Preparation
“The goal is a
perfect peacefulness even in the middle of the raging storm.” – St John
Climacus.
In the busy modern world, the concept of escaping the world to
spend time alone with God is utterly alien. We will often spend twelve hours a
day working and barely achieve twenty minutes in prayer to thank God for the
things which he has provided for us.
Because of this struggle, this year myself and a close friend decided to
take some time this year to restore our ‘spiritual compasses’ and dedicate some
time to God through walking the Camino Ingles, one of the less walked northern
routes of the Camino De Santiago.
The Camino De Santiago is the name given to a medieval
pilgrimage, originating in the 9th Century, to the Tomb of St James
in Santiago de Compostela. In my case, the route which I walked was the Camino
Ingles, which travels 119km between the northern Spanish cities of Ferrol and
Santiago de Compostela. This route was originally used by Northern European
pilgrims who travelled by sea to Ferrol from England.
After discussing this with His Eminence, Archbishop Angaelos
I received his blessing to go on this pilgrimage and following further thought
I decided to add an additional motivation to this walk and seek sponsorships
for the St Kyrel Trust, a Coptic charity which works to provide for vulnerable youths
who lack the means to go to work towards improving their situation. As someone
who works in the education system, this charity and its work mean a lot for me,
and as someone who has spent a significant part of his life working within the
Church I felt the need to work to combine these two and work to promote a
charity which cares for both those within the Coptic community and the
importance of education and social mobility amongst the youth. To donate to their cause you can use the link provided HERE
With these in mind, I prepared both physically and
spiritually for the journey, knowing I would be walking over 20km per day
through areas of solitude, meeting very few people apart from in the hotels and
hostels we stayed in. This was a difficult thing to prepare for, especially
living in a city and a society which values social interaction above all else.
One extremely beneficial source of this guidance was HH Pope Kyrillos, whose
guidance through his monastic life has guided many young Orthodox Christians to
work closer in their relationship with God through both choosing to enter the
monasteries or working on their prayer life within their daily life outside of
the monastery. Armed with this guidance and an 8kg backpack we started our
journey to Ferrol.
Day one: Ferrol to
Pontedeume
“And if one were to
ask, what road is this? I say that it is the soul of each one of us, and the
intelligence which resides there. For by it alone can God be contemplated and
perceived." – St John Chrysostom
After a two day drive through France and Spain, stopping off
in Loudes overnight, we reached Ferrol. The City itself is a small naval city
and is currently struggling with economic issues following the departure of
most industries to other parts of the country. After finding the first mile
marker, we began our journey to the town on Pontedueme where we would complete
the first stage of the walk. The road was a difficult one, especially because
of it being the first day of travel. Around half way through the day we reached
the town of Fene where we met two more pilgrims at a pilgrim café. This was a
great reminder that we were on a journey with others.
Following this meeting, we continued to Pontedeume and
travelled through some of the beautiful country lanes of Galicia, across a
number of hills and through villages before walking across the Eume and into
the town itself. Reaching this first town was a strange experience, since we
both celebrated the achievement and realised the immensity of what was to come.
After a short break in the town we visited St James (Santiago) Church in the
town and headed to our Hotel (Pension). The owners were wonderfully
accommodating to our lack of Spanish. The running of this small family run
Pension was an interesting reflection of family values, with the whole family
helping run the establishment and other family members visiting in the evening
to relax together. This is a change from the family life I have experienced in
other places where interactions are often short and the presence of the other
person is enjoyed less than the motive for the discussion. After rest and a
quick breakfast the next day we moved on to our next destination.
Day Two:
Pontedeume to Betanzos
"When you see
your brother, you see the Lord your God." - Abba Apollo
The journey to Betanzos the next day was a pleasant one,
stopping half way in the seaside town of Miño. The journey consisted of mostly
forest and countryside which left us with some wonderful views and reminders of
the glory of God. One of the most enjoyable moments was during our stop in Miño
where we met a man from the USA who was visiting family in Spain and was
overjoyed to see English pilgrims on the route.
Following this, we continued to walk through the countryside
and found such a welcome as pilgrims that it put other areas of charity to
shame, and made us really reflect on our mindset to wards visitors. As we
passed through hamlets and small villages we were greeted often with “Buen
Camino,” meaning “Good Camino” and found cold boxes containing drinks, attached
to donation boxes, for pilgrims to take as they pass in exchange for a small
amount of money. Looking back at this, I could never see such a thing working
in London as there is not a degree of trust or trustworthiness. In warm days,
such a gracious act was extremely appreciated, and I wonder how many other
cities or businesses act in this way to the benefit of humanity and impact of
such a thing becoming widespread.
On arrival in Betanzos we visited the main Church in the
city and had the blessing to attend the pilgrims mass in which prayers were
said for all those pilgrims who were heading to Santiago de Compostela and the
Tomb of St James. In was here that we had the blessing to meet more pilgrims,
including a protestant minister and some Spanish students. Following a nice
talk with some of these were reminded of the diversity of this pilgrimage and
diversity of motivations. Of all the pilgrims met, there were very few who were
travelling for religious reasons, with most travelling for a sense of challenge
or for personal reasons. Regardless of this there was a sense of unity in that
all were on the same path, experiencing the same challenges and having to
overcome theme together. This sense of unity on the pilgrimage was a strong
bond which brought everyone together. This would be important the next day as
we were to travel 27km uphill to Hospital de Bruma.
Day three:
Betanzos to Hospital de Bruma
"Do not attempt
to explain something difficult with contentiousness, but with patience, prayer
and unwavering hope." – St Mark the Ascetic
The next morning we awoke early at 6am, to begin what was
expected to be a 10-12 hour day uphill to the hamlet of Hospital de Bruma. Most
of the guide books had warned that this would be the most difficult of days,
and so we had decided to have an early start to miss the midday heat. The
journey started with some difficult uphill sections, leading to the small down
of Presedo. In the town of Presedo we discovered a small pilgrim café which,
being the last pilgrim café before Bruma, had everyone we had previous met
there. In this café we were able to relax and hear more of the stories of our
fellow travellers and their motivation with a few people asking about our
religious motivation for taking the pilgrimage (my travelling partner being a
Catholic lay-chaplain.) Here we again felt the kinship from before, meeting
many of these people for the second time and sharing our journeys before
separating for the next stage.
The second half of the trip to Bruma was more difficult, with
more slopes and more road walking than before, which had a major impact on my
feet after hours of walking on dirt paths and country roads. The long stretches
gave us a chance to reflect on the journey so far, and chances to stop for
water and often prayer which should be the first call in such times.
Fortunately the weather was more generous and so we were treated to clouds and
mild warmth as opposed to the boiling heat from the first two days. We arrived
in Bruma at around 3pm, with painful feet, and were treated to lunch at a small
village café before heading to our hotel to freshen up and rest for the
evening, spending another evening with some fellow pilgrims.
Hospital de Bruma
- Sigüeiro
"Think nothing
and do nothing without a purpose directed to God. For to journey without
direction is wasted effort." - St Mark the Ascetic
Following the challenge of getting to Hospital de Bruma we
had another long day, with 25km to Sigüeiro. The day began as the others, with
long stretches down country roads and more steep slopes leading through towns
and villages. This penultimate day of our pilgrimage led us through various
farms however it was different in that we walked a large amount of the journey
with people we had met on the way. Our walking partners were a couple from the Netherlands
and Belgium who worked as hiking guides and were preparing to write about the
Ingles route after travelling most of the other Camino de Santiago paths. We
spent a large amount of the journey speaking to them about our experience of
the way so far, and discussing the religious aspect. From their perspective, it
had very little meaning to those walking it today however they felt positive
seeking myself and James representing this link to the faith on the journey.
The evening of this long and extremely tiring day was spent
in the pilgrim hostel. Whilst there we met other pilgrims including a Belgian man
who had walked 30 day pilgrim walks every year and was a fountain of knowledge
on the topic. After this, we had the blessing to attend a Catholic Mass in the
city, and to take a talk with the priest about the pilgrimage and its importance,
he seemed again happy to see pilgrims taking this religious journey. Having
later shared dinner with other pilgrims, we were able to gain further insight
into the mindset behind many people they had met on the way and listened as
others reminisced in their journeys through some of the longer pilgrim ways. In
was great to see the impact which walking the Camino has on others even when
their motives are not outwardly religious in nature, since all seemed to have a
call to the journey.
Sigüeiro –
Santiago De Compostela
"If we are not
willing to sacrifice this temporal life, or perhaps even the life to come, for
the sake of our neighbour, as were Moses and St. Paul, how can we say that we
love him?” – St Peter of Damascus
The final day started strangely, with the strange feeling
that the Pilgrimage was coming to an end, since despite its brevity, its impact
was significant. On a personal note, I can only wonder as to the feelings of
whose walking larger routes which can take a month or longer. Though the walk
was shorter, it again contained numerous slopes and challenging parts through
forest paths. However, by the middle of the day we were within a few kilometres
of the Cathedral. As we entered the city we visited a small Church and were
able to pray and thank God for bringing us this far, preparing ourselves emotionally
and spiritually to enter the old city and reach the cathedral.
Reaching the main square was a daunting thing to experience.
Though the journey had been a short one, the realisation that it was over and
that we had achieved our goal left me speechless. There, standing next to the
Cathedral and only a few hundred meters from the tomb of St James, it seemed
like a dream. Before entering the Cathedral we visited a small café and rested,
meeting some other pilgrims there, and reflected on how we felt. We had shared
a similar journey and a similar emotional state upon completion of the
pilgrimage, one of “not feeling like I have arrived” and unpreparedness for it
to finish. It was with this state of mind that we entered the Cathedral.
The Cathedral was beautiful and fascinating, keeping most of
its medieval architecture alongside some modern features. The centrepiece of
the Cathedral was its golden altar, along with the world’s largest censer. This
censer was only used in services where a donation had been made, and so wasn’t
used each service. After viewing this, we queued up to venerate the Saint at
the end of the Pilgrimage and pray at his tomb. This was emotionally charged
for all of the Pilgrims, since they had travelled here to venerate the Saint,
and so myself and James spent a few minutes in prayer there before moving on
and attending the Pilgrims mass at which we were happy to see many people we
had travelled with.
The next day we began our drive home. As with the way there,
we took the time to visit Lourdes as it was the half way mark. It was good to
spend the start and end of our journey at this wonderful town. The domain there,
with the grotto and basilica, was a perfect place to pray and reflect due to
its silence and prayerful atmosphere. Whilst there we took the time to say our
prayers and light candles for friends and family before resting up for the
drive home.
Tips for Travellers
Though my reflections do not quite emphasise it, the Camino
de Santiago is physically, spiritually and emotionally demanding. Even the short
routes such as the Camino Ingles (which I walked) involve hours of walking on
hillsides a day and a willingness to accept that there is little room for
stopping or giving up once the day has begun. A key piece of advice I would
give to travellers is to pack lightly and ensure that you are committed to its
completion.
By packing lightly, I mean not to pack for a holiday. The
Camino is a pilgrimage and by its nature a path. Because of this you carry your
pack with you between towns. This means that the more you bring, the more you
carry. When I walked, I only took a small amount of clothes (My cassock and 3
sets to be precise) and little else, I had planned to bring a book to read
however this became impossible due to weight, time and tiredness. Because of
this, a small pamphlet text alongside your prayer book and Bible suffices, or
even just having them on your phone could be preferable.
Overall the journey is a great blessing and I would advise
everyone to undergo it or a similar one at least once in their life, embracing
the spirit of the pilgrim. It is a chance to become one with others and forget
the secular life which drags us from others and from God. You will meet many
people of different motivations and they will become a lifeline and you will
often lose track of the real world outside of this pilgrims life, thus truly
becoming the Christians which the Apostle called “Pilgrims and sojourners” as
we were called to be.
