Each year I go away for a week of silence and solitude. I often spend a week with the monks down at Mepkin Abbey.
This year, however, I was feeling unsettled about the prospect of sitting down for a whole week (I do a lot of sitting at Mepkin).
As the date approached (and still feeling unsettled), my son told me about a movie he’d seen in his Spanish class. It’s called The Way, about a father taking a pilgrim’s walk through France and Spain after his son dies. I queued it up and watched it. The route Martin Sheen travels is an ancient pilgrimage called the Camino De Santiago (Way of St. James). It snakes through France and Spain, ending in the westernmost part of Continental Europe.
When I saw the movie, something clicked.
That’s what I need for silence and solitude… a walk!
Now is not the time to walk the The Camino (maybe in a year), so for now I’ll just walk from my house to the sea.
I’m off next Monday (4/8), and won’t be posting for a while.
I’ll walk from Raleigh to Nags Head, NC, following the Mountain-to-Sea Trail. If I walk 20-25 miles a day (sleeping in church yards), and if I don’t get lost, I should be home by late April. It’s about 320 miles total.
I’ll resume posting in May.
(Hopefully with an awakened soul.)
Doug
Awesome! I watched that movie about a month ago. I’m planning on doing the Camino in September.
Hope you have an enriching walk.
Godspeed pilgrim!
Be blessed and refreshed.
Sounds wonderful! Have a great trip.
Doug: I enjoyed the Way. I saw it twice on Netflix.
And, I love long walks, especially on an unfamiliar road. I spent several of my free days in Japan simply walking. I wish I could go with you. But, then it wouldn’t be solitude.
That last statement reminds me of something I read during devotions yesterday. “I’ve always dreamed of solitude, the hermit’s life, a cabin in the woods or a tiny chalet on the edge of a mountain. I’ve always dreamed of deserts and silence. But I’ve resisted the dream, with the exception of one time when I offered myself the luxury of a retreat with a hermit: four hours by foot, far from any living creature and a hermit happy to see me. We talked a lot.” From With Open Heart by Michel Quoist. Someday, I hope we aspiring hermits can go together. All the best.
Be refreshed, my friend. May your walk be all you need it to be.
Go Doug Go! May you be blessed, blessed, blessed! I’m off to watch The Way 🙂
God speed, my dear friend.
Julienne.jones@btinternet.com
What a great idea! I hope the beauty, peace and solitude work their magic as well as they do for me.