This is the first newsletter I sent out last Aug – I have been getting asked questions that have already been answered in some news letters – so I will find them all and post them under the category of newsletter in the bog.
Hello All,
Camino de Santiago, Way of St James
Firstly apologies for the amount of time it has taken for me to get organized for my first newsletter. I have been on the move for the last couple of months and have now settled in Ireland, Dublin, again and at long last have internet connection setup once more.
My first favor – I am looking for a gmail account – any one want to send me an invite?
The Camino… a long hot walk in the north of Spain? A life changing experience? A good way to meet people? A great way to lose weight? A pilgrimage? A spiritual journey? Whatever – it fits into any of these categories.
As I say on my web site it is not something that I though would be too interesting. Infact listening to my friend describe it made it sound like some weird type of privation – really not for me. I wanted clean sheets, a room to my self, ensuite thank you. Hostels for four or five weeks, be serious!
However, being a mature student and not having a lot of money and a long summer ahead I decided to give it a go. With one caveat though, if I didn’t like it I was off to travel somewhere else, I was making no commitment to this Camino thing before I went.
I was so tired at night nothing kept me awake. I was smelly and dirty all day, as no shower in the mornings, I carried all my own stuff, from town to town. I had no privacy, people just walked up to me and started talking, they would walk with me as if I wanted their company, and they would end up telling me their life story! They’d got the wrong person, but how to tell them that I wasn’t very good at that empathy thing. Within the first week it was all normal and in the evening I was looking around the albergue for these people to go and eat with them – go figure.
The Camino de Santiago can be many thing – it is only a long walk across a hot dusty part of Spain. It is the people that make the journey, that make the journey.
I read recently that pilgrims over estimate the terrain and under estimate the effect on their feet. The terrain is not challenging, carrying your rucksack and walking every day is. The best bit of advice I can give anyone is learn good footcare, have good worn in boots, pack as light as possible, and just walk – some days 15km others more than 30km, whatever you choose.
It is an experience that not many people get in one life, perhaps like most other experiences it will have the ability to change you – a little bit.
My site is getting a make over – only three pages have been changed so far the home page, photos, and St Jean page. Do you like the new design or was the old more to your taste?
What do you want to see in this newsletter? Let me know.
Buen Camino Leslie Gilmour
I like everything about your website. I can’t tell the difference between the “new” and the “old” (or can’t remember the difference!) What would I like to see “more” of? More stories like this one and the newest one; your personal thoughts as you walked, stories about walking, how indifferent you were and how much you have changed. It gives me great hope and great cheer to think that perhaps all hearts might change from stone and those hard parts left in me might soften in time.
I am so happy reading your site and seeing the beautiful photos and knowing that the Camino awaits, and until then, here I can travel it in my mind. You have started a diary of TRANSFORMATION and it is a blessing to behold. This is a great gift you have given to the rest of us stuck in the “regular world.”
Ultimtely, spiritual transformation is the goal of all of life, is it not? The only difference between heaven and hell is the emotional state we live in, and the world of emotions is our spiritual world. What more is there, really? Even if it takes sore feet and a hot dusty road to find it. One day I will! Thank you so much for creating and maintaining this website. It means the world to me; I read a little bit each day, especially when I am feeling low. Just seeing the photograph of the dark blue sky and dusty fields of Spain makes my heart sing.
Take a look at Victor Nuno’s photos on Flickr.com: he also walked the Camino and reminds me so much of you: http://www.flickr.com/photos/victornuno/2648847927/