Arctic Dreams: The Polar Bears of Churchill. PART I Dec 1, 2011
Arctic Dreams: The Polar Bears of Churchill. PART II Dec 8, 2011
Long-Haul Travel: A Frequent Flyer’s Survival Guide. PART I Feb 19, 2012
The Road Less Travelled Jan 27, 2012
Is this it? Discovering Yellowstone National Park Oct 8, 2011
“Pilgrimage? Hmm, that sounds like a lot of religious mumbo jumbo to me”
(I’m sure I’ve heard someone, somewhere say this)
It’s true, the idea of a pilgrimage is usually associated with a religious ritual or rite of passage: the pilgrimage to Mecca in Islam, the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem in Judaism and The Vatican in Catholicism.
But I am going to help myself to a little creative license here and suggest that any journey or travel can be considered a pilgrimage: and a non-religious one at that.
Even thinking about the Camino de Santiago makes me almost fall over backwards in a rush to get my walking shoes on and go for a really long walk.
There was a time, not so long ago, when any mention I made of the Camino was received with a blank look:
“You know, that walk across the north of Spain.” = blank look.
“Ancient pilgrimage trail. 800 kilometers. Really long walk.” = blank look.
It’s a traveller’s worst nightmare. Well, one of them at least.
Those huge red, flashing letters next to the departure time of your next flight have the power to rattle even the most frequent of flyers: CANCELLED. A delay is frustrating enough but you see ‘cancelled’ and your heart just sinks.
With a UK and US release of Martin Sheen’s latest movie The Way announced last week, I thought now would be as good a time as any to write about the Camino de Santiago.
No idea what I’m talking about? Well, the Camino, or The Way of St James, is both an 780km long ancient pilgrimage trail in Northern Spain and…something you should put on your travel ‘to do’ list right now! Bear with me on this one….
Getting ‘off the beaten track’ is getting more and more difficult these days with tour companies providing access to even the most remote areas of the globe. This also means that if you have the dollars, you can pretty much go anywhere you like!
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Extract from my winter pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago last year:
‘The Way’ follows the story of a father who decides to complete his son’s journey to Santiago after he is killed in a storm in the Pyrenees whilst walking his first day of the camino. Emilio Estevez wrote and directed the film and also acts alongside his on-screen and off-screen father, Martin Sheen. The story begins in St Jean Pied de Port where Tom (Martin Sheen) hoists on his son’s backpack and begins walking to the cathedral of Santiago some 780 kms away.
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Some people despise all the planning that comes before a journey. I love it! For me the journey officially begins as soon as I start to plan it. The anticipation is half the fun.
Of course I know the plans will change a thousand times before any kind of departure, and most plans tend to dissipate once you are actually in a place. But all the research, reading, day-dreaming and discussion that precedes a departure is a constant reminder of what is now the inevitable: there is a journey ahead. Read more
Arctic Dreams: The Polar Bears of Churchill. PART I Dec 1, 2011
Arctic Dreams: The Polar Bears of Churchill. PART II Dec 8, 2011
Long-Haul Travel: A Frequent Flyer’s Survival Guide. PART I Feb 19, 2012
The Road Less Travelled Jan 27, 2012
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