My Pilgrimages and Journeys

It was almost ten years ago – in the northern hemisphere Spring of the year 2011 – that I walked the ancient pilgrimage route known as ‘El Camino de Santiago‘ in northern Spain.

The path (Camino means Path or Way in Spanish) follows the old route, the Via Frances, that Catholic pilgrims took to reach the shrine in Western Spain where the relics of St James the Apostle (known in Spanish as San Tiago) are enshrined. In modern times – or at least until the 2019 Coronavirus pandemic put a halt to such things – over one hundred thousand “pilgrims” or peregrinos had been walking this pilgrimage route each year.

And it is not just Catholics who make this pilgrimage. Human beings from all over the world who follow various different faiths, as well as folk who do not adhere to any faith at all, make this journey along the Camino – which can make for an amazing spiritual experience.

Having done this 800 kilometre (500 mile) journey on foot with my son Shivantha over six weeks, and written a book about our experience, I decided a few years later to undertake another Pilgrimage – this time with my wife along the 88 Temple Buddhist Trail, the Henro Michi, on the Japanese island of Shikoku. We are doing this 1200 kilometre trek in stages – two to three weeks each time during spring – and intend completing the journey over the next couple of years.

From time to time I will publish articles about our journeys on my webpage – and share with my readers what we learned from our experience as a peregrino and a Henro.

Articles:

1. Pilgrimage on Shikoku – 14 May 2020
2. The Camino de Santiago – 3 June 2020
3. Memories of the Camino – 10 June 2020
4. Camino Thoughts – 17 June 2020
5. The Albergue at San Nicolas – 25 June 2020
6. Reflections on the Camino – 02 July 2020
7. Health Benefits of Walking the Camino – 10 July 2020
8. The Camino Authors Collective – 17 July 2020
9. Camino Stories: The Pole in the Rain – 24 July 2020
10. Camino Stories: Nothing Ever Happens by Chance – published 5 August 2020
11. Camino Stories: Catholic or Moslem? -published 12 August 2020
12. Camino Stories: One Good Turn – published 19 August 2020
13. Camino Stories: Keeping the story alive – published 30 August 2020
14. My Camino Journey – live presentation – published 22 September 2020
15. Camino Stories: Talking to Camino Authors
16. Our Camino Journey – a video presentation – published 22 October 2020
17. My Camino: Lessons Learned – to be published in November 2020