woensdag 24 juni 2015

New routes, a selection

Hiking is hot, trails are hot, pilgrimage is hot.
And if it's hot, there have to be more of them.

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.

Read more on the project website.



The Bigfoot trail in the USA


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.

Read this article


or visit the trails website,
but remember it's brand new and perhaps not yet ready for you!


The Walk of Wisdom in The Netherlands


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.

You can read more on this pilgrimage route on their site, but: only in Dutch for the moment.


Al Andalus train to Santiago de Compostela


And finally, a trail on wheels: Al Andalus.
In july Spain’s national rail company, Renfe, allows you to travel from Leon to Santiago de Compostela in their luxury Al Andalus train. 
Usually it tours in the south of the country, now it's an alternative for blisters, stuffed summer albergues, strenuous backpack walks.
Book a six-day trip on the 'palace on wheels' at €3,740 per person.

woensdag 10 juni 2015

Pilgrimsgaze

An introduction to a new weblog (and facebook page): The Pilgrims Gaze.

The best handpicked pilgrimage gems of movies, presentations, music, culture, drawings, documentaries on these Facebook or weblog sites.

The weblog is on pilgrimsgaze.blogspot.nl

Facebook page is on Camino de Santiago de Compostela.



zondag 7 juni 2015

四国八十八箇所

Today, I like to introduce the Shikoku Pilgrimage. It's no more then a brief introduction, however.
The occasion, apart from my enthousiasm, is a nice documentary on Youtube. Your's to see, your's to explore, your's to enjoy.


Honzon junrei, to wander around, is not only a practice on the Camino the Santiago. In fact the Kumano Kodo pelgrimage trails in Japanese Kansai region are also designated as world heritage site.


The documentary (2012, about 30 minutes) features the Shikoku Pilgrimage, the pilgrimage to the 88 Temples of Shikoku Island. The pilgrimage associated with the Buddhist monk Kōbō Daishi.
Well, let's not tell you what's in the documentary, I invite you to see it...



A nice overview and more information provides the next site, including maps, guides, etc.



Also further background information here. Including some terms, stamps 朱印 (sounds familiar?), stampbooks and prayer slips.

If you're still interested have a look at this 12:12 photographic impression from Following the arrows;





In another topic in this Blog I mention work of Ian Reader. Well, if someone can tell you more on pilgrimage in Japan!
Link to this topic here. 



Ian Reader: Making pilgrimages
Ian Reader: Pilgrimage, a very short introduction


Other books include
Robert Sibley: The Way of the 88 Temples
Maria Rodriguez del Alisal: Pilgrimages and spiritual quests in Japan