Seen in the Radio702 studios with Jenny Crwyss-Williams (I had just driven up from the bush and made the broadcast by the skin of my teeth and paint of my car bumper -- thought I was safe from being 'seen' on radio!)

In the footsteps of pilgrims . . .

In an interview with Diane de Beer, Book Editor of the Pretoria News, way back in July 2009, I had the pleasure of meeting this delightful and talented woman, and telling her about a few of my experiences walking the Camino. However, it was only six months later that Diane got round to writing the review and article -- and it seems that sometimes it is worth waiting for something ...

This is what she wrote:

(Photograph by Nici Williams) * 22 Feb 2010
* Pretoria News
* DIANE DE BEER




IF SOMEONE had told me I would enjoy a book about walking the 850km of the Camino, the pilgrimage of Santiago de Compostella across northern Spain, I would have argued. Yet once I started reading Wilna Wilkinson’s The Way of Stars and Stones, I was captivated.

It has a lot to do with Wilkinson’s telling of her story and the way she describes the thought-processes along the way as well as the many encounters she has with fascinating like-minded souls – all doing the journey for their own reasons and attacking the marathon route in different ways and with individual intensity.

Wilkinson, a 58-year-old mother of three, moved with her family to London from South Africa a few years ago. But the children are all grown-up now and she has moved to France where she runs her own little guest house, something she loves with her whole heart.

Her world was turned upside down when a very close friend was diagnosed with cancer. Not knowing how to battle someone else’s pain or how to help her friend, she decided to make the pilgrimage in her honour.

“It’s a journey on which you have to look after yourself, make it work for you,” she says.

“It’s about finding the resources to complete what you started out to do – both mentally and physically.

“From the moment you wake up in the morning until the time the sun goes down, you have to put one foot in front of another.”

Everyone does it for different reasons. Many hope to find the answers to all their questions, others hope it will be a life-changing experience. “And not many realise that you probably have everything inside you that you’re looking for,” says the wise soul who walked more than a month to find her own way.

If you’re wondering, or if you have a yearning to do your own Camino, Wilkinson is no exercise junkie and she wasn’t particularly fit before she tackled what seems daunting to many – 850 km in tough terrain.

One of the things she realised was that her decision to do it on her own was a wise one. One man told her that he had to send his wife home, because she had wanted to quit and he wanted to go on. Her negativity became so dragging that he told her to leave. Even friends find it tough to go at the same pace and with the same mindset.

What Wilkinson did was to make friends along the way. She hooked up with three angels and they would bump into one another every few days or so and spend the night at the same stopover.

She did the walk in winter because she struggles less with cold than with heat. There are much fewer participants in winter.

She was not the kind of person anyone would have expected to do the pilgrimage. Spiritual rather than religious, she wasn’t driven by any fervour and she’s not really the physical type. It was also the first time she had committed to something that took her out of her sphere of competence.

In London she had become quite a powerful motivational speaker. At present her life is about running a luxury guest house. Neither of these would have prepared her for the arduous journey ahead.

That is what makes this such an intriguing book. It could be any of us taking that impossible walk in the freezing cold with no way out.

“It’s all about how you approach it,” she believes.

She describes the pilgrimage as an incredibly empowering experience. Having walked the walk, she believes she can do anything.

She didn’t get blisters, but she developed tendonitis, which became very painful. This taught her about the power of the mind, the importance of breathing and of being in the here and now every step of the way.

“It’s not the most amazing people who make it,” she says. “I did it.” This, she believes, is because of the mind and not the body.

“When you’re climbing that mountain, don’t look up. Stop and look back to see what you have already done.”

That’s exactly what she used to do. The one thing she allowed herself to bring was a camera, and every 10-15 minutes she would snap away at the route she had covered.

Wilkinson feels lucky that she had a reasonably “easy” time. The effect it’s had on her life is that she no longer has time for nonsense.

She views walking the Camino as the most selfish thing she has done, giving herself 50 days of freedom to do the pilgrimage.

“It’s a long time away from all your responsibilities. But once there, selfishness disappears. It’s about reaching out and different talents being used to make things easier for others en route.”

Finally, the most valuable lessons were picked up along the way. “It wasn’t about the final destination, it was about every day.”

It’s an amazing read even if you would never undertake a pilgrimage of this kind. It shows how one person copes with a trauma in her own life and how she decides to conquer her fears.

It is not about the destination. It is about the journey...

On many of the Camino forums, pilgrims are talking about offering to volunteer during the very busy Holy Year this year. As a result of these discussions, an old thorn in many a pilgrim's flesh has been exposed once again -- the debate as to who is really a pilgrim. In The Way of Stars and Stones I wrote about the Peregrinos and the Tourigrinos -- the 'true pilgrims' and the rest.

On one of the Camino forums, a pilgrim writes the following:
" As far as helping out in the Pilgrims' office for Compostela-granting purposes and such, I do not think that I could do it, particularly since someone mentioned that some pilgrims lie (about their intentions?) when they get a credential. I do not understand this at all.... what is the point of the pilgrimage then? How can one lie to oneself? But if this in fact happens for the purpose of getting a Compostela, might there not be another untruths about distances covered and means of locomotion, etc? With this in mind, I probably would not grant anything to anyone, so that sort of undertaking is definitely not for me."

Incredible, isn't it? That people will lie about how far they have walked? And yet, in my experience it happens all the time. Personally I have stopped asking people where they had started or how far they had walked or whether they had taken the bus over certain sections. The less you ask, the less temptation for them to lie -- and too many times have I -- inadvertently and unintentionally -- caught people out in their lies about the details of their own personal camino. Sadly they seem not to realise that the pilgrimage is not a contest and not a race. I have met pilgrims who had walked no more than 50 kilometres of the Way and who had more intense and life-changing experiences during that short time than many of those who had walked much further and much longer.

The Camino is like the pilgrimage through life -- it is not about the destination. It is about the journey.....

There is no insurmountable solitude. All paths lead to the same point: to the communication of who we are. And we must travel across rugged and lonely terrain, through isolation and silence, to reach the magic zone, the enchanted place where we can dance our awkward dance and sing our sorrowful song -- Neruda

An interview with Leyla Giray, of Women on the Road

Please do go check the interview --- done by Leyla Giray, the publisher of Women on the Road and then have a look at the rest of her site -- it is a fascinating and lovely site that I am sure you will enjoy -- and where you will find some very useful and interesting titbits!

Wilna Wilkinson Travels Solo To Santiago

Many women travel the road to Santiago - known as El Camino - but not all do it alone. And few do it in winter. Wilna Wilkinson is such a woman, and Women on the Road wanted to know more, much more.

Q: Wilna, you walked to Santiago on your own. Why did you choose to do that?

A: Can there be another way to walk a pilgrimage? If it had been a trek or a hike or a walk anywhere else, I can well imagine you would welcome the company. But a pilgrimage is in a sense a walking meditation - in this case an 850 kilometre meditation. To be completely alone for that length of time, to have time and space to think, to reflect, to meditate, is very much a luxury in this busy and demanding world we live in.

If you had the choice of walking alone or walking with a hundred people in your sights in front of you - the next person only ten metres ahead, and a hundred people fast approaching from the back - which would you choose? Think of the litter and the pollution. Think of the number of refuges and beds and having to queue up for shelter and for food. Think of the noise, the crowding, the invasion of your meditation and reflection time and space.

Q: You also did the Camino in winter. Is this to be encouraged?

A: Walking in winter is hard and there is a danger of slippery ice, hypothermia (a very real threat and not uncommon on the Camino), but for me it was no contest. There is extra hardship, but for me the heat and the crowds in summer would have been unbearable. The beauty of the pilgrimage route lies in its remoteness, its inaccessibility, its solitude. That is what makes it possible to think, to meditate, to be yourself without compromise, without any need to conform. None of that would be possible when there are hundreds of thousands of people crowding the pathway.
What advice you'd give a woman contemplating the Camino on her own?

The amazing explorer/mountain climber, Reinhold Messner explains how he managed to climb Mount Everest without any supplemental oxygen: there has to be complete acceptance of whatever will come your way - difficulties, pain, suffering, challenges, demands, physical and mental. Know that you have the resources you need within yourself. Discover those resources within yourself and believe that you will find them. Be ready for an emotional upheaval.

Q: What should a woman walking alone bring with her?

A: In winter, when there are days on end without another person in sight, a mobile phone. Leave it on silent mode so its ringing or vibration don't distract you. Don't let your 'real' life intrude on your pilgrimage, but keep your phone ready in case of emergency.

I didn't take any make-up or creams, but I did want a little luxury - a scrap of old silk, or a scarf, something colourful to sit on or use as a table cloth. A page of poetry, perhaps, something to make you smile. And yes - a couple of immodium (you can't walk with an upset tummy!) and some NOK cream to cover your feet every morning. I walked 850 kilometres and never had one single blister thanks to this excellent preventative measure!

Q: Tell me a little about your book, The Way of Stars and Stones, and why you wrote it...

A: How could I not write about this amazing experience? I dedicated my pilgrimage to a friend with cancer and found that the walk helped me tremendously to understand her pain. I share the many parallels between walking the pilgrimage and suffering from a terminal illness in my book. The Camino provides so many answers on how to cope - it gives insight, understanding - it empowers beyond words. I simply had to share that. And the most heartening thing to hear now is from dozens of people who have cancer and found that the book touched them deeply.

Q: How did the pilgrimage change you and how have you carried that change into your life now?

A: Apart from finally finding my faith, finding the meaning of it all, experiencing the energy from the earth, from creation, from nature? For years I've worked as a motivational speaker and as coach in life skills. I taught people "Don't sweat the small stuff", "If you can dream it you can do it", "The power of the mind", "The power of positive thinking" - all these slogans we live by. But this was the first time I actually lived those slogans and really understood their meaning. For the first time my belief was tested - it is 800km of meditation - you cannot come back unchanged.

Q: Do you http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifreally live in a French chateau?

A: Yes - I really live in a little fairy castle (originally built in 1269) that stands with its feet in the Dordogne river in south-west France. To pay the bills, I run the chateau during the summer as a Chambres d'hote - and love that I can share this most idyllic spot with people from all over the world.

I absolutely love living in countryside after having spent my entire life in big cities, eating only fresh produce grown within a radius of 50 kilometres. It has changed the way I eat, the way I cook. There is time to enjoy life and the world around me, time to be creative.

I coach and speak as far afield as Japan, Iceland, the USA, but I love coming home to my little village by the river!

Q: Where do you want to go next and why?

A: I would love to walk the Camino again - if my feet allow me. I would want to go walk the route of the 88 Buddhist temples of Shikoku in Japan. But that is in the future. For now, my next trip is in a couple of weeks to South Africa where I am going to organise a fairytale wedding for my beautiful daughter, in the bush, under a maroela tree.

***

Wilna Wilkinson's Camino blog is The Way of Stars and Stones, from which all the photographs on this page were borrowed. For a peek at her fairytale castle, read about The View from a Window of a French Chateau.

Not an uncommon comment!

Interesting how I, too, feel reluctant to read other people's accounts of their caminos. The experience was so intense to me, but reading about another's similar or even different experiences, does not get me easily excited. Yet, every now and then I read another pilgrim's account of their own personal Camino and it grabs me by the heart and the soul, and I read it as if famished.

So, I am not surprised when, every now and then, I come across someone who tells me that they have not read the book as it is not really 'their thing'. Makes sense -- not every book I pick up entices me to sit down and start reading either. But this then is a comment of just such a person -- and it is heartening to read!:

I'm off this week and started reading Wilna's book, almost finished and to my surprise loved it. Even though I am also spritiual rather than religious I just couldn't be excited about someone else's walk of the Camino. Amazed at my enjoyment. It is well written and very gripping, so especially as a sceptic, (me) it makes a good story.DB

An important message from the Australian Cancer Research Foundation

To all my friends and Fans on Facebook -- and to all readers of The Way of Stars and Stones - Thoughts on a pilgrimage, to all friends and supporters and admirers and fans of the amazing Terrie Baxter, as well as anyone who would like to make a donation to Cancer Research, please note the Following:

When you go online at the Australian Cancer Research Foundation, click on The Stars and Stones Fund to make your donation, and, as Claire McArthur requests below, kindly ensure that the code #REF200 is included in the description field for any deposits so we can identify the funds have come from your fundraiser as opposed to any other deposits we may receive.

Thank you so much for your donations, and for your cooperation!

Buen Camino!

Wilna

Good Morning Wilna,


I have allocated a reference number for your fundraising #REF200.
Can you please ensure that the code #REF200 is included in the description field for any deposits so we can identify the funds have come from your fundraiser as opposed to any other deposits we may receive?

Many thanks and looking forward to hearing from you soon.


Kind Regards,

Claire

Claire McArthur
Australian Cancer Research Foundation
T: 02 9223 7833 F: 02 9223 1800 W

See the latest leukemia breakthrough discovered by our funded researchers at Australian Cancer Research Foundation

Every dollar of every donation received by this Foundation goes to cancer research.

Experience shows that the spirit is nothing but awareness. -- Rumi

Sunrise on a winter's morning on the Camino

A Reader's message --

"Thanks for the loan of the book. I read it in four sittings from
Saturday through to Monday. I became more engrossed than I originally
thought I would be. Wilna is a good writer but I particularly liked
her musings on people and her connectedness with nature. I plan to buy
a copy to pass on to a friend who went on a pilgrimage last year" -- TB Australia

A lifetime searching for perfection
is not a wasted life
– Pierre Wilkinson

Pelgrimstog pragtig beskryf Stoffel Cilliers in Volksblad vir Book SA - Reviews

Review in Die Volksblad

THE WAY OF STARS AND STONES. Thoughts on a Pilgrimage. Deur Wilna Wilkinson. Jacana Media. Sagteband. R175.

VOLGENS oorlewering het die apostel Jakobus die evangelie in Spanje verkondig en het Herodes hom in 44 n.C. laat onthoof. Sy oorskot is in die Spaanse stad Santiago de Compostela begrawe (p. 21).

Reeds voor die tiende eeu n.C. het meer as ’n miljoen mense jaarliks die pelgrimspad na Santiago – die Camino – hoofsaaklik om godsdienstige redes geloop, deesdae is dit tot 100 000 pelgrims elke somersdag.

In Mei 2006 ontvang Wilna Wilkinson (57) ’n ontstellende SMS uit Australië: Haar beste vriendin, Terrie, word weens maagkanker geopereer. Dadelik besluit Wilkinson sy gaan die Camino loop: alleen; in die winter; 800 km ver. Só wys Wilkinson vir Terrie sy stry saam met haar teen haar kanker.

Op 10 Februarie 2008 begin haar bedevaart in Frankryk. En Terrie, wat eers “onbehandelbaar” gelyk het, word deur ’n wonderwerk “onverklaarbaar skoon”.

Verskeie hoofstukke, soos die een oor klippe, en ’n ander oor bagasie, is netjies gestruktureerde essays.

Wilkinson vertel goed en beskryf uitstekend. Sy beeld die kosmopolitiese pelgrims met hul eiesoortige dialoog asof op ’n immerbewegende verhoog voor die leser uit. Daar is die mooiste natuurbeskrywings en die interessantste pelgrimslegendes. Rillingwekkend vertel sy hoe sy en Akir, ’n reisgenoot, die duiwel ontmoet het. Dan weer hoe die heilige Jakobus self haar gehelp het.

Dikwels beklemtoon Wilkinson sy het die bedevaart onderneem om ’n “geestelike” rede, nie ’n godsdienstige nie. Eindelik erken sy dat God nie meer vir haar betekenis het nie.
Ná haar bedevaart verwys sy na die natuur as haar “skepper” wat groter is as sy. Met dieselfde verdraagsaamheid waarmee sy al die uiteenlopende beskouinge van haar
medepelgrims bejeën het, neem ’n mens kennis van haar standpunt. Maar tog ook met veel jammerte.

– Stoffel Cilliers, vryskutresensent

- Volksblad

A reflection...

The road to paradise is made up of little steps, on a mostly dirt path, with earwigs and moss scattered about, guarded by a few armadillos and the occasional lonely pine, beautified mostly with wild dandelion flowers and dusty moths, within earshot of crickets that have no concept of when they should actually be singing. But hey, we're talking about the road to paradise....

-- from The Universe

A beautiful message from a reader of The Way of Stars and Stones

Hi Wilna and Terrie,

Great excitement as I finished reading "The Way of Stars and Stones" early this morning - what a book - what a journey.

As soon as I received it I wanted to start reading - however - life was busy so I left the reading until November.

Each morning I would eagerly await the light of dawn so I could read another chapter, the Illawarra sun would glisten outside my bedroom window on the flaming red blooms of my Illawarra Flame tree - the first time this tree has burst forth in such glory in 40 years, the red and green King Parrot would be whistling in the trees and the Wattle birds would be calling - I knew it was time to start reading - I wanted to read more - but also I wanted it to be a journey as well - imaging each day as you also woke to each day of your Camino journey.


Wilna I so enjoyed your descriptive passages - that helped to transport me into your world of walking the track, at first I though it would be a physical journey of your 40 days - 850km walk. Then I realised all the side issues and events that come with such a trek, and loved the way you handled the to and fro-ing of your thoughts as well as your physical walk.

As you said " The Ultimate luxury is having the language with which to express yourself" and this you did so well - I felt like I should still be in ITC to give a lexicology session on all your wonderful words! Your selection of quotes for each chapter were so thoughtful and appropriate. My imagination ran riot with so many of your stories - whether they were the ones about the Devil - to how you were going to use your Pepper Spray to protect yourself. Perhaps also because I know you and this adds to my imagination of you in this situation - that at times I laughed out loud, other times my tears came to the surface for you. Do you still have a supply of honey and gunpowder?? How are your feet now - do you have any permanent damage from this amazing walk?

At times I felt like taking a paint brush to paint what you described - "a pale cream stone house with blue shutters, pretty pots with pretty flowers., shiny window panes and whale song spilling out of the open doors."

How did you ever survive that hurricane in Cruz de Ferro? Such a great image created of your feather duster poncho -ripped to shreds by those winds. I am sure if you went of the TV Show "Survivor" you would win the $1,000,000 hands down!

The eeriness of those thick mists - -"shrouding everything in a white cashmere blanket"- the picture you painted "as little dust devils darted mischievously across the fields...". I had some idea of you in a dormitory of 29 male cyclists - as the only time I have done backpacking - the trip from Perth to Darwin in 2007 I had to share a dorm with 4 and one was a male and
I found that confronting - but 29 of them!!!!!!

I so enjoyed your ending and your wonderful photos - which I imagine you have so many of - they will be so precious - of all your days travelling so far. At times I became confused with where your were at - but then your little Camino shell would put me back on track with your story as well.

How great to have such an insight into people and their ways Wilna - I am so pleased that your achievements have helped so many. May Terrie, Thorsten, Kamil & Akira keep that connection going.

I was thrilled when I received your gift ( and yes Terrie - when I can pin you down - I will get the Cancer Foundation donation to you ) and more thrilled to read your story and to participate in a small way in your journey - I still have your Camino emails and marvel at the energy you must have gathered from somewhere to write them as well on that journey of a lifetime.

I am sure my daughter and sisters will enjoy this book as well.

Thanks again Terrie and Wilna

No messing about with the following words - I Finished your book in the early hours of this morning - what a great read, you have given me the inspiration to walk the Camino and also to walk it alone. Thank you for sharing your many stories. CE, France

Why walk alone? Look at the Pilgrim Statistics and tell me if you still wonder!

Many people who have read The Way of Stars and Stones - Thoughts on a pilgrimage, write to me to ask what possessed me to walk the Camino in winter and did I not find walking alone very lonely. To a large degree I answer the first question in the book -- it is very much a personal choice and not everyone is as fortunate as I was to have the luxury of time and choice of dates as I had, and the answer to the second question is a categoric "NO!" Most people find it a frightening thought to be on their own -- especially for such a long period and in such a vast and uninhabited space. But think about it -- if you had the choice of walking alone or walking with a hundred people in your sights in front of you -- the next person only ten metres ahead, and a hundred people fast approaching from the back -- the next person only ten metres behind you, which would you choose? Think of the litter and the pollution. Think of the number of refuges and beds and having to queue up for shelter and for food. Think of the noise, the crowding, the invasion of your mediation and reflection time and space.

The number of pilgrims collecting a compostela in Santiago during 2007 (last year's statistics aren’t yet available) was 114,026 from 138 different nations.
The most popular route continues to be the Camino Francés, playing host to 91,872 pilgrims representing 80% (down from 92% 2 years ago).
The second most popular route to Santiago is now the Camino Portugués with 8,110 pilgrims representing 7%. While not in these statistics the Camino Finisterre is becoming increasingly popular with an estimated 12,500 collecting a Fisteranna in 2008.
Next year, 2010 is a Holy Year on the Camino (there will not be another Holy Year until 2021.) and it now looks increasingly likely that Pope Benedict XVI will visit Santiago de Compostela during the year -- probably at the end of July when the Day of St James, 25 July, falls on a Sunday. Accordingly the number of visitors to Santiago during that year could rise to 10 million with 1⁄4 million expected to arrive on foot.

< A pilgrimage route in summer vs a pilgrimage route in winter? >





(Flights: From November 2008 Ryanair opened 2 daily flights from Santiago to Madrid to supplement its flights from/to Barcelona, Frankfurt, Rome and London. This has forced other airlines such as Iberia to lower its fares on this increasingly popular route to Madrid. Aer Lingus will fly twice weekly (Tues/Sat) direct from Dublin to Santiago from May 2nd to September 19th 2009.)

My barn having burned down, I can now see the moon
-- Leo Buscaglia