My Camino Stories – Rev. Sandy Brown

This month’s Camino Authors Collective Story

Last weekend we had the privilege of listening to Caminoist Sandy Brown being interviewed by Russ Eanes for our monthly Camino Authors Collective meeing.

Sandy who currently lives in Seattle, Washington is (inter alia) a writer, activist, retired Methodist pastor, tour leader and associate publisher for Ciccerone Press. Since he first walked the Camino de Santiago in 2008, he has journeyed along many pilgrim trails – and is the author of several guidebooks to the pilgrim trails that he has personally traversed.

Like my own inspiration for walking the Camino, Sandy was moved to walk the Camino de Santiago as a result of reading Paolo Coelho’s book The Pilgrimage.

That first camino was just the beginning!

Since then he has walked many pilgrim trals – to Santiago de Compostela, to Rome, to Assisi – and because the COVID pandemic currently precludes travel outside the USA, he is now contemplating doing the California Mission Walk (El Camino Real de California) the 800 mile walk on the west coast of the USA, visiting the 21 historic Spanish Missions established along the California coast between 1769 and 1923.

During his talk Sandy discussed the spirituality of walking. Initially as one is walking, one’s thoughts are about mundane matters such how one is feeling, where one is going to sleep that night, what one is going to obtain for one’s next meal. But gradually as one continues walking the mind begins to clear and one enters a meditative space – where one is immersed in nature and dissociated from the noisy cacophony of the householder’s everyday life. The distractions of man-made built environment are replaced by the tranquility of the great outdoors.

The interview was conducted via Zoom and also on Facebook Live. Thus far over 50 folk have heard it – live via the interactive Zoom meeting as well as from the Facebook Live recording.

If you would like to listen to it, you can access it via this link:

https://www.facebook.com/russ.eanes/videos/10225350282487118