Sunday 14th January

pilgrimage

/ˈpɪlɡrɪmɪdʒ/   (don't you love these weird and wonderful symbols to aid pronunciation!?)

noun

1. a pilgrim's journey.

   "he wanted to go on a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela"

   Similar:

   religious journey

   holy expedition

   crusade

   mission

   trip

   journey

   excursion

   yatra

   hajj

verb

1. go on a pilgrimage.

   "thousands pilgrimage there every year"

You may remember I am 'walking' along the Camino de Santiago de Compostela. I say walking - I'm using a virtual app where I enter my step count at the end of the day, and then my little flag is moved along a map to show me where I am.

As I don't go out and walk any distance (I find I can't walk fast enough in cold weather to stay warm unless I am wrapped up like a Michelin Man) my daily step count tends to be 2000, give or take, unless I've been stirring a cake mixture, winding a ball of wool, chopping vegetables, or playing fast, dynamic piano pieces. That can quickly add a few hundred steps - but I allow them because it is a form of physical activity! These means I meander along the 400+ mile route at about one mile a day.

A pilgrimage isn't a race, though; it's a journey, and if I were really travelling along the road at one mile a day I would have plenty of time to observe, ponder, investigate, consider;

to 'hear, read, mark, learn and inwardly digest' 

(to quote one of the Advent collects, and, incidentally, our long suffering English teacher at school).

Here's where I am now. 

Pamplona is half a mile ahead, so I should be there sometime this evening. It's ften quite difficult to work out what season it is from the photographs. Warm and sunny; the grass to the left is bleached dry, the fields to the right are ploughed, dry and crumbly. Summer, perhaps? From reading the blog posts of people who have really walked the camino, it seems that the best plan is to get up before dawn, set off as soon as it is light, and try and reach your overnight destination before lunchtime After then it can be too hot to walk; looking at this path I can imagine it would be unbearable in the afternoon sun. 

I'm not as alone on this 'walk' as the picture would suggest. I am part of an endless stream of pilgrims, all travelling in the same direction. Because it is a virtual app, people can convert running, jogging, swimming, cycling, even dancing, exercising, buying groceries, and doing housework into distances to add to their journey! Imagine that! 

It seems that almost any everyday activity can contribute to one's progress along the path!

Well, this is Sunday and no doubt you are waiting for the 'religious' bit. Here is comes;

I want my 'real' pilgrimage to be towards Christ who said 'I am the Way, the Truth, the Life'. 

Knowing that there are so many fellow-pilgrims going along the path in their own way, not racing each other, but travelling a their own pace, is a great encouragement.

There you are, that's the religious bit. (mine's the marker with the tartan, from one of Ang's cross stitches pieces for our cross stitch collaboration)