6. Preparing for the Camino

Hetty and I are preparing ourselves, spiritually and physically for the Camino next April. Our aim is to walk 115kms in just under a week.

Our first training session consisted of a walk from Allenvale to Lorne – and back again. We followed this up with a shorter walk on the Sunday. Not being used to sustained walking this will be a rather important part of our preparation.

Our aim is to do some serious walking every three weeks with some minor walks in between. However, our spiritual aims require deeper thoughts. This will be a topic for on going reflection, prayer and discussion.

Since July 2010 we have not been regular attenders at a church. Questions about our spiritual “home”, “journey” and future have been a regular, if inconclusive, part of our discussions. So one prayer we have for the future involves resolving these questions.

Our spiritual training has started with a lot of reading: from medieval authors through to modern books. Theresa of Avila was one Christian mystic from the Counter Reformation

that has caught our attention. Her desire to draw near to God and grow in obedience is very challenging – especially for a “me” focused person in the C21st. Another book, by Larry Warner explores the disciplines of St Ignatius as a means of spiritual growth. “Journey with Jesus”(IVP) is well set out and creates a solid framework and setting for one’s devotional life.

Our aim is to walk between Sarria and Santiago de Compostela (Saint James of the field of stars). And on the journey we hope to meet people and to hear their stories – and, discover more about ourselves in the process.

Why Spain? We fell in love with the country in 2006.

So in the meantime we are practising walking distances. In the second practice we walked from home to Corio and back – about 14 kms. And for practice no. 3 we walked along the the Great Southern Rail Trail from the Tarwin River outside Meenyan towards Buffalo. We covered about 18kms. We have come to the conclusion that covering 25kms on foot on a day isn’t that bad, it will be the day after and then the day after that that will be the real test.