#ThePilgrimage

[patrickarchana-caminofrances]

Day Minus One

After spending 3 days in London catching up with friends and family, then 5 days in Bordeaux - a Mecca for red wine lovers like Patrick and I, we finally arrived in St Jean Pied de Port on Saturday 31st August 2024.

We were extremely tired when we arrived, the stress and shock of knowing that our train TGV Inou from Bordeaux had stopped just meters away from Bayonne station as it had hit a person on a bicycle. There was a lot of unknown from whether this person had survived, did the crack we heard under the carriage just before the train stopped have something to do with this accident, when will the Gendermarie (Police) arrive, the ambulance, the replacement driver…. We already knew that we had lost our connecting train from Bayonne as the train was already delayed arriving into Bordeaux and now this additional delay. Hence upon arrival, as tired as we were, we just dropped our bags in the room and walked around this old town of St Jean Pied de Port to free up our legs and our minds. Being an Ekadashi day we were fasting, consuming only water.

As we crossed the little iconic bridge walking towards the hotel it felt surreal that we were finally here!

The heat and the precipitation was unbearable so this walk had settled our minds and body, a cold shower was all we needed for that much deserved sleep, with windows wide open and the sounds of the stream bubbling near by

Backdrop - Since I read The Pilgrimage by Paulo Coelho for the first time about 2 decades ago, I had fallen in love with the book without realising that there was more to it than a story…. The pilgrimage stayed in my mind, until a few years later I realised that this was a real walk called the El Camino! Since then there has been a constant urge to walk this way. It was only after I met Patrick that I realised I had a companion to walk this journey that I felt like this dream could become a possibility! However we had other milestones to achieve, a business to operate and a livelihood to be made. So, the Camino was placed on a back burner. However once we started talking about selling the business, it popped back into our minds!

Just over two years of talking about it, planning it, changing the plans for various reasons but mainly health issues popping up with age….

So today when we arrived in Saint Jean Pied de Port it has become a reality!

Tomorrow we start with Day Zero just a day to soak in the spirit of St Jean pied de Port where begins the Camino Frances!

[foggynightdonut]

Dan Gibson's Let the Stones Speak

svdsmw

Let the stone speak page 143

When the Black Stone was moved to Mecca in Saudi Arabia the pilgrimage either ceased or was led by the rebel Ibn al-Zubayr. Al-Ṭabarī, who recorded the leaders of the yearly pilgrimage, mentions no pilgrimage in 65 AH. 34 In the following years, 66 and 67 AH, the rebel Ibn al-Zubayr personally led the pilgrimage. 35 The next year, in 68 AH, al-Ṭabarī reports that there were four leaders who gathered at ‘Arafat mountain, but he makes no mention of the Ka’ba. 36 Following this unusual record, the rebel Ibn al-Zubayr once again led the pilgrimage in the years 69, 70, and 71 AH. 37 While Ibn al-Zubayr was still holding out under siege, al-Ḥajjāj led the pilgrimage in 72 AH, and then again in 73 AH after Ibn al-Zubayr’s death and defeat. Following this there are various leaders granted the honor of leading the pilgrimage year to year, which was the usual practice. Given Ibn al-Zubayr’s extended control of thepilgrimage, Gibson believes that the Black Stone was moved during these tumultuous years.

34 Sahih al-Bukhārī 1617 https://sunnah.com/bukhari:1617 35 Al-Ṭabarī, Abu Jafar Muhammad b. Jarir, The History of al-Tabari Volume XX: The Collapse of Sufyanid Authority and the Coming of the Marwanids, trans. G. R. Hawting (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1989), 181. Abu Jafar Muhammad b. Jarir al-Ṭabarī, The History of al-Tabari Volume XXI: The Victory of the Marwanids, trans. Michael Fishbein (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1990), 66, 67, 121. 36 Al-Ṭabarī, Volume XXI, 151.

[inkk-heartt]

But it was useless to try to save the world: I hadn't even been able to save myself yet.

#paulocoelho #thepilgrimage

[myordinarydeardiary]

#currentlyreading The Pilgrimage by Paulo Coelho #readingisfundamental #readingisfun #readingislife #readingissexy #readingismagic #readingchallenge2020📚 #igreads #goodreads #bookstagram #emabaca #paulocoelho #thepilgrimage #harpertorchbooks #harpercollins #malaysiamembaca #bangsamembaca #keepcalmandread #maybookchallenge https://www.instagram.com/p/CACfr5ClJha/?igshid=861onxdzqy9e

[matteohudson]

Now Listening: Saxon - Carpe Diem. #saxon #saxoncarpediem #carpediem #carpediemseizetheday #ageofsteam #thepilgrimage #dambusters #rememberthefallen #supernova #ladyingray #allforone #blackisthenight #livingonthelimit #2022 #2022album #heavymetal #nowlistening #nowplaying https://www.instagram.com/p/CZrja_UojbZ/?utm_medium=tumblr

[irisdeanda]

Choices 🖤 * * * #Thursdaze #mood #feels #heartist #changes #caminodesantiago #thepilgrimage #wanderlust # (at Los Angeles, California)

[darinenk]

Nature, coffee and a good book… That’s a good way to spend a Sunday!

[maeolandesca]

Starting another Paulo with this beaut. 💚 What is your pandemic read? 📖 #pandemic2020 #paulocoelho❤️ #thepilgrimage #houseplant (at Fascino By Maria Rosalia) https://www.instagram.com/p/CCXyqYoncOo/?igshid=1o2svxmocln92

[aquanzacadogan]

Go where no one goes. Do what no one does. Say what no one says. #thepilgrimage #wynwoodwalls #aquanzacadogan #bmxcel #explore #miami #whyisitsohot (at Wynwood Art District)

[deadredqueenrecords]

Micawber // The Gods Of Outer Hell #micawber #thegodsofouterhell #selfreleased #prostheticrecords #2015 #greenbay #wisconsin #deathmetal #techdeath #metal #hellbender #thepilgrimage #lordofthepit #massexodus #sold #cd https://www.instagram.com/p/BsceHZ3FaEv/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=18nl2bl5z0kb6

[wforwriter]

When we both experienced the love that consumes, we shared in the Absolute. The Absolute shows each of us who we really are; it is an enormous web of cause and effect, where every small gesture made by one person affects the life of someone else. This morning, that slice of the Absolute was still very much alive in my soul. I was seeing not only you but everything there is in the world, unlimited by space or time.

Paulo Coelho, The Pilgrimage

[inkk-heartt]

"But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty "

#PauloCoelho #Thepilgrimage

[myselfeducating]

🧘🏻

#bookmarks #educatingmyself #bookstagram #quotations #paulocoelho #thepilgrimage #educatingmyself #digitalinfluencer #digitalcreator #fridayquotes #newbeginnings #phoenix #coelho #educatingmyselfdaily #inspiration #instagram #twitter #educationquotes #lessons #innerpeace #innerpower

[kingdomcarrots]

The pilgrimage is available in PDF

- - - - > https://gumroad.com/l/thepilgrimage < - - - -

48 story pages - Full colors - Xehaqus bittersweet fluff through Disney Worlds - Based on the KH3 2nd secret report or what if Eraqus had come with Xehanort for his Pilgrimage