more pleasant time of year. And most snakes would be sensible enough to keep out of your way unless you see them a little way off and are deliberately trying to sneak up on them. I rarely see them if I am walking even when they are relatively slow in early spring or late autumn. That just leaves the bugs, and I have yet to hear of any serious adventurer being deterred by that alone
So sad to read your news Jenny.....Gentle Camino Hugs fellow Peregrina....So very sorry to hear your sad news homa_bird. My thoughts and prayers are with you and your loved ones.
Jenny x
I also have this book....it was a gift for me from my Exhusband not long after I returned from my Camino this past June.....a beautiful and inspiring book indeed.And then there was this book...
Yum.
Yum.
Yum.
Just updating for all my camino friends, my sweet, beautiful grandson joined the angels Friday Dec 20 at 8 in the morning. He was on hospice and at home in a beautiful bed overlooking the ocean when he died, and it was peaceful, after lots of travail. But I miss him so already.
The camino was and is such a help, I feel it brought me the strength I need to be strong for my family, tho most times I really have no idea what to do with this grief...how to act, what to say. One foot in front of the other. That's all I know. Utreya!
Just updating for all my camino friends, my sweet, beautiful grandson joined the angels Friday Dec 20 at 8 in the morning. He was on hospice and at home in a beautiful bed overlooking the ocean when he died, and it was peaceful, after lots of travail. But I miss him so already.
The camino was and is such a help, I feel it brought me the strength I need to be strong for my family, tho most times I really have no idea what to do with this grief...how to act, what to say. One foot in front of the other. That's all I know. Utreya!
Just updating for all my camino friends, my sweet, beautiful grandson joined the angels Friday Dec 20 at 8 in the morning. He was on hospice and at home in a beautiful bed overlooking the ocean when he died, and it was peaceful, after lots of travail. But I miss him so already.
The camino was and is such a help, I feel it brought me the strength I need to be strong for my family, tho most times I really have no idea what to do with this grief...how to act, what to say. One foot in front of the other. That's all I know. Utreya!
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