Letting there be room ...

"Letting there be room for not knowing is the most important thing of all. When there's a big disappointment, we don't know if that's the end of the story. It may just be the beginning of a great adventure. Life is like that. We don't know anything. We call something bad; we call it good. But really we just don't know." ~ Pema Chodron, When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times





 One year ago I was sitting at home after coming off the Appalachian Trail. I had slipped and fallen on icy rock coming down from Cheoah Bald and twisted my ankle. At the time I was very disappointed and wondered if it was the end of a hoped for thru-hike. Was it bad luck?  Maybe ... but I got into rehab with a physical therapist immediately, avoided a terrible snow storm that descended on the Smoky Mountains and made hiking very difficult and dangerous; I participated in Holy Week services and Easter Sunday at my home parish. So in many ways the fall brought much good into my life. On April 6th Stoney drove me back to Stecoah Gap and I returned to the Appalachian Trail wearing an ankle support (just in case).

As I write this blog post,  we are definitely in that place where we need to let "there be room for not knowing" as we count down the days until we begin our pilgrimage on the Camino Frances (the French Way on the Way of St. James) enroute to Santiago de Compostela.

 I was really surprised when we received our Credencial del Peregrino just a few days after I applied online. Coming from California, I expected it would take longer. When Stoney brought in the mail and I saw the envelope that contained our pilgrim passports, my heart skipped a beat or two (not really that unusual because I have thousands of irregular heartbeats each day for which exercise is my prescription rather than medication).

The letter from the American Pilgrims on the Camino began:

"Dear Friend of the Camino, 

We are very happy to provide you with your credencial del peregrino for your upcoming journey on the Camino de Santiago. The Camino has existed for a thousand years, and you are about to become part of its legacy.

The credential identifies you as a pilgrim traveling on foot, bicycle or horseback, and it must be shown when you register in the albergues in which you sleep along the Camino ..."

As I read the letter, the words "You are about to become part of its legacy" caught my eye and took me back to the Appalachian Trail. Day after day as I walked, I thought about all those who had walked the path from Georgia to Maine. Most days I walked alone although a few people would pass me and on a rare occasion I would pass someone. It was a solitary and quiet walk. Some days I was lonely but most days I enjoyed the solitude...and experienced the companionship/ the legacy (the gift) of the Appalachian Trail and all who have walked it. I met a man from Texas hiking part of the AT last year. His trail name was ..... wait for it .... Tex.

He had completed a thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail some years ago and completed the Camino. I don't remember how the topic came up, but he said he thought I'd enjoy it and my husband probably would too since he wouldn't have to sleep in a tent. That's Tex relaxing at Mother Marian's -- not too far off the Appalachian Trail. We sought refuge from two days of heavy rain on the trail. 

The Appalachian Trail's legacy is recent  when compared to El Camino de Santiago. The first section of the Appalachian Trail was opened in 1923. Myron Avery was the first to hike the trail end to end in 1936 although not as a thru-hike. In 1948 Earl Shaffer was the first to complete a documented thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail. 

We are preparing to walk a path that has been in existence for over a thousand years. We will experience and become a part of the legacy that began during medieval times. I wonder whether any our relatives from Ireland, Sweden, Germany and England have walked it. Will we be following in their footsteps?  

From from the back of the Credencial del Peregrino:

Live In The Moment

Welcome Each Day - Its Pleasures and Its Challenges

Make Others Feel Welcome

Share

Feel The Spirit of Those Who Have Gone Before You

Imagine Those Who Will Follow You

Appreciate Those Who Walk With You Today

36 Days and Counting ...

"Patience is the training in abiding with the restlessness of our energy and letting things evolve at their own speed." ~ Pema Chodron, The Places That Scare You: A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times

Thirty-six  days and counting … and we hope to board a plane using passes from a friend and be on our way to Brussels, the first leg of our journey. We will spend a few days visiting our youngest son who is in the Army working at AFN Benelux. It has been 2 ½ years since we last saw him.  It will be great to wrap our arms around him and give him a BIG hug! 

We will be traveling to familiar territory. Twenty-eight years ago we left Belgium after living in Europe for six years and returned to the U.S. At that time our sons were in 1^st and 3^rd grades. Never in our wildest imaginations did we think one of our sons would join the Army and then serve at the same duty station. Stoney flew helicopters for the SACEUR and I think this was his favorite assignment in 20+ years with the Army. Zach is a combat photographer/videographer working in tv broadcast and he is really enjoying this assignment.

We have made some arrangements this past week and our journey is becoming less of a dream and more of a reality. Stoney has taken care of the rental car at Brussels airport. We’ll drive about an hour South to visit Zach. We’ll drive the rental car to Charelois airport for drop off and fly to Biarritz, France on Ryanair. Reservations for that flight are confirmed. We’ll take a bus or taxi from Biarritz airport to Bayonne train station for a ride to Lourdes. 

 

Lourdes is a small town lying in the foothills of the Pyrenees in southern France.  In 1858, a 14-year old local girl, Bernadette Soubirous, claimed a beautiful lady appeared to her in the remote Grotto of Massabielle. The lady identified herself as “the Immaculate Conception” and appeared to Bernadette 18 times. The faithful believe the lady to be the Blessed Virgin Mary. An estimated 200 million people have visited the shrine since 1860 and the Roman Catholic Church has officially recognized 69 healings considered miraculous. Have a look at the link if you’d like to read about Lourdes.

The following day we will travel by train or bus to Pau train station (not too far from Lourdes) and we have made arrangements to take a van along with a few others to St. Jean Pied de Port. It's about 90 miles and I think we will enjoy the scenery along the way.  We'll have time to walk around the little town and we'll spend the night at Gite Azkorria on the rue de la Citadelle not far from where we'll begin our journey on the Camino.

 The next day we'll begin our walk on the Camino. We don't have to leave early morning because we have reservations at Refuge Orrison (third dot on map). We will start the Camino gently by walking only about 5 miles our first day.  The next day it will be about a 10 mile walk to Roncesvalles (last dot on chart 1) where we will probably spend our second night unless we are not ready to stop walking. It has been said that the first day can be quite challenging for those who walk the entire 15 miles.  So we are grateful to be spending our first night in Orrison. You can see by the elevation chart, it's a climb UP the Pyrenees.

This morning we received 2 inches of rain and so it was a great day for Stoney to test his hands-free trekking umbrella. I used mine on the Appalachian Trail and it made walking in the rain tolerable on most days and when the rain was a gentle rain, it was absolutely delightful to walk in the rain. A loop hooks the handle around the backpack waistbelt and there is a velcro shoulder attachment that holds the adjustable height umbrella pole to the shoulder strap.  So we walked about 3 miles this morning and I made a little video. I apologize that I'm a bit tongue-tied in my narration. When Stoney talks to me while I'm making a video, I get a bit distracted and my narration suffers. At the end of the walk, he thanked me for his new umbrella.