Today the blog is an inspiring one. Thinking of place and pilgrimage...
I like you to meet four pieces:
Rufin, O Donohue, Milosz
and a little movie by me.
F i r s t
"Immortelle randonnée : Compostelle malgré moi"
A text from the book Immortelle randonnée by Jean-Christophe Rufin on a new walking species.
The text on the picture is Rufin's (in Dutch), the picture is mine. Taken on the route Rufin took: The Camino Primitivo.
But here's the text in English:
Silently the awareness grew that inside of me a very pleasant companion was hiding: the emptyness. My mind didn't produce images or thoughts and certainly no intentions. Everything I ever knew faded away and I felt no urge whatsoever to dig it up.
Discovering a landscape, I didn't compare it to Corsica or whatever place I once visited.
I saw it all with a refreshing new look and received the complexity of the world in a brain that again was as simple as a reptile or a sparrow. I was a new human, liberated from it's memory, desires and ambitions. A special kind of homo erectus: the walking species.
(As the book isn't translated in English yet the translation is mine)
S e c o n d
"For a New Beginning"
In out-of-the-way places of the heart, Where your thoughts never think to wander, This beginning has been quietly forming, Waiting until you were ready to emerge.
For a long time it has watched your desire, Feeling the emptiness growing inside you, Noticing how you willed yourself on, Still unable to leave what you had outgrown.
It watched you play with the seduction of safety And the gray promises that sameness whispered, Heard the waves of turmoil rise and relent, Wondered would you always live like this.
Then the delight, when your courage kindled, And out you stepped onto new ground, Your eyes young again with energy and dream, A path of plenitude opening before you.
Though your destination is not yet clear You can trust the promise of this opening; Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning That is at one with your life’s desire.
Awaken your spirit to adventure; Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk; Soon you will be home in a new rhythm, For your soul senses the world that awaits you.
John O’Donohue
T h i r d
"On Pilgrimage"
May the smell of thyme and lavender accompany us on our journey
To a province that does not know how lucky it is
For it was, among all the hidden corners of the earth,
The only one chosen and visited.
We tended toward the Place but no signs led there.
Till it revealed itself in a pastoral valley
Between mountains that look older than memory,
By a narrow river humming at the grotto.
May the taste of wine and roast meat stay with us
As it did when we used to feast in the clearings,
Searching, not finding, gathering rumors,
Always comforted by the brightness of the day.
May the gentle mountains and the bells of the flocks
The 2014 movie is based on a book by John Green and directed by Josh Boone.
Reviewers indicate it's very sad but very beautiful. Part of the movie was filmed in Amsterdam. And a special scene, where main actors kiss, involves a bench they're on.
Young adults choose this scene and this spot as their pilgrim destination, rivalling the House of Anne Frank. The book and film induce the young 'to walk in the footsteps of their young heroes' as Tagholm says in his article, see below.
Map to The Fault of our Stars, with a 75 minutes walk to discover the movies hotspots. (This map and descriptions are in Dutch Language, maps however are universal;-)
Reminds me of The World of James Herriot in Thirsk (UK). I visited the James Herriot conference many years ago. A conference about James Wight. You perhaps know this British veterinary surgeon and writer as James Herriot. Author of All creatures great and small (and many others following).
(Kreuzschnabel, Wikimedia commons)
As this blog is about place have a look at the Yorkshire Dales, the countryside of James Herriot.
(Harry Mateman 5:53)
Tried to find the grave of James Wight, but he was cremated and his ashes scattered.
Some time ago I posted an item on several northern Spain camino's finding their way to the Unesco World Heritage List. See item here. On July 5, 2015 this decision became final.
The text: "Routes of Santiago de Compostela: Camino Francés and Routes of Northern Spain [an extension of the “Routes of Santiago de Compostela”]—A network of four Christian pilgrimage routes in northern Spain, the site is an extension of the Route of Santiago de Compostela, a serial site inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1993. The extension represents a network of almost 1,500 km: coastal, interior of the Basque Country–La Rioja, Liébana and primitive routes. It includes a built heritage of historical importance created to meet the needs of pilgrims, including cathedrals, churches, hospitals, hostels and even bridges. The extension encompasses some of the earliest pilgrimage routes to Santiago de Compostela, following the discovery in the 9th century of a tomb believed to be that of St. James the Greater." Source: Unesco (http://whc.unesco.org/en/news/1317/) Spain is happy.
Now, I'll introduce another set of interesting, even special, choices.
The National Forest Way in the UK.
The Bigfoot trail in the USA.
The Walk of Wisdom in The Netherlands.
And, if your feet had enough, just pick the Al Andalus train to Santiago de Compostela.
The National Forest Way in the UK
The National Forest Way opened in May 2014 and guides you along a 75-miles trail through Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Staffordshire. Right, England! And all England is here, according to the National Forest Project: Coal and granite, heathland and hills, meadows and water, woodland ofcourse. The environmental project transforms 200 sq miles in the middle of England.
After 'Wild' (saw it?) and 'A Walk in the Woods' (forthcoming) hiking in the US is immensely popular. The Bigfoot Trail will attract a lot of feet trying to get a glimpse of the sasquatch. The trail leads 360 miles through the Klamath-Siskiyou mountains in northern California and Southern Oregon.
Now this is interesting, a complete new contemporary pilgrimage route. A route to contemplate the wisdom of life. Please turn of mobile phones! This, again brand new, pilgrimage route leads you along the city of Nijmegen in eastern parts of The Netherlands. The initial route is 136km, more is planned, much more, perhaps sometimes covering the earth.
So, today you can walk the hilly environment, along rivers, ancient forests and cultural landscapes. The initiative looked at the Camino to Santiago, at Henro in Japan and came up with this Walk. Not religious, contemplative! It's rituals and symbols are the Pilgrim's book of tides, a symbol of the 'icoon', a lace to collect the daily rings and an advice to fast: no internet or mobile phone.
