This is my entry into this months Challenge #1 - The Charm of the Uncharted hosted by Lew Corcoran and Patricia Feager.
I have written before about my Camino - this simply means The Way, like the name of the movie about the Camino which is what got me hooked. Being a spiritual walk, along old, very old, pilgrimage routes across Europe it has tons of Spiritual Energy. It is that energy that once you are hooked pulls you in. I started reading about the Camino, discovering that there are countless routes all across Europe and even from England and Ireland. Then I started watching videos on YouTube about how to pack and what to pack and how to choose your backpack etc.
My recent trip to Ireland we noticed these two signs, one in the Gravity Bar on top of the Guinness Storehouse, and the other outside St James's Church, near the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin where there is a sign indicating their connection and the start of the Camino.
The Camino is all about signs, lie the one above, signs that lead you, that you miss and you have to back track to find your way, and signs that point opposite directions. I remember twice coming across two signs pointing in different directions and not knowing which way to go. Could they both be right? But standing there, I sensed that I was to wait, to be patient and all would become clear. In both instances I felt I had to be patient, not rush, but wait. And on both occasions someone turned up and directed me along the Camino Route.
People who have not walked the Camino look at your oddly when you speak of the energy and the way the Camino speaks to you, or to your soul. But those who have experienced the wonder of the Camino understand.
I remember clearly walking one day and every bend in the road I was following, revealed a view more beautiful than the one before. It was as if God, or the Universe was revealing all the beauty created and the wonder of nature that is all around us. It was all too much, overwhelming in its intensity and the feelings it evoked.
Was every day like that? No, some days were exceptionally hard, arriving at a hostel only to find it full and needing to walk on when you are bone tired and your feet hurt and are blistered walking over cobblestone roads. But, when you arrive at some small chapel along the way and you see the care that has gone into caring for it, you forget the hardships. Looking back I know I will walk another Camino, I know it is calling to me again, and maybe this time Annie will accompany me along the Way and feel that energy and mystery for herself.
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