Pilgrimage

[John]

Add your comments and thoughts on, or perhaps favorite quotes from Pilgrimage here:

[John]

Pilgrimage - "allow for some hardship, some lessening of control. Self-denial is as fundamental to pilgrimage as it is to authentic Christian living."

From the time we first heard about it, my wife and I were drawn to walk the Camino de Santiago. Realizing that with my job it was unlikely that I could take off enough time to walk the entire route in one go, and not wanting to risk being unable to walk the route after retirement, we decided to walk it in stages. Having decided to walk in stages we decided to start at one of the traditional starting places in France, Le Puy en Velay, almost 1,000 miles from Santiago.

After work caused a delay from our planned start in May, last September we walked the first 160 or so miles , from Le Puy to Figeac. There is something about a physical pilgrimage like this that takes you away from your normal life, not just physically, but mentally, psychologically, spiritually.

One of the lessons I learned was that my wife should lead. When we started, I would lead. I have a long and strong stride and my wife would not say anything, but would just keep up . . . until she couldn't, but then she would be completely exhausted, and struggled to go on at all. On our fourth day, I had her lead from the beginning. Our pace was only a little slower, but she was still going strong when we reached our destination and that was our longest day yet.

I'm pretty sure there is a more general life lesson in there somewhere.

We will go back and will eventually finish. I recommend the Camino to everyone able to consider it.