Knitting Jules Takes a Hike

  20/08/22   Since walking on the Camino in 2018 I have thought more about what it means to be a pilgrim. In the past, the religious aspect was very much the focal point of the journey. For thousands of pilgrims today this is still so, however many of us who walk today do not have religious beliefs but still attempt to follow the practices of a pilgrim. In John Brierley’s excellent Camino Guides of many of the caminos, he points out that a pilgrimage is supposed to be a challenge! Walking long distances day after day, carrying only what you really need, living simply in basic accommodation    and having time and space to explore your own thoughts creates that challenge. The choices that the modern pilgrim makes about what to carry, where to stay, going it alone, abstinence or following practices such as meditation or prayer are very much an individual decision. There are also divided opinions about the pilgrimage routes. Some are of the firm opinion that creating det...

  03/08/22 In part one I described a pilgrimage as a journey usually taken on foot to a place of religious significance. Many faiths have special Pilgrimage sites across the world to which pilgrims have walked great distances for centuries. It is deemed necessary to be a challenging journey both physically and mentally, taken with intent to achieve greater understanding or enlightenment, to give thanks or to give penance or take action to change behaviour in some way. In doing so the pilgrim steps away from their day-to-day life and may give up many of the material aspects that go with it. In effect, throughout their journey, they live a simpler life often carrying their possessions and taking time to think. In 2018 when I completed the last 100km of the Portuguese Camino I attended the traditional service usually held at the cathedral in Santiago, however due to renovations it was held in another church close by. The service is a celebration of the pilgrims endeavour. During t...

    Part 1 25/72022   Many people have asked me why I am walking the Camino de Santiago, if I am walking as a pilgrim and if I am religious. I often stumble over my response. In my last blog I wrote about the benefits of walking as exercise but walking a Camino is so much more than that. I want to understand more of what it means to be a modern pilgrim. Inevitably this is something I will discover as I make the journey but an acknowledgment of intent and commitment at the outset is necessary to immerse myself fully in the experience of being a pilgrim. A traditional pilgrimage is a journey usually taken on foot to a place of religious significance. Pilgrims of all faiths have walked for centuries, to places such as Mecca, Canterbury, The Vatican and the Golden Temple. On a visit to India in 2007, whilst travelling in a minibus in the middle I found my self caught up in a pilgrimage of thousands of people walking, many barefoot and carrying their possessions in a...

03/07/22 The other night Bill and I were watching a particularly grizzly episode from the last series of Ozark. Those of you who have seen this series will know how violent it is. I had my hands over my eyes and fingers in my ears, peaking out I saw the darkening sky out of our front room window. Night was falling and the clouds looked beautiful and formidable at the same time. I felt a sense of foreboding, no doubt brought on by the nail biting events but my mind had shifted to the present and I thought what am I doing? Am I mad walking into 400 miles or more of the unknown? My gaze turned back to our living room, the faded 30 year old Afghan rug, the crinkling wall paper and second hand furniture, they felt familiar, safe and comforting. During the last 20 years I was often in a state of heightened anxiety, hanging on with my fingernail’s. The break up of my marriage, my grief and the subsequent financial difficulties, then a job that I loved but which was incredibly challenging taki...

    15/7/22 In the last few years of my career, I returned to occupational therapy, working in the community advising people with impaired mobility on how to manage daily activities. Assessing sitting, standing and walking often involved crawling around the floor looking at a patient’s chair or bed and how they got out of it. Hauling myself up, by putting my hands on my knee to push myself off the ground, on too many occasions this elicited a response of ‘you alright love?’ Time to retire I thought and so I did. Then luxuriated for the best part of the following two years on the Costa Blanca enjoying the good life, followed by two years sitting on my backside knitting, during lockdown. All which did my back no good at all, walking up hills took way to much effort and my clothes were shrinking! In those few years as an OT, my patients were mostly over 80. I observed that the seniors who responded best to rehab after a stroke or a fall were those who were slender and flexi...

7/7/22 There are several guide books which document ‘The Caminos’ in detail which include maps, terrain,  daily distance broken down into sections between villages and what is available, such as cafes accommodation and supermarkets. From this information I have created a detailed table of my pre booked accommodation and the distances between each stopover. When I compared my guide book to my plan l realised, although training is going well, perhaps I need to up my game a bit. My current target, which I am achieving, is 30 km a week, however I will be walking about 70km and I feel a need to plan some longer walks on consecutive days and to do so carrying my back pack containing all my carefully chosen kit. Being prepared gives me confidence and reduces my anxiety but this is tempered against other advice in my guide books, suggesting not over planning or over training. The authors say a pilgrimage is intended to be a challenge, it should be difficult!  On hearing I am beginning...

  15/06/22 If you are in the streets, meadows or woodlands around Stamford and happen to see a slightly dishevelled woman, wearing a skirt and carrying a backpack with a large MindSpace poster on the back, do say Hi! It will be me attempting to reach my weekly training target of 30km for my Portuguese Caminho pilgrimage walk. Overall, I am making good progress, I feel fitter with less aches and pains. My mammoth hike begins on 25th August over 7 weeks covering a distance in excess of 695kilometres (431miles) from Lisbon in Portugal to Santiago de Compostela in Northern Spain.   Although I haven’t weighed my backpack recently, it must now weigh at least 6kg. I have added a 2.5 kg water bladder and an odd selection of other items including a first aid kit and a rather fetching neon blue cape. My target is to be able to carry 8kg comfortably. I really wanted neon orange MindSpace cape but unfortunately, they were sold out, so neon blue is the next best thing! It is rather...