Sponsor My Steps Along The Pilgrim´s Way!

Yup, that´s me!

Help sponsor Ralphy´s next pilgrimage from Saint Jean Pied de Port to Santiago de Compostela by donating ONE dollar for every (future) step taken… (and participate!?)

Come on, folks, what´s one measly dollar?

The length of the walk is 777 kilometers. If you take two steps for every meter, you come up with 1.554,000 steps. The pilgrimage will start, when the 1 million step mark has been reached. So, please, make publicity for this and help this endeavour to go viral!

Feel free to participate i.e. 1.) to start on the some date (to be determined later) and let´s have a good time together and/or 2.) post the pictures/video´s here on the site, with or without accompanying stories (in your own language!) and this from past, present or future Caminos or 3.) swap a link between your own site/blog and this one. To do this email me at doinitmyway0@gmail.com(the character before the @ is a zero!) – keep the message short, please!

When the mark has been reached I, Ralphie A Burcke, will hire 2 amateur photographers and 2 amateur camera(wo-)men to record everything, write a story about the events on a daily basis and post all this every day on this site. After we´ve finished, I will make oil paintings about it all, using the photo´s, sketches that I´ve made along the road or a combination of both.

Once we get started I would notify the newspapers, television and whoever else will listen to turn this into a mega-publicity stunt for the Camino de Santiago. Are you with me, people?

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In the right hand column I shall introduce a list of countries of origin and a link to where you can post the pictures, videos and stories about your pilgrimage, in your very own language. Or swap a link between our two sites!

I propose to take this next Camino slowly and walk about twenty kilometers a day. This would mean that the length of the whole pilgrimage would come to 38 days. Add a day of fun or rest every week and you come to 43 days(more or less a month and a half).

I would have the guys and girls who record everything hop over each other, meaning that one photographer and one cameraman walk the first leg, while the other two walk the second leg.  By ´leg´ I mean the distance from one village untill the next village, town or city, which varies between five K´s and can go up to 17 K´s. After this the first two are driven to the third leg and the next two to the fourth leg. This would give them the time to take it easy, because you can not very well run (or walk) and record at the same time. The emphasis here would be on recording the nature, the pilgrims and the locals, for the monuments can already be seen in tourist guides.

El Camino: The Experience 2!

English: Făgăraş Mountains, Romania – Iron cross on the way to the top of Moldoveanu (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

And then some days, time dragged its feet and the road itself grew weary of just going on and on in endless monotony, sick to its stomach of being trampled underfoot, longing to merely lie there in pristine silence. The flowers grew depressed under the midday heat and craved a nice shower. The fish were gasping for water in what was left of the brooks. The birds, their wings they flapped no more, too exhausted to utter a “tweet”.

The humans on the other hand were never too tired to snap, snap their cameras and post on Facebook, to immortalise the immutable spirit of the Way, eager already for old age to drop by and allow them to show these moments of bliss and pain to their progeny… every so often forgetting to live in the now.

That is until yet another sight of nature in all her majesty took their breath away anew. Mother Earth is somehow always ready to nurture our spirits and renew our energy, when we most need it. And need it we did! We all, without exception, got the “Iron Cross” in a superhuman fight against a mountain, a fearless enemy, who would not give in. After this unequal contest, I lay there exhausted and battle-worn, wondering how in the blazes I would ever be able to put one foot in front of the other again.

But of course I did, as did everyone and on we went tirelessly marching to our own inner rhythm. Onwards and upwards the children of the Pilgrem´s Way went to reach their salvation: Santiago! There to embrace the Golden Saint, who would deliver them from all their earthly worries. Amen!

El Camino: The Experience!

English: camino de santiago (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This is a subject, which is hard to write about. It being complex in its spiritual nature. There is a duality to it, because on the one hand the road is always changing. You see a new village every five to ten kilometers, you constantly meet new people, who are all in some way connected to the Camino and nature in its effervescent diversity unfailingly surprises you with its beauty.

On the other hand, there is the physical exercise of walking, which after five K´s or so of getting into your rhythm, lifts you up into a kind of trance like state. Your whole being expands and connects with that of your fellow pilgrims and with the road itself, which is drenched with the energy of innumerable supplicants, who have travelled it over the past two millenia. The power emanating from it is enormous. Nobody who travels it is immune to it. Time starts playing tricks on you: it slows down, speeds up and at times seems to stand still.

You body is of course taking a severe punishment, which it is not used to. The aches and pains are your constant companions, but you learn to push them aside and finally to ignore them. As time goes on, you are pleasantly surprised at the developing muscles  and at your own staying power. I feel stronger and fitter now than I have in decades!

Then there is the destination Santiago, which is both a blessing and a curse along the course of the Camino. Because although you long to reach it and hope for the deliverance from whatever ails you after reaching it, at the same time the further you get, the longer you wish it would take. It´s almost addictive, in fact it is addictive. Many people have decided, after traveling this mystical Camino, that they never want to leave it again and build their lives along one spot on it, which suits them best. then there are the others, who although they to home to their regular lives, keep coming back to it time after time. To those of you, who are contemplating doing this pilgrimage for the first time, I give the following caution: think it over carefully before you start, for it WILL change your life forever!

If you think that this is just a Catholic or a Christian thing, forget it! Jews, Muslims, people from all denominations and even atheists have travelled this path and not one was unmoved or unchanged by it. Another thing which surprised me was the good will of all the pilgrims without exception and their sense of companionship. You will never be left wanting for help. a listening ear or a shoulder to cry on. The Camino furthermore has its own rules of pureness. Respect for nature and for others is paramount. No littering or stealing going on there!

Back to the nature. I´ve alwaysliked Spain for the beauty of it, but the part along the Camino truly is breathtaking. At times, you ask yourself if you have not stumbled into a fairy tale. But then… maybe you have! The roiling wheat-seas between Burgos and León and the wooded mountain landscapes of Galicia are the most beautiful I´ve ever witnessed.

Now, be honest, are you not longing to come over here and experience it all? Hugs from Ralphie!

Ditty Contest!

If we get a large enough contingent to start together on the same date(yet to be determined), I thought it would be nice for us all to sing a ditty every time we enter a new place. A brand-new ditty would be brilliant, one that hasn´t been composed yet.
I hereby invite anyone to compose a SIMPLE one in Enlgish and send it to me at doinitmyway0@gmail.com, mentioning “Ditty Contest” in the header. I shall then post all the entries on this site and we can all chose the favourite. The winner to receive a cash prize, the amount of which to be determined later.
We need cash first, folks! Start donating ONE dollar each and we´ll have a ball. Spread the word…