Walk The Camino

Walking the Camino de Santiago, the Way of Saint James

We asked two pilgrims to tell us more about their Camino walks.

CATHERINE FINCH

Catherine walked the Camino in stages with a friend between April 2015 and March 2019, taking two walks a year in spring and autumn. She tells us “We started in Castanet and, in all, walked for 45 days but you can do it in 30 if you take the trail from St Jean Pied de Port to Santiago de Compostela.”

Camaraderie is a major part of the walk and the pair met some interesting people, including a young Chinese girl carrying a ukulele; they ended up singing together. As well as incredible scenery there was tremendous friendship and hospitality from both French and Spanish along the route. As Catherine says,

When you’re weary, a friendly face, cold drinks, fruit (often free) is a real boost.

You meet some amazing people

Their most unusual lodgings proved to be a disused church, Chapelle des Ursulines in Aire sur L’Adour, where they slept in the vestry and ate on a long table in the church itself. Her advice is “Have a completely open mind. Don’t expect anything, accept that it will be tough, exhilarating, frustrating and incredible, all in one day. Stay in all the accommodation on offer, and don’t be afraid to treat yourself every so often!” Catherine has two books published, Walking Apart and Holding On Letting Go (see www.thelocalbuzzmag.com/books). Her third novel, which is now underway, uses Camino as part of its setting. www. chaffinchbooks.co.uk.

Camaraderie is a major part of the walk

COLLEEN SIMS

Driving across Spain in 2013, Colleen Sims noticed Camino pilgrims. She says

At a little beach near Finisterre my hand rested on a beautiful scallop shell. It was a sign, I was going to walk!

Having recovered from cancer it felt like a calling, a declaration that I was alive and healthy and strong”. Colleen’s many walks have covered 200 to 800km, and the longest which was 1007km on the Via de la Plata from Seville. She plans a 1600km walk in 2020. “I started my first walk alone”, she adds, “but you’re never really alone on the Camino. I’ve met so many amazing people, including a French group who were carrying four wheelchair bound pilgrims for 800km, even over mountains! I now have special friendships with pilgrims across the globe. “In 2016, whilst fund-raising on my Via de la Plata walk I carried ‘sins’ like medieval pilgrims walking by proxy to St James. I carried hopes, dreams and fears. At journey’s end, in the cathedral at Santiago de Compostella, a nun sat beside me, saying nothing as I read the messages to myself in front of the Saint. It was heart breaking, because for some of my sponsors a miracle was too late.

It feels like everything is possible on the Camino.

There were times when things just happened, spiritual moments that made the hairs stand up on the back of my neck. Often, the simple beauty of finding space to breathe and think helps to clarify what’s important in life.

Colleen is a singer with The Candies, a wedding and event band who travel all over France. www.the-candies.com See their blogs pages at www.thelocalbuzzmag.com

You can also read Blogs by Catherine and Colleen on our website www.thelocalbuzzmag.com/blog