Day 1 August 24, 2010

Never easy to start off on a long journey and this morning I am wondering what I was thinking of to commit to such an adventure. I am nervous about the nature of the walk and the expense which I understand is more than the Camino Frances. I am also wondering - well actually worried - because that is what I do best - about how I will be able to manage the effort required to walk over the mountains.
When you dress like a pilgrim, you need to act like on and so I put on my travel clothes early this morning to get in the mood of the adventure.
I am lucky to be able to meet up with Alvina and Kirsten, my Camino Sisters from 2008 and we are determined to have a wonderful adventure no matter what.
So let the journey begin!
Maggee

Mountains should be climbed with as little effort as possible and without desire. The reality of your own nature should determine the speed . If you become winded, slow down,. you climb the mountains in an equilibrium between restlessness and exhaustion. Then when you are no longer thinking ahead, each footstep isn't just a means to an end but a unique event in itself - R Prisig

Camino El Norte 2010

We have had a interest in walking the El Norte for close to one year now. Since Kirsten, Alvina, Barb and Linda, the original Camino Sisters from our 2008 experience on the Camino Frances, met in the Gaspe in September 2009, we have been planning our trip. We are only 3, meeting together in a few days to begin this trek. We have followed the experiences of a few other brave souls who have ventured out on this route earlier this year and read about the difficulties that they encountered with the terrain, the weather and the accommodation. It is a more difficult route because it follows the mountainous coast of northern Spain and the weather along the sea is therefore more unsettled. So we will see how it goes.
We have learned from other pilgrims that this experience is different in that we have already proved ourselves on the Camino Frances and so do not need to 'do the Camino' in any particular way.
Our intention is to meet in Paris on Wednesday morning, take a train to Hendeye and then begin the walk on Thursday morning and just see how it goes.
as on previous occasions, I will write as I go.
Maggee

Rhinesteig, Germany

Here we are in the midst of the most beautiful country side. I have come here to visit Anita with Christina who first introduced us 5 years ago. Anita is an avid walker and it was her Camino experience that first inspired my trip to Spain in 2008.
The Rhinesteig is a 320 km hike which follows the Rhine River. What I did not know is that steig actually means climb and this walk is certainly a lot of climbing. While I walked only a short distance along this ancient trail, I was surprised to see the Camino shell signs along the way overlapping the Rhinesteig emblems. The Camino is everywhere in Europe.
Walking the Rhinesteig with Anita and Christina was a great experience, similar yet different from the Camino Frances. We spent two solid days walking about 17 - 22 kms each day, through fantastic countryside, with outlooks at every turn to the Rhine River, watching the barges moving slowly and steadily, the small but beautiful villages along both sides of the river and in every place we walked through, ancient churches and houses and a feeling of the past all around us.
Through hillsides covered with the green of a new spring, past animals grazing on hilly pastures and up steep hills to walk right through the grounds of ancient castles which seem to be positioned high on the top of the hills with views up and down the river - we wandered along. The hike includes many portions which go through forest of tall evergreens so that the smell of the fresh pine is wonderful. Storms had caused many trees to fall in the past month so the woodcutters were our in force to salvage the wood for the homes that use wood burning stoves for heat during the colder months.
Walking in Germany is a wonderful experience, with well marked trails everywhere and signs posted for parking lots and trail access as you drive along country roads. the country side in the Eifel region is stunning with rolling hills and forests and so many little villages and historical sites.
The Rhinesteig is a walk well worth considering from beginning to end, although it is a bit of a tough walk with the many hills along the winding river.
Maggee

Pilgrims Pilgrims Pilgrims Everywhere

On Saturday March 6, I attended a meeting of pilgrims and pilgrim wannabees here in Cape Town. It was a 3 hour workship with an introduction provided by two experienced camino walkers - Elmara and Andrea - each of whom had put a lot of effort into providing written notes for the 100 or so participants. It was a wonderful fact filled session which provided so much information and advice on most everything you would want to know to prepare to head off to the Camino.

It is interesting that there are so many people across the world that are enchanted by the idea of this kind of physical and spiritual adventure. Here in South Africa, the Camino pilgrim group is very much alive and well and there are workshops held here and in Johanesburg as well. As was my experience in Canada, the returning pilgrims also write about their Camino and so there is a collection of books and other literature available for people who wish to get a more detailed version of the experience.

It is also interesting how life paths cross and that there is a significant amount of synchronicity in events as they occur. At this meeting, I met many people who have walked, are planning to walk and some who have made this a real life commitment, including someone who turned out to be a former sailing friend of my family here who is renovating a house in Spain, which will eventually be open to pilgrims. You may notice this by the South African flag that hangs outside this summer.

New tips from this workshop:
- collect sheeps wool as you walk and place this between your toes or on hot spots as they develop. The softness and the oil from the wool are good for your feet
- buy a standard sink plug for the washing sinks that never have plugs
- pack everything in organized groupings and in zip lock bags for ease of organization
- sew pieces of cloth onto the end of long sleeves to protect from the sun
- sew loops onto all belongings to make it easier to hang from the back pack or the clothes line

There was lots of talk about Camino etiquette and especially cleanliness along the way, ie picking up your garbage. Someone from here has actually gone to the trouble of having green plastic bags made especially for picking up garbage as you find it along the way.

Maggee (Canuck still in Cape Town)

How the Camino Works

Bo Kaap with Table Mountain in the background

Here I am in Cape Town - literally on the other side of the world from home. Today I went on a wonderful tour of a very historical area of Cape Town which is called the Boer Kaap - a community which is basically Muslim and which began in the 1800s, but which today is a colorful and unique attraction of centure old houses in this beautiful city. Can you imagine a mountain side mix of small houses all painted a wonderful collage of pastel colors and with hill side streets that no die hard skate border would dare to traverse. But the children used to put wax onto boards and slide down these streets with a lookout at the bottom to warm for oncoming cars.

A walking tour in the 35C temperature was an experience in mid February for a die hard Canadian and an introduction to the history and the background of the muslin faith by a very committed guide was very interesting. Having created a new possibility for myself in this new world of adventure - that of being 'warm and engaging' - I soon found myself in conversation with two women who seemed, in the end, to have been placed there by the 'Camino Gods'. Turns out that my new friend Elmara has done the Camino at least 4 times and is planning to walk the Northern Route in April. Not only that, we sat nearly on top of each other in an educational last week. Life hold surprises, but makes me think at times that a greater plan is in place and we are just following the road that has already been designed for us. So now I have a fresh connection not only to the Camino's Northern Route, but the whole pilgrim group here in Cape Town who are meeting next week to introduce new 'pilgrim wannabees' to the adventure. At least 100 people are expected at this event.

I have a great story to tell to Desi, my Camino Sister from 2008, when I meet her for our walk from Muizenburg Beach to Kalk Bay in the morning. She has no idea that South Africa is full of pilgrims and 'pilgrim wannabees'.

It is hot here tonight and the wind is blowing off the south Atlantic. From here you could see straight down to Antarctica (well figuratively not literally) and so the energy of the environment is stunning. This evening, I walked along the the harbour beach here in Hout Bay and as always am mesmerized by the endless roll of the surf, the gusts of the wind and the warmth of the southern hemisphere sun. The mountains which overlook you from every vantage point here are magnificent and breathtaking against the brilliant blue of the African sky. I often look up to the place at the top of the mountains where I buried my husband;s ashes more than 3 years ago and wondr to myself what he would say to me now if he could comment on the life I have created for myself.It is one of the comforts of being able to come here - this enthereal feeling of being spiritually closer to him somehow, in this country that he loved so much.

While far from home, I keep bumping into messengers who have a similar intention as me - that is, to walk in the world to gain perspective and personal peace and then to make a diffeence where it matters.Could I be any luckier??.

So much to be thankful for eh!

Maggee - gazing at the harbour lights over Hout Bay on a warm summer eveningo

A Vagabond Life

Top of Table Mountain - Cape Town with my dear friend Vida from Toronto - Feb 4, 2010

So ......... I have retired at long last and now find myself with a year of adventure ahead, all of it thanks to the wonderful people that I have met along my Camino in 2008. I am here in South Africa for 2 months, spending time with family of my late husband and new friends, including Desi who I met along the Camino and who I have kept in touch with since then. We meet for a walk along the beach on weekends and then head for a wonderful place to sit and have coffee and a croissant, chatting about our lives and hopes and dreams and what the experience of walking the camino provided to us. These camino friends are unlike any others in my life and I know this to be a phenomenon from other groups of pilgrims that I have met with. There is not only a common bond because we have done something remarkable by walking the camino, there is in addition, a deeper way of relating to each other, somehow due to the spiritual nature of what a long walk provides to one. Friendships are deeper and more authentic and there is an appreciation of the simplicity that living as a pilgrim offers.

South Africa is a stunningly beautiful place and here in Cape Town where I settle myself in a rustic and lovely cottage overlooking the sea and the mountains, one could not find a happier place to be - particularly as it is mid summer here in South Africa and raging winter storms back home in Canada. I find peace in walking, which has become a passion since 2008 and am more complete within myself from the meditative practice of walking for an hour at the beginning of each day. Of course, being able to walk along the beach or along Chapman's Peak Drive which is the most stunning roadway alongside the mountains and overlooking the harbour and outlook to the sea. It was here two years ago as I walked along this beach that I committed to walking the camino, so it holds a very special place in my heart. Lots of angst and sorrow have been walked out along this shore, against the pounding surf, under the glorious sun and the mountain view. Peace of mind and heart, I have found, comes from the solitude and the repetitive energy that one puts into simply placing one foot in front of the other.

Here is where I am happiest, in this country with it's incredible beauty at every turn of the road and with each glance in any direction. Something to ponder amidst the contrasts of beauty, wealth and proverty all mixed together with a pride in what this country has stood for, particularly since Mandela's release in the early 1990s.

Well, the year holds a lot of promise. My Camino Sisters and I have set up a series of events together. From our reunion last September in the Gaspe Mountains of Quebec, we decided that our love for walking and for each othere ought to be continued with new adventures. So we are meeting in Ottawa in May to do a Canadian pilgrimage together, walking to Montreal in the way we did the Camino. Six of us, including Kirsten from Denmark will make this trip and I will write about the adventure along the way.

Before that, however, I will fly to Germany in April to visit with my friend Anita who was my inspiration for doing the Camino in the first place. Then of course, I need to go to Denmark to visit Kirsten. While I am in Europe, it seemed to make sense to hop over to Copenhagen, so I am going to do just that.

In September, we have a plan to walk the Camino again, this time doing the northern route along the north coast of Spain. We want to walk into Santiago once again and then walk to Finisterre to complete the trip. Since none of are working now, we will take our time and walk to enjoy, as well as have time to rest if we need this. On the first Camino, we were pressed to get to the end to meet air line departure reservations that we all had and so this time will be more relaxed and free for all of us.

So, here in South Africa, I enjoy the chance to train on the hills and the mountains, to reflect on what an important part of my life walking has become and to gain more confidence in this new phase of my life - free of the hassles of a hectic work life, but still passionate about finding a meaningful way to contribute to the world.

My intention for this year is to discover what that contribution might be. As a pilgrim, walking and contemplating this new direction in my life, I want to arrive at the end point with a vision of where my life path will head. It seems daunting and at the same time filled with possibility, so I waver between the two, with worry and concern intruding on the incredible freedom that I feel with this new phase of my life. Surely walking is the way to the solution.

Maggee
Cape Town, South Africa

What a Reunion

We said that we would meet again when we parted from each other in Santiago on October 2, 2008. And so we did. Through many frequent e mail connections throughout the fall, we supported each other as we settled back into our lives again. We talked about planning a reunion in the fall of 2009 and by January, 2009, the date was set thanks to the perseverance of our organizer Alvina and so we committed to travelling to the Gaspe region in Quebec for a week of hiking together. As time approached, we talked more on e mail about what we would do with out time together and eventually left the program up to Alvina, who wanted to show us the beautiful mountain hiking trails near where she lives.
At the end of September, I flew from Toronto to the smallest airport in the country and there they were waiting for me. Barb and Linda had driven from near Ottawa, Kirsten, bless her heart, had flown from Denmark on her first journey to Canada and with Alvina, they had all piled into the car and driven for an hour to pick me up.
It was one of the most emotional greetings I have had in years. I can't describe what it felt like to see those faces again and to be so warmly surrounded by the love and warmth of my Camino Sisters. We cried and hugged each other with such reverance that is was not possible to be other than deeply moved by the love that oozed between us.
For 7 days, we talked and laughed and drank a lot of wine of course. We celebrated on the first evening, with a bottle of Rioja that Barb had purchased in Santiago for our reunion. We ate wonderful food together and created such a spiritual setting with candles and memories and just plain love and concern for each other.
We walked every day. We drove into the mountains of the Gaspe Provincial Park and spent 3 nights in a log cabin overlooking a lake. We were awakened each morning by beautiful music that Alvina and Kirsten had arranged in a portable tape recorder, just like in some of the best of the alberques. We cooked and ate together, wrote in our journals, talked about our lives and our hopes, challenges and dreams and relived the magic that is the Camino de Santiago.
One of the blessings of this reunion was that we all have a desire to walk again and so we are planning to walk the northern route next year, having an interest to walk into Santiago once again. So now we are investigating the options around walking the northern route.
From this wonderful time together with these very special women, I have regained once again the sense of human connectedness that was so prevalent on the Camino as we walked and talked with so many other people. There was a bond of caring based on generosity and sincerity and made me realize how great the world and life could be if this were only the way in which people operated in every day life.
I came home committed to developing new patterns in my life - waking up to my ipod playing beautiful music instead of the radio and its sensational news each morning, spending quiet time with candles and readings that are poetic and inspirational each evening and taking time to make connections with people in my life that embodies the values of care, sincerity and generosity that I find so fundamental in my life.
Life throws curve balls at us when we least expect it and so it has been with some great surprise that I find myself personally challenged in the past month, to stand up for values that are fundamental to my life and way of being as a person and as a professional. What I am learning from this is that life and the people that we encounter provide great opportunity to test out our personal boundaries and for me, at this stage, being able to take a stand for what is appropriate and what is not, has now altered the course of my life dramatically.
I think often about the Camino now, and go back in my mind to the way it felt to walk for hours on my own, through the woods and over mmountain trails, with only the sounds of the bells on the animals or the wind whistling through the trees. There is a great calming effect of being present to a higher energy and a greater way of being in the world than what an ordinary day might drag us into. I am calmed by my experience of walking the Camino, inspired my the authentic and wonderful relationships that it has brought to my life and confident about the path that I am walking.
I walk every morning now for at least an hour and as usual, the mental games in my head storm around until I have walked long enough for peace to find me. I am energised by the health of my body and the wisdom of my soul and charged with the notion that I can find my way into a new future through walking and relatedness with people who are inspired by a truly authentic way of living.
Walking the Camino gave me confidence and peace. A reunion with my Camino Sisters inspired me to relive the values that were so fundamental to a pilgrim on a long journey. Being a pilgrim in every day life is the way for me to access that which my heart longs for - which is simply love in all of its forms as is so aptly described in 1st Corinthians chapter 13.
Maggee