Pilgrim Passports!

Our pilgrim passports arrived this week! We ordered them about 3 weeks ago from the Canadian Company of Pilgrims. These will be stamped each evening at the hostels we'll stay in as a record of our journey, and to verify to the folks at the Cathedral in Santiago that we've walked every step of the way.
We'll sew the badges on our packs. Despite our government's inaction at the recent climate conference in Copenhagen, hopefully being identifiable as Canadians will still lead to positive encounters with fellow pilgrims.

Take a Guess

I am becoming obsessed with the weight of everything which will end up in my pack. I am determined not to take too much. Later I will post my packing list - but I thought you might like to take a guess on the final weight and perhaps win a small prize if you guess closest to the exact amount - come on take a guess! Here's a picture of my pack - it weighs 600 grams. Make sure your guess includes the pack weight.

Also my shoes after a few training walks. I'll post a picture of what they look like after we finish walking too.

Kettle Valley Railway to the Little Tunnel

A beautiful crisp Saturday afternoon and good conversation with friends Bryna and Skai made for a great 2 hour walk on the KVR today. Allison spotted a small group of deer far below us as we sat overlooking Okanagan lake at the little tunnel. After only three weeks of walking our legs are feeling stronger, our packs fit well, and we're feeling good!

Nice Day for a Walk

Today we tried out our new small (35 litre) backpacks and Allison's new Leki trecking poles (mine are on order) for the first time with a 2 hour walk up to and along the Kettle Valley Railway, and home again. Breaking in our hiking shoes, getting used to climbing hills again (there will be lots of ups and downs in Spain), and getting creaky knee joints moving. It was a gloriously sunshiny day - felt more like the end of March than mid January. We're in training!

Recommend a Book For Our Walk?

John Brierley's guidebook, A Pilgrim's Guide to the Camino de Santiago, will be tucked into one of our packs as we head out onto the Camino. It is current, filled with practical info - a day by day guide to the path, maps, accommodation options in pilgrim hostels (also called refugios or albergues) and historical information - and, unlike some others we've looked at, offers questions for spiritual reflection.

We're also thinking about which one or two wee books each of us will take to nurture our souls along the way. They need to be small and light. (We're aiming to carry only 10-12 pounds each.)

We welcome your recommendations. And we'll have a great reading list to share with friends and family who we've invited to join us in our first ever blog!

What We're Reading

Here are some books we're reading to prepare for the journey:

Personal Memoirs
Walk in a Relaxed Manner by Joyce Rupp
The Way is Made by Walking, A Pilgrimage Along the Camino de Santiago by Arthur Paul Boers
The Camino, A Journey of the Spirit by Shirley Maclaine

Guidebooks
A Pilgrim’s Guide to the Camino de Santiago (A Practical & Mystical Manual for the Modern Day Pilgrim) by John Brierley
Walking the Camino de Santiago, 3rd Edition, by Bethan Davies and Paul Cole
Spanish Phrasebook Berlitz

Any others to recommend?

A Good Time For a Long Walk

It’s good to have something to look forward to … 2009 was a challenging year. After more than five year’s of living with a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer, 26 stent procedures, quadruple bypass heart surgery, a broken hip, and becoming diabetic – all of which she survived with grace and tenacity, good humour and love as the “energizer Buddy” – my mom died on July 12. My brothers, sister, brother-in- law, nieces, cousin, and Allison and I had precious time with her in the final weeks of her life. I still want to phone her most days of the week, to tell her about my day and see how she is doing. I miss her gentle loving spirit very much, and I am so grateful to have had the gift of the last five years with her. I have never experienced such loss in my life. I think of my mom every day. I am ok, but I miss her very much.

My beloved Allison is better now, but since last June (when she needed to stop working because of severe burnout) she travelled dark days of depression, adrenal fatigue, and exhaustion. Days when she found it difficult to find the energy to gather words and speak, week upon week when she didn’t want to leave the house, and a profoundly uncharacteristic loss of inspiration to do most things. With tenderness, patience, and faith, she grew well. She found again things that she loves to do and that are good for her soul – baking bread, reading, sewing, gardening, more time with our god kids, friends and family, and the capacity to sit in the sun and simply be. Yesterday she returned to work and will co-lead Winter Session, a program she loves, beginning Jan 10 and ending April 9.

We have experienced a great deal of support from family and friends, gifts of love and care, times of intentional retreat and renewal, times away.

And the gift of perspective … on life, and work, and making time for what is important.

After 11 years of working at Naramata Centre, I will be taking a sabbatical from Feb 1 – May 31! I have wanted to do a BIG walk for several years. It’s a dream that has ebbed and sparked and cycled over the years. A couple of years ago I read Joyce Rupp’s book, “Walk in a Relaxed Manner” about the Camino and I thought I would like to do it one day.

That day is now circled on the calendar. We booked our flight on New Year’s Day as a symbol of the beginning of the New Year. We fly to Paris April 19 and will start our walk on the 21st.

It’s a good time for a long walk. And I am so looking forward to doing this with Allison.

What is the Camino de Santiago?

The Camino is an ancient pilgrimage route in Northern Spain. There are many routes, or caminos, which lead to Santiago de Compostela; several begin in Spain, others in various parts of Europe or the UK. The way we will walk is called the Camino Frances. It begins just near the Spanish French border in a town called St Jean Pied de Port, and leads to Santiago de Compostela. The walk is nearly 800 km. A mighty long way.

There are lots of sites devoted to describing the Camino de Santiago and I recommend checking these out. Diane will post her favourites for you. This brief description of the Camino comes from a really good Uk site http://www.caminodesantiago.me.uk/

The Camino de Santiago de Compostela, also known in English as The Way of St James, is a collection of old pilgrimage routes which cover all Europe. They all have Santiago de Compostela in north west Spain as their final destination. For more than 1000 years pilgrims have been walking along the Camino de Santiago.

The main Camino route is the Camino Frances. This part of the Camino de Santiago traditionally starts in St Jean Pied de Port and finishes in Santiago de Compostela about 780km later, after traveling the breadth of Northern Spain, (In Santiago you can collect your Compostela). However you can start anywhere and even continue past Santiago to the sea at Finisterre. Finisterre was thought to be the end of the world in medieval times

We will begin the travelling portion of the pilgrimage on April 19th - the preparation in other ways is already happening. And the walking part of the experience will finish with a flight home on May 28th.