Category: Pilgrim Note
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Holy Cross Mountains Walk: Wąchock to Bodzentyn
Is it a good walk from Wąchock to Bodzentyn? Yes, but it’s a story walk, not a views walk. You’ll spend most of the day under trees, and nearly every kilometre has something to tell you. Where it fits The route is part of the Świętokrzyska Droga św. Jakuba, the Holy Cross stretch of the…
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The Akogi Hidden Christian Trail- Narushima, Nagasaki
This picks up where my Seibo no Kishi post left off. I woke in a room beneath the church at Seibo no Kishi, the convent founded by St Maximilian Kolbe in Nagasaki. The morning bells rang at what I guessed was a 5 a.m. rising, then 5:40 for prayers and meditation, then 6:25, five minutes…
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Camino & Polish Pilgrimage
I have walked in Ireland, on Japanese islands and in the Holy Cross Mountains of Poland. The longer I walk, the more convinced I am that sacred places don’t all ask the same thing of you. Here is the clearest way I can put it: The Camino can be whittled down to a journey towards…
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Holy Cross Mountain: Walk 1
If you only have one day in the Holy Cross Mountains, this is the walk I’d give you. It has forest, the highest summit in the range, and a village at the end that still lives at its own pace. It’s an easy introduction to the region, and it shows you what makes this landscape…
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The Dissolution of Święty Krzyż
Long before it was a Christian pilgrimage site, Łysa Góra, the “Bald Mountain”, had already taken hold of people’s imagination. Its wooded summit is strewn with huge stones, which folk tradition said were the ruins of a castle built by giants. It was almost certainly a pagan Slavic sanctuary when the first Benedictine monks arrived.…
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An Invitation to Walk
The path is there for us to walk. Japan’s most famous Haiku poet, Basho (1644-1694) was a lifelong walker. He spent his life seeking inspiration from the open road, the seasons and the many stirring historical sites across Japan. We invite you to walk with us. Slowly read our stories of Poland or Japan or…