The Way almost feels like an exercise in Sheen counter-programming coming from Charlie Sheen’s brother Emilio Estevez and dad Martin Sheen.

 
Unlike the Charlie we’ve seen lately, it is meditative. It does not shoot from its hip. It is even sombre (not to say sober). It is about self-realization as opposed to self-gratification. And finally, it is spiritual without being messianic about it.
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The “way” of the title refers to El Camino de Santiago, a pilgrimage route from St Jean Pied de Port through the Pyrenees to Santiago, Spain. California optometrist Tom (Martin Sheen) is on a golf course when he gets the news that his only son Daniel (Emilio Estevez) has perished in a mishap just one day into the 800-kilometre trek.
 
A brief early scene shows the relationship between father and son is prickly, due partly to Daniel’s refusal to settle down. (“You don’t choose a life, dad. You live one.”) Tom flies to France to collect his son’s remains. His silent mourning gives way to a steely resolution that Tom never explains. He will take his son’s equipment and complete the pilgrimage for him.
 
It promises to be a solitary journey. But the Camino is well-traveled, and a few individuals inexplicably gravitate to the brusque American. Joost (Yorick van Wageningen) is a pot-smoking Dutchman, making the journey in a last-ditch effort to lose weight, apparently at the behest of his estranged wife. Joost notices Tom’s habit of surreptitiously scattering bits of his son’s ashes along the route and manages a nebulous glimpse into the purpose of Tom’s journey.
 
Canadian actress Deborah Kara Unger shows up to play, refreshingly, a rude Canadian named Sarah. She ostensibly is making the journey before quitting her cigarette habit. She has her own personal reasons for the trip. As with Tom, the pilgrimage is at least partly an act of penance.
 
Rounding out the multinational crew is Jack (James Nesbitt), an Irish travel writer attempting to overcome a case of writer’s block, and uncovering unexpected inspiration along the way.
 
Emilio Estevez scripted the film as well as directed and, apart from a contrived, awkward scene that serves to introduce us to the panicky Jack, it has the organic feel of a long journey in which a character may show up, disappear, and show up a little later in different circumstances.
 
Martin Sheen holds it together. His Tom is flawed and remote, but Sheen gives us just enough emotion to keep us watching his every move. It is a subtle, dignified performance.
 
And while the film is not a travelogue, it does have the added appeal of some often exquisite cinematography by Juan Miguel Azpiroz that captures both bucolic landscapes and ancient architecture with equal grace.
 
Yes, that’s right, you read the words “Sheen,” “dignity” and “grace” in one review.
 
randall.king@freepress.mb.ca
 
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition November 10, 2011 D4

I recently read a great article in the Times of Malta about Joseph Busuttil’s experience of walking along the Camino de Santiago.
 
I totally agree that it is no walk in the park but a rewarding one nonetheless and one I will do again in the next year or so.
 
Here is an excerpt of the article:

 

Walking the Camino trail: Not a walk in the park!

Pilgrimages on foot may seem a thing of the past, but the Camino de Santiago de Compostela in Spain, to visit the tomb of St James, still attracts thousands every year.
 
The second week I developed blisters in my feet and my left knee started to lock… and one time I seriously thought of giving up…
 
In its heyday centuries ago, a million people would visit Santiago annually. This number had dwindled to a few thousands by the early 1980s, but then its popularity started soaring again. This was owing to visits to Santiago by Pope John II, as well as books like The Pilgrimage, by Brazilian best-selling author Paulo Coelho.
 
The Camino was declared the first European Cultural Route by the Council of Europe in 1986, and soon after a Unesco World Heritage site.
 
There are various Camino routes, starting from a number of places in Spain itself, France, England, and Germany. For six weeks between the middle of September and the end of last month, I also did the Camino, walking the French route from St Jean Pied du Port in the French Pyrenees to Santiago, a distance of around 800 kilometres.
 
The walk is a unique experience and adventure. Crossing into Spain through the north east region of Navarra, I trekked up and down the mountains of the Basque region, gradually making my way to the hot, dry open plains of Castilla y Leon known as the Meseta, and finally walking through the wet, rolling green hills of Galicia.
 
The journey took in hundreds of hamlets, villages and towns, all with concrete Camino connections, and replete with old churches, hospitals, fortifications, and other monuments which spell out the more than a thousand-year history of the route.
 
With a bag containing the basic necessities not weighing more than 10 kgs strapped to my back, good walking shoes, and water aplenty, I averaged 20 to 25 kilometres a day. At the end of each daily stage, I registered at a shared accommodation known as an albergue, where basic facilities are provided for genuine pilgrims, identified by a credential booklet given out at the start of the journey, and stamped at every daily stop. One is admitted only in the early afternoon, must stay just one night and leave before eight the next day, with lights out and no talking after 10 at night – all reminiscent of the true pilgrim spirit!
 
A number of albergues are run by the Sovereign Order of Malta, providing shelter and food for pilgrims as the Knights of St John used to do for Camino pilgrims hundreds of years ago. I felt proud to see the Maltese Cross fluttering proudly on these buildings, such as the one in Cizur Menor.
 
Crossing mountains, hills, valleys, rivers and plains from the east to the west of Spain, I experienced all kinds of weather, from the constant light drizzle of the Pyrenees, which the Basque people call Xidi Midi, icy cold mornings and evenings, extreme heat in the arid central regions, welcomed shady conditions provided by woods and forests, and torrents of rain all the way in Galicia.
 
The path of the Camino also varied, ranging from green track, smooth rock pavements, dirt roads, rough sand and gravel formations, and dangerous narrow stretches where the feet had to diplomatically manage stones, rocks, boulders, and exposed tree trunks, sometimes covered with fallen leaves, or currents of gushing rain water. With the earliest daylight first breaking out after 8.30, one cannot make one’s way without torchlight in the morning.
 
To read the rest of this article >>

My traveling companions and I decided to go in different directions after finishing our first caminos. Bussing out of town, we began our next Caminos, on different trails. One friend decided to walk a section of the Primitive Route.

The other friend decided to walk the section of the French Route I had just completed, from Astorga to Santiago. I decided to take a few days off to explore the nearby coastal city of A Coruña before venturing to the port city of Ferrol, the starting point of the little-known English Route.

A Coruña was a very popular starting point of the Camino de Santiago for centuries, but declined in popularity after the formation of the Church of England, and the formalization of requirements to receive a Compostela to require a minimum of a full 100km of walking, a requirement A Coruña does not quite meet.

None the less, evidence of pilgrimage can be seen all over the city. The beautiful Church of Santiago shows evidence of donations given by pilgrims. The town itself was beautiful, surrounded by long white sand beaches.

One of the oldest and largest lighthouses in the world, the Tower of Hercules, dominates the coast, but some of the smaller coastal forts, such as San Marcos, which houses an incredible military museum and has many interesting areas to explore, are just as impressive in their own way. After recuperating for a few days, I traveled on to Ferrol, further up the coast.

This route was both incredibly beautiful and all but deserted, a wonderful choice for someone who only has a limited amount of time and wishes to experience a pilgrimage. I met only three other pilgrims on this route, all of whom I outdistanced on the first day of walking.

The countryside was verdantly green, crisscrossed by water courses and skirting sections of coastline and deserted beaches. Ancient water mills, churches, fountains, and shrines dotted the path. It was a great relief from the crowding of the French Route, and I loved every minute of it.

I finished the 150km of the English Route in about 5 days. Since my traveling companions had not yet returned to Santiago, I bussed out to join my friend and re-walk a section of the French Route. Her perceptions were different from mine, and it was a different experience to walk with her, and to have someone to share perceptions with.

She is a avid photographer, and would sometimes insist we stop at places where I had just walked past the first time.

One such place was what, looking back at stamps, I believe was the Parochial Church of Santa Maria del Camino in San Benito del Camino. I had not even stopped at this church when I first walked past, but something about the building had appealed to the sense of aesthetics of my photographer friend. Inside the church was a small entry with Credencial stamps.

It was clear most pilgrims did not bother to continue past the stamps into what seemed to be one of hundreds of small village churches on the Route. We walked into what I can only describe as one of the most beautiful churches I had seen.
 
It had an appealing simplicity, with smooth lines and most of the original accoutrements of a parish church. The benches were labeled for each family, and had grooves where generations had sat or kneeled and prayed. An antique pendulum clock the size of a large wardrobe swung to keep the time for the bells.

Returning to Santiago, all of the friends who started the trip with me and I reunited, and took a side trip to London for a week. We returned refreshed and prepared for more walking. Our next destination was Muxia, on the coast, known as the home of the Sanctuary of Nosa Senora da Barca, or, in English, Our Lady of the Boats.

Muxia was the legendary site where, according to the local stories, Mary, the mother of God, landed to aid St James in his evangelical missions. The town was beautiful, with long stretches of beaches, unusual picturesque rock formations, and several ancient churches and shrines.

The walk to Muxia went through some very beautiful areas. Leaving Santiago, the path rose to offer an incredible view of the Santiago Cathedral as it must have appeared to the original pilgrims as they approached the city, spires towering about the nearby constructions, and bordered by the beautiful nearby buildings of the Church and Convent of San Francisco (where we had stayed for the previous night while in Santiago), and Dos Reis Catolicos, the historic pilgrim shelter turned hotel.

One other spot that sticks in my mind is a town with a large arched Roman bridge over a river, about 40 feet from an artificial waterfall across the river. A footpath led us underneath the bridge, and we ate dinner in this incredible location.  I also enjoyed the beaches of the Muxia area, and spent a day climbing the interesting rocks near the Sanctuary.  One problem we did find in Muxia, at least when we were there, was a relative lack of beds.  

The albergue was full, and after spending a few hours looking for other places to stay, my companions and I were forced to camp out on a beach a bit outside of town for the night.  It was a lot of fun, actually, though a bit windy.  I wouldn’t recommend it unless your camping equipment was much better than ours.  

After we finished enjoying Muxia, we returned to Santiago for the final time in our pilgrimages.

We want to share our passion for travelling in the best way possible – on foot!  We are passionate about sharing the Camino with everybody!
 
We know from experience that walking one of the many Caminos is a big undertaking and our aim is to help people achieve their goal.
 

We organize every last detail to ensure all you have to do is walk and you can make the most of your time on the trail. As one of the many pilgrims accompanying us once commented, “This is fantastic, all I have to do each day is walk!” We do all the research, finding the best accommodation, the best food and share our favourite places along the way. 

On the Camino Francés we offer the following fully supported walking tours  - The Last 100 kilometres from Sarria to Santiago, Galicia End to End from Las Hererrías to Finisterre and Every Inch of the Camino Francés from St, Jean Pied de Port to Santiago.  

On the Camino del Norte we have two trips, Chapter One from Irún to Ribadesella and Chapter Two from Ribadesella to Santiago.  

We also offer tours combining the Camino Inglés from Ferrol and the Camino to Finisterre  as well as a 6 days trip from Santiago to Finisterre, the Walk to the End of the World!  

In Italy, we offer the Via Francigena, which is less famous than the Camino de Santiago but becoming more popular.  This year we walk from Lucca to Rome!

We also design “tailor-made tours” with the itinerary, dates, type of accommodation etc the customer requires.  We can offer Camino walking holidays with other stuff included – like Pilates (Kate is a Pilates teacher too!), language learning, art history, cooking etc etc.  

We also want to offer accessible tours on the Camino for people who have a disability or difficulty and need a tour designed to ensure accessibility (the Camino is not always very accessible!).

We have both lived and worked in Spain and on the Camino for many years, so we know the Camino well! Andaspain is a two-woman venture – it’s just us, Kate and Vanessa – so we can ensure a personal service from us from the first enquiry, right up until the end of the trip. We personally guide every one of our trips to ensure a top quality service.
 
For more information about Anadspain visit their website at www.andaspain.com

Some beautifully shot high definition footage of the Camino de Santiago.

Well worth a watch. Split over two movies of just over 5 minutes each.

Part I

Part II

The Botafumeiro is a famous thurible found in the Santiago de Compostela Cathedral . Incense is burned in this swinging metal container, or “incensory”. The name “Botafumeiro” means “smoke expeller” in Galician.

A Pilgrim’s Mass is held each day at noon for pilgrims in the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. Pilgrims who received the Compostela the day before or by 12:00 noon on the day have their countries of origin and the starting point of their pilgrimage announced at the Mass.
 

The musical and visual highlight of the mass is the synchronisation of the beautiful ‘Hymn to Christ’ with the spectacular swinging of the huge Botafumeiro.

One tradition has it that the use of a swinging censer in the Santiago de Compostela Cathedral began in the 11th century. Arriving pilgrims were tired and unwashed and until 1786, used to eat and sleep in the cathedral and were crowded together.
 
Dispersing incense smoke inside the church under these conditions was probably a reasonable approach to combat the bodily odours of the accumulated masses. It was also believed that incense smoke had a prophylactic effect in the time of plagues and epidemics. Of course, incense burning is also an important part of the liturgy, being an “oration to God”, or form of prayer.

The present Botafumeiro is made of an alloy of brass and bronze and is plated by a very thin 20 micrometre layer of silver. The current Botafumeiro was created by the gold and silversmith José Losada in 1851. It has a golden sheen and silver censer.
 
The Santiago de Compostela Botafumeiro is one of the largest censers in the world, weighing 80 kg and measuring 1.60 m in height. It is normally on exhibition in the library of the cathedral, but during certain important religious occasions it is brought to the floor of the cathedral and attached to ropes hung from the pulley mechanism.

Day 2 of our serialisation of Joseph Cullinane’s book The Cuckoo & The Pilgrim is taken from page 95 of the book which covers the route from the French town of St Jean Pied de Port over the Pyrenees into the Spanish village of Roncesvalles
 
It was a hot night in the dormitory and our supply of water was considerably depleted by morning. We set off early, as usual, down the Rue de la Citadelle, with its old rose coloured sandstone houses, hoping to avoid the hottest part of the day.

There was a mist but it started to lift quickly leaving some in the hollows looking like great lakes. Before long we were climbing steadily out of the valley and the sun rising to our left was a magnificent sight.
 
Everyone was in good spirits but I still had some worries about how little water we were carrying. We came to a gite where a young man was having coffee at a table outside. Jean Marc and myself requested some water which we took from the tap which is not always to be recommended but I was encouraged by the mental image of a sparkling Pyrenean mountain stream with pure, clean water. We continued climbing, corkscrewing steeply all the time and following a flock of sheep being driven to the higher pastures.
 
Paddy, in his usual manner when confronted with an obstacle, put on a spurt and gamely tried to pass them at one point but failed. The scenery behind us to the north now spread out in a huge brilliant panorama and St Jean was already a speck away in the distance. Mist still filled the hollows.
 
Then suddenly we were being viewed by what appeared to be three golden eagles, or were they vultures, surfing lazily on the thermals and at times dropping suddenly. I wanted to believe that they were eagles which are often sighted here in the Pyrenees and three types, the golden, the booted and Bonelli‘s have been identified.
 
Without binoculars it was difficult to be sure. It was a really unbelievable sight to see them in the wild for the first time. They stayed in view for as long as we climbed.
Charlie and Janique came up behind us and we walked together, climbing now less steeply passing old balconied farmhouses until we left the last dwellings behind. We were now a group of six.
 
The landscape had changed and was now a more open, rolling, mountain pastureland not unlike elevated downland. We came to a little statue of the Virgin Mary, La Vierge d’Orisson, brought from Lourdes by shepherds and placed here on a rocky plinth. This was a photo opportunity for all of us with the ragged snow-covered peaks of the central high Pyrenees as our magnificent backdrop.
 
We climbed towards the Spanish border and met the birdlike Francois on the way back. He had walked as far as the frontier and was now returning home hoping to complete the Camino at another date. There was no sign of the fussy French women in his wake. We wished him bon retour and made for the border. At La Fontaine de Roland there were taps with running water and our fellow travellers were filling their water bottles. The climb had drawn a lot of sweat from the body and there was still the danger of dehydration. All water bottles were refilled.
 
You can purchase a copy of Joe’s book here on Amazon.com or if you would like a signed copy direct from the author
 

Joseph Cullinane, author of The Cuckoo & The Pilgrim has very kindly gave us permission to serialise his book on SpanishSteps.eu.
 
Joe’s book is a record of a walk along the Camino De Santiago in France and Spain and could it be used as a rough guide by anyone wishing to follow this medieval pilgrim route.
 

It is also for the general reader who is interested in experiencing a countryside; the sights and sounds of nature; chance encounters on the road; ancient villages; anecdotes; bits of history and all that goes with following a pilgrim route at a medieval pace.

 
Over the next week or so we will be printing selected extracts starting today.
 

The Rebirth Of The Camino De Santiago
 
Over the past few decades, and through the efforts of the various confraternities of St. James, and local authorities (ayuntamientos) and communities in Northern Spain, interest in the pilgrim way has been revived and much work has been carried out in trying to establish the authentic, ancient route which has been disturbed over the years by the building of roads and by other works or has just been lost in the undergrowth. In places portions of the old route have been rediscovered, opened up and reconstructed and it is now clearly marked throughout its length with the characteristic yellow arrow and cockleshell.
 
In addition the revival of the pilgrimage route has led to the establishment of new and refurbished gites, refugios and albergues to cater for the growing number of people on the road. At the same time the historical importance of the old hospitals and the monasteries has been reaffirmed. Through all of this resurrection, the tradition of hospitality continues on the pilgrim road. As I have mentioned above the Christian notion of hospitality, that of caring, unequivocally, for strangers has a long history going back to biblical times. The medieval pilgrim understood this well.
 
While not experiencing the same dangers from bandits and wild animals (wild dogs excepted) the modern pilgrim, because of the nature of the journey, still has to be cared for. Increasingly, throughout the 1980s and 1990s hospitality has become part of what local communities, especially in the small towns and villages, offer to the passing pilgrims along the camino.
 
In a world that has become increasingly materialistic the revival of this form of pilgrimage is nothing short of extraordinary and the significance of the pilgrim route itself has been confirmed by being designated a European Cultural Route by the European Council and a World-Heritage Cultural Asset by UNESCO. The coming together of so many diverse people with a sense of common purpose to walk the pilgrim way to the Shrine of St James emphasises among people an inner compulsion that is difficult to explain.
 
During the 1990s pilgrims were drawn from over ninety-four countries from all corners of this planet and every continent was represented. According to the records of the Cathedral of Santiago the numbers grew from 2,491 in 1986 to 68,952 in 2002, with the Holy Years of 1993 and 1999 in particular, recording huge numbers. By 2007, 114,026 pilgrims were completing the journey annually. In Europe large numbers came from Germany, France, Italy, Holland and Belgium and the U.K with the largest group by far coming from Spain itself. The number from Ireland increased from 176 in the year 2000 to 1090 in 2007.
 
About 80% of the pilgrims were aged under fifty, although there were an increasing number in the younger age groups. In terms of gender the majority of pilgrims were men but the number of females was also increasing. Most complete the journey on foot. The popularity of the Pilgrimage is now firmly established.
 
You can purchase a copy of Joe’s book here on Amazon.com or if you would like a signed copy direct from the author
 

Last year Aquarius, a Spanish water company, ran an this inspirational ad campaign documenting a group of homeless people as the walked the Camino de Santiago to Santiago de Compostela.
 

MS Ireland, the services, information and research society supporting people affected by MS, today called for walkers to sign up for the 22nd annual walk along the Camino de Santiago, which will take place from June 9 to June 21 this year.

Beginning in France, the Camino de Santiago Walk will take in the spectacular views of the French Pyrenees before crossing the border into Spain. Walkers will travel the old pilgrimage route through the vineyards of La Rioja, onto the vast tableland of the Meseta, into the Cantabrian Mountains and the lush province of Galicia before reaching the world famous city of Santiago de Compostela, the reputed burial place of Saint James the Apostle.

“Our 2011 MS Walks programme is packed with opportunities for adventure, fun and sightseeing,” said Elle Caffrey of the MS Ireland walks and challenges department. “We are very excited about the up-coming Camino de Santiago Walk in June. Our version of the walk is slightly different than that of other charities as we incorporate 10 of the most spectacular highlights of the area into the 12 day trek.”

To sign up for the Camino de Santiago, Italy or Jordan Walk in aid of MS Ireland you can contact Elle or Vivienne on 01 678 1600, email walks@ms-society.ie or visit www.ms-society.ie. A deposit of €300 is required along with the completed application form.