What have I left myself in for? A short walk from the hotel to the Camino path and the first yellow arrow - it pointed up an almost unending flight of steps. We all set off at the same pace on a cold foggy morning, at least I was warm by the top of the steps. Wraenna found them extremely hard and her asthma was not very forgiving. A stroll down the hill out of Sarria and we were doing fine. Then a hill! I really hadn’t realised quite how hilly this walk w...

One of the first things that struck me as we came out of the front of the airport was how quiet it was. Last time I walked out of the doors of a foreign airport it was Kolkata and the noise is almost unbearable with horns blaring and people shouting. Here you could hear the birds and the scenery was amazing. We met up with Martin our guide, joined the other pilgrims and boarded the bus to our hotel in Sarria. Although I dozed much of the way I was conscious t...

They say that your Camino begins from the moment you leave your front door. In some ways I think perhaps it has been longer than that. Although I had never had a particular desire to walk to Santiago do Compostela and honestly I still don't quite know why I'm doing it, I love the principle of pilgrimage. To journey to a place of spiritual significance in order to connect with ones own spirituality and take time reflecting on life's journey is an attractive ide...

Tomorrow we head for Heathrow Airport at the start of our Camino. Yesterday I was celebrating MayDay in Glastonbury as only our little community can. This morning I am surrounded by lists and hinting I should have probably done what Wraenna did and packed months ago. I also need to dye my hair - the purple haired priest cannot go to Spain with turquoise hair (it’s faded to this colour for some reason). Our treasurer will not be happy if I don’t do my expe...

Three weeks from today I will be travelling with my friend Wraenna to Spain to walk the French Camino. This is the last 111km of the journey to Santiago de Compostela, also known as the way of St James. We booked the trip last July, and had plans to do lots of practice walks between then and now however life ha got in the way. This will be my retreat this year and I hope to use it to reflect on an article I am going to write for Anvil entitled Spiritual not Re...