Monday 18 March 2013

Drop The Pilot

Initially may I apologise for taking a week to get back to adding to my blog.  I am discovering how quickly time flies more and more each year of my life.  The weeks fly past like days, or as Tolkien once penned, 'The years like swift draughts have passed away!"

I have titled this post Drop the Pilot, it is in reference to a song I recall from my youth.  My fellow GenX members may recall a tune by Joan Armatrading released in 1983!  Quite often when I think about our imminent Camino experience I consider both the physical realities of the journey as well as the spiritual.

'Animal, mineral, physical, spiritual, I'm the one you need!', sang a young Joan 30 years ago.  This line keeps rolling through my head.  I imagine that there will be realities across all these elements at some level but the physical and spiritual components of a pilgrimage are surely the most obvious.

So, here is where I come to grief.  You see so much energy is going into physical preparation.  Fitness training, lots of long walks, airline tickets and travel arrangements, boots, packs, coats, exchanging money, saving money, learning Spanish, failing at learning Spanish, the list goes on.  Today I even had the joy of meeting with the gentleman, Stephen, who will be filling in for me at St James in Term Three while I am away.  Getting everything just right and organised, the physical preparation, is taking up lots of time.  I am starting to feel guilty that I am not putting so much energy and effort into my spiritual preparation.

Animal, mineral, physical, spiritual, I'm the one you need.

Mmmmm.  Of course Jesus is the one we need, it is our Great Big God of Love who ultimately fulfils our innermost desires.  The answers to those things that bug us inside are found in Christ.  I plan to do lots of Bible reading and journalling and reflecting along the way, I plan to be a physical being on a spiritual journey.  I have John Brierley's book, mentioned earlier in this blog, and it gives some good tips and reminders to find a spiritual element to the Camino, its deeper than just a long walk I'm told.

Maybe I need to 'drop the pilot', to let go of the dominance of the physical, those things that are driving my preparation.  Maybe I'm 'using my army to fight a losing battle', the victory will surely be in what is achieved spiritually while facing something that is quite considerably physical.

It's usually the way.

We are not physical beings on a spiritual journey you see, rather spiritual beings on a physical journey.

There are in everyday life challenges that, in being attended to, bring us closer to our true source of sustenance, the Living Water, the Bread of Life.  I don't think we need to be walking across Spain to experience this.  I guess though that walking across Spain will help me experience this at another level.

Saturday 9 March 2013

Knowledge is power.

I thought I would share some really good resources that I have used over the past 6 months in preparation for our journey along the Camino Santiago.  You can't know too much about what you are getting yourself into I reckon.  If you are considering the Camino you might find this stuff helps.

A.  The Way.  This movie is a cracker.  It has become an absolute favourite of mine and many of my friends also.  There is just something about it that makes it special and it will stir up a dormant wunderlust in the most sedentary of us.


You should not have to look too far to find a copy of this magnificent flick.  For my money the best scene is where they all end up in Tom's room in the big, flash hotel.  Watch it and maybe post a comment on this blog about which scene is your favourite.  You may have trouble picking just one because the film is so very rich with memorable moments.  As far as research goes, it is filmed on location right across the full length of the Camino and it gives the impending pilgrim a real sense of what lays ahead.

B.  John Brierley's book, A Pilgrim's Guide to the Camino de Santiago by Camino Guides.  This book is widely regarded as the must have guide for the journey.  It breaks up the 850 kilometres into its 33 traditional stages and gives very practical information and detailed route maps for each stage.  I won't say any more here about the book as much is written elsewhere.  It can be difficult to get your hands on at short notice so order well in advance if you intend on getting it or gifting it.  Somewhere like The Book Depository is as good a spot as any to get hold of one if you can't source it locally.  My copy is already well worn and scribbled through in preparation for our trip.


C.  Unholy Pilgrims by Tom Trumble.  This for me is as good an experience as The Way movie.  Some friends of mine gave me this book knowing that we were off to walk the Camino and I devoured it in an afternoon and a night.  Caution, it contains some colourful language, but it is well worth the read.  Tom Trumble is a great author and, for my money a terrific researcher.  Not only do you get to share a rollicking good time with two Aussie blokes as they walk the Camino you also get a very intelligent and well-filtered series of history lessons and information sessions along the way.  It is very funny and very good.  Thank you Ann and Lloyd for the book, it actually helped to take some of the gravitas out of our thinking about the pilgrimage and reminded me that there is joy to be had along our travels.


D.  A Food Lover's Pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela.  This book by Dee Nolan is a coffee table triumph.  My lovely wife Monica gave it to me for Christmas and it is beautiful.  The thing I love about it is not just the information that it contains about the Camino, but how it introduces you to the sorts of food that you will come across as you travel.  Growing up and living in regional Australia for most of your life doesn't expose you to a wide variety of culinary experiences with an Iberian bent.  If knowledge is power, knowing what you're likely to be eating when you have just walked 30 kilometres and are famished may well assist in more satisfaction and less concern on foreign soil, particularly for our kids.  In short, get as much info as you can about what you are letting yourself in for, this book does it very well and will remain a family favourite of ours for many years to come.  Great recipes, fine publication.


I will stop there for today.  Its a funny thing you know.  Even though we are still well ensconced in our daily grind I am finding that we are already sort of on our way to Santiago.  Our pilgrimage has begun perhaps as we prepare ourselves physically, intellectually and spiritually for what is ahead.  I hope these resources prove helpful.  I have not chosen to list websites, there are many and any google search will dig them up for you.

Shane

Friday 8 March 2013

The first step.

So, here we go...

My name is Shane Altmann, I am the principal at St James Lutheran College in Hervey Bay, Queensland, Australia.

I learned a few years ago of The Way of St James, the famous pilgrim route across northern Spain due to its association with the namesake of our college.  We had a competition with our students to come up with a name for our college yearbook and a whole bunch of kids submitted the word Santiago.  Santiago is the Spanish name of St James.  We decided to go with it and my fascination with that famous pilgrim route was born.

To cut a long story short, part of the wonderful privilege that I have as a principal in a Lutheran School in Queensland is the opportunity to go on sabbatical.  I applied to go wandering through the hills of Spain as a 'recon' exercise for potential future expeditions with our senior school kids and was graciously granted permission to do so.

My wife, Monica, and I decided that this would be a wonderful opportunity for our whole family to do something extraordinary together as well.  We have made plans to pull the kids out of school for a while and travel together to Spain to undertake this most famous pilgrimage.

The Way of St James is a vast pilgrimage that has many routes.  The most famous of these is the Camino Frances, an 850 kilometre trek across the north of Spain from the French border to Santiago de Compostella, a city close the the north western edge of the Iberian peninsula.

Being ambitious but sensible, we have decided not to walk the whole length of the Camino (local name for the route) but rather to take on the last 300 kilometres.  We have hooked up with a very helpful company called Camino Ways to assist with our journey.   With their assistance we have a 21 day tour organised to walk from Leon to Santiago de Compostella in July this year.

The following blog is intended to be a record of our final preparations for this amazing journey, the record of our travels and perhaps some handy information for other principals, schools or groups who are thinking about preparing a similar experience for their students.

The longest journey starts with the first step.  Ready, set, go!

:)

Shane