Kathleens Corner – 25/6/24 « Athea & District Notes

Jun/24

Kathleens Corner – 25/6/24

by Kathleen Mullane

BUEN CAMINO

Well, here we are back from our group trip on The Camino after doing the Camino Frances in northern Spain . It took us a week to do it covering a walk of 163 K and a total of 220 K to include walking out and about the towns and cities. And what an experience it was with the most wonderful group of people from our own parish and beyond and of course Fr Willie Russell who incidentally celebrated his 29 years being ordained a priest while we were there, saying a special Mass in the Pilgrim Chapel in Santiago which was really special ,and I want to say fair play to Fr Willie for completing the entire Journey with us, up and down many hills with rain on most days. Let me tell you, one needs no luxuries on The Camino, just the bare basics and of course the wool socks which thankfully left us all with no blisters. It could have been a different story if we had sunny weather.

The pace of life and its simplicity along the routes was lovely to encounter. Every little house were self sufficient with their little gardens of cabbage, lettuce and onions. It reminded us of Ireland long ago. Every age group, young and old, we met on our journey all following the yellow arrows, which showed you which way to go. Everyone you passed greeted each other with the words “BUEN CAMINO”, which means have a good Camino.

We met so many different nationalities from England, Japan, The Philippines, Australia, indeed all over the world , all with the final destination in view, Santiago de Compostela. Actually Kevin Larkin from Dublin who was travelling on his own became part of our group and walked with us from the start to the very end and became a good friend to us all.

We stayed in a different hotel and town each night some days walking over 20k and lesser on other days, taking a break for coffee en route and lunch and all joining together for dinner in the evening. I don’t think there was any weight lost.

If the going was getting tough at any stage we had Mary B Mullane saying the lines she had learned from a teacher many years ago at school — I WILL- AND I MUST indeed words that kept us going en route. Also when we took a break and the rain would be pouring down restarting again Fr Willie would shout COME ON THE BANNER -we will hit the road running a true Clare man to the bone.

The highlight of course was the final leg as we arrived into the Square in Santiago in front of the Cathedral, everyone singing and dancing and so delighted to have made this very special journey. The Cathedral inside was something to behold and we got to see the crypt of St James. Thousands visit the Cathedral every day.

We all got our Camino passports stamped throughout our journey and received our completion certs in the Pilgrim office at the end which was lovely. All I can say at this point if you haven’t done a part of The Camino try at some stage to do it, its a lifetime experience and I must thank my daughter Denise who urged me to go and organised the trip for us all. To go as a group was wonderful and fond memories happy and emotional for all.

BUEN CAMINO.

Can I just say we prayed and lit Candles for our Parishioners and beyond and we also remembered Thady Woulfe who had passed away and whose funeral took place when we were gone. We offer our sincere sympathy to Thady’s wonderful Family, his relatives and many great friends R.I.P.

What a great weekend of cycling here in Athea these past few days and of course the weather was an added bonus. There was again a great community effort and many visitors came to Athea to enjoy the different races and thankfully all went off without a hitch or injuries. Well done to all who made it possible to hold the event showcasing all the good amenities we have here to cater for such events in the future, from the school to our Community Hall to the GAA pitch and of course the volunteers.