Good Jesus of the Mount, Braga.

Once recovered from the rather hair-raising ride to the top of the Mount and taking a few minutes to find our bearings, we set out walking past the chapels of the passion and resurrection of Christ to the Basilica of Bom Jesus.  Its a live pilgrimage site with groups from all over the world climbing the steps and being part of a service in their own language at the top.  You climb through the 12 stations of the cross, then the five senses which give praise to God and then through the three virtues which are the fountains of faith, hope and charity.  We joined a service in English at the top and then walked down.  It probably worked for our theology as well.

I was stuck by one comment the Irish Catholic priest shared in his homily.  I was a nice counterbalance to my reflection of two days ago at Arcos about being emptied as a pilgrim.

His reflection was on the Lord's Prayer.  We pray "Our Father".  A plural first person possessive pronoun.  Not the single and individualistic "My Father".  Seeking God in prayer is always relational.  We do it together with others.  Maybe not at the same moment or in the same way, but it is a shared seeking, a shared journey of knowing God.

I wrote a couple of days ago about needing to leave things behind as a pilgrim.  While it is true that 'everyone walks their own camino', meaning you have to walk it at your own pace and ultimately by yourself.  It is also true that as a pilgrim you are always in company.  The one constant that remains part of you are your relationships.  There are people who pray for you on the journey and those who you bring with you in your heart to pray for them.  There are those you just meet and those you know God places in your path.

Merran and I have been reflecting and praying for others on this journey.  We deeply value those who have been praying for us as we walk.  Every step is a prayer.  It was good to be reminded today that each step is "Our Father".

Barcelos and Braga

We left Arcos, our absolutely superb villa, after I was able to stroll through the garden and appreciate the skill of the gardener in developing and maintaining the property so carefully. 

I felt light and rather elated to be a pilgrim again. Being a tourist is good for me for a short time, then I get to feel guilty and rather indulgent. I am not sure there is any less indulgence in being  a Western pilgrim with high tech gear and the luxury of taking weeks off work to travel, but there are aspects of a pilgrimage that meet my soul in ways that simply touring do not. 

I am so sedentary in my normal life that I am often surprised at how enjoyable the act of walking really is. I am so stuck in my head that it is refreshing to be getting out and wandering back streets where a man is hosing his garden or a couple of women are chatting over the fence, or into the lanes with long stretches past vineyards and cornfields and eucalypt plantations and an occasional territorial dog yapping authoritatively from the top of his stone wall. 

There is time to notice things, to feel the sun's heat, to let my mind think or ponder or go into neutral. I am very aware of small sensations - is that a blister developing or are those muscles too tight or .... such small things.

In my pondering is the sense of privilege that I have to be undertaking this pilgrimage. I was not vetted or checked, just handed my pilgrim credentials so I could collect stamps along the way. Stark contrast to the situation for millions of displaced people who are considered potential threats for no real reason and denied the opportunity to cross borders that are open for me. 

I think of how the task of taking a  pilgrimage demands one to befriend one's own body. In my work, and in my own experience, I see situations where people distrust their own bodies, and pummel them into shape when they don't keep up with unrelenting demands. You don't get very far on a long journey like a pilgrimage unless you listen to the needs of your body and respect its strengths and weaknesses. The pace you choose, rest and food, water and coffee, conversations and silence, can hinder or aid you as you go.

We arrived rather wearily in Barcelos yesterday afternoon. I love this city!! It has an atmosphere of civic pride. Flower gardens, clean and wide streets, no-car zones for pedestrians,  historic monuments and ruins, street cafes and various statues of cockerels. (This due to the legend of the roast chicken dinner that came back to life and alerted the now hungry magistrate that an injustice had been done. The pilgrim he had convicted and hanged for a crime was thereby justified as innocent and thankfully found alive and pardoned.) We have had several walks through Barcelos, late afternoon and early morning and soon we will wander back over the bridge in search of barbecue pork ribs. 

We had a side trip today - Tim will post up - and tomorrow we resume our journey north.

Who is a pilgrim?

Sitting at dinner last night I noticed the necklace, Regina, a German pilgrim was wearing and asked about it.  She was wearing it for protection having purchased her 'tau' symbol on her first pilgrimage along the Camino Frances.  I particularly noticed because I have several the same at home hanging on the wall next to my desk and had meant to bring one with me.  The sign of the Tau is used by Franciscans as St Francis was moved to make it a symbol of his new order after hearing the Pope give a talk on the shape of the true cross. Which he presented as the Tau.  Like the capital letter "T".  

One of the experiences of my last pilgrimage was to visit the church in Altopacio, Italy where an order of the Knights of the Tau was founded.  These armed monks were commissioned with the protection of pilgrims, maintaining the often damaged bridges over rivers, keeping pilgrims safe and assisting them when they were ill or injured.  We walked through one of the earliest hospitals (these orginally were built for pilgrims who had no place to be looked after if they were ill) in Altopacio.  Sitting in the great church of Altopacio, I found a sense of my own vocation in the symbol of the tau.  Someone called to serve other pilgrims, build bridges and tend to those injured particularly within the faith community.  It was an unexpected and important moment for me and has stayed with me now for 5 years.  

But as I reflected on missing my 'tau' and wondered how I left it behind, I realised it was important not to have it.  A pilgrim is only a pilgrim, and that is what I need to be on this journey.  Emptied of everything except what is needed to walk the journey.  Particularly for those in ministry, we have to leave our roles behind when we walk this journey.  We are not here to guide others, to minister or to serve.  I was about to bring my role with me and that would have been a mistake.  Every pilgrim here is in the same place, and is really the same person, an individual on a journey.  Just an ordinary person, no roles matter or should.  The only role is as a pilgrim.  Walking in the sun, rain, heat and cold to Santiago, day in, day out.  So at the end of day one, I was glad I had left at least this 'tau' at home.  

To Arcos

What joy to be back on the pilgrim trail! And we were blessed with beautiful weather and lovely people along the way. We have booked with a company called Portual Green Walks who have arranged our accommodation, some meals and transfer of luggage so we only have to take what we need for each day on our backs. Paolo met us this morning and gave us a concise orientation before wishing us Buon Caminho. Our day's walk took us along suburban roads initially then we were out of Porto and onto back lanes, farm tracks and occasional main road sides. Most of our walking was on cobble stones.

Impressions from day 1:  friendly people, sunshine and gorgeous cloud formations, eucalypt plantations, fields of cut corn stalks, gardens dreamily overhanging stone walls. We had a great lunch of table wine, water, soup, fish and salad and espresso for a mere €5.50 and were stopped by a gentleman in his garden giving us a homegrown tomato each as we wandered by.

We are rather awed by our simple pilgrim accommodation tonight - we and our friends each have a suite and we have just had a most refreshing swim in the salt water backyard pool before roast chicken is served at 7. If you sense an advertisement for Portugal Green Walks here you are not wrong.  Thankfully my feet are rather sore and my body weary or I would not feel justified to call myself a pilgrim.

Arrival in Porto

It is quite different to be beginning a second pilgrimage and in a different place, with a different destination and in a different style. I am already missing Sophie who inspired me for her fortitude of walking to Rome for six weeks with horrific blisters for most of the way. I do not have the sense of great inner need this time - partly due to the working out of camino in my life and soul since that time.
What I do carry is a sense of quiet expectation. Not of any particular personal goal or outcome that I am aiming for. Rather, a sense of calm, gratitude, openness to be present to the moment, to take the next step towards Santiago, to rest well along the way and to look to share the journey with fellow pilgrims and others along the way.
There is a confidence that comes from having walked a camino before, ajoy in having the gift of another camino and an excitement in stepping into the unknown as well.
Yesterday we arrived in Porto, to glorious weather, and caught up with our friends Peter and Lynne Grant who have been tourists in Spain and Portugal for three weeks already. It was special to hear their Top Ten stories and to collect our Pilgrim credentials at the Porto Cathedral, the Se.
We happened upon a couple of great places to eat.  The highlight was our evening meal of local Portuguese specialty cheeses and cured meats run by a trio of dynamic young people whose passion for sharing their produce with their customers was contagious. Juan, our waiter, commented that we have come to his beloved city at the right time, before it is made mediocre by the influx of big money.
Today, we have the privilege of wandering this beautiful city, tomorrow we begin our camino.

Salisbury and Old Sarum

Our second day here dawned sunny and clear, though quite chilly. We arrived at Salisbury Cathedral with a few minutes to walk through before it was closed for the centenary celebrations of the local cathedral school. We spent time in the magnificent Chapter House where one of four remaining copies of Magna Carta is now housed. Inspiring to see it and reflect on the value of a document drafted jointly between church and local leaders to form a values base for government.
Wandered the cloister, sat in the gardens, visited the museum with a display on the influence of Constable on future art works of the Cathedral. Good to enjoy a slow pace and to do so together.
Our picnic lunch was taken at Old Sarum, stone walls just mounds now and the outer ring a common dog walking area. Seeing such a variety of odd dogs made me appreciate Madeleine's Floyd rather more.
We have appreciated these couple of days to acclimatise in the northern hemisphere and now we are ready to head to Portugal tomorrow to meet Pete and Lynne and begin our next camino.

Winchester Cathedral

It was wonderful to spiritually begin our pilgrimage at Winchester Cathedral sharing in Choral Evensong.  We both lit candles to mark the beginning.  Quite amazing to think that with maybe only a handful of execptions (if any) people have gathered to pray, read and reflect every day in this place for at least 1500 years and maybe longer.  The Anglo-saxon Bishop Swithin was here in the 9th century and when he died his relics were fairly quickly associated with miracles.  The old minster quickly became a centre of pilgrimage and was well known across the middle ages.  The remains of Swithin have been partly dispersed and partly lost (following the reformation) which is a little sad considering he gave specific instructions to be buried outside and not relocated into the church.  He apparently indicated his displeasure at being moved by making it rain heavily on the day of his transfer.    He seemed a little happier today, the light rain cleared early and the sun came out in the afternoon flooding the Cathedral with light.