Ultreya E-Book

Tom Weber

• Herausgeber: Books on Demand
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2019

Seitenzahl: 109

Beschreibung

'Is this going to work out?' No other question was asked as often as this one when it came to the project 'Tom & Jo's Camino for Charity 2019'. And you could see why: a Buddhist writer and a Catholic hedonist going on a pilgrimage? Through this book you can relive this peculiar journey from Porto to Santiago de Compostela along the Portuguese Coastal Way in an authentic and engaging manner. See the adventure through Tom's original journal notes, countless pictures, comments and Jo's favourite parts of each day. A charming testimony of what pilgrimage can mean to a generation born into a materialistic and turbo-capitalist society.

Leseprobe

TomWeber& Jo Risch

¡Ultreya! -We‘ll be fine!

Two friends on theirCamino to Santiago

Bibliografische Information derDeutschen Nationalbibliothek

Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in derDeutschen

Nationalbibliografie; detaillierte bibliografische Daten sind im Internet überhttp://

dnb.d-nb.deabrufbar

Text,Lektorat,Buchsatz& CoverDesign: ©2019Tom Weber

Text: © 2019 Jo Risch

Coverfotos: © 2019 Philippe Bourhis

Herstellung undVerlag:

BoD - Books on Demand,Norderstedt

ISBN: 978-3-7494-4388-8

Wededicate this book to all ofthe

wonderful people we have met during

ourCamino.

Dorothy,Nora,Milena,Ricardo,

Alemaozinho,Chiara,Valentina,Alysen,

Caro,Abass,Pierre,Paul,Anthony,

Miguel,Viser and all ofyou whose names

we unfortunately didn‘t catch:

this one is foryou

1

TheWayof St.James is one of the most famous pilgrimages in the

Christianworld and yet,aswe havefound out,you can still surprise

people by deciding to walk it.Afteragreeing to go on this journeyto-

gether,the reactions of ourfriends and familieswere quite diverse to

saythe least.In fairness to them though,we haveto admit that even

both of us had trouble believing thiswas actually happening until we

landed in Porto.In the end (SpoilerAlert!) we did manage to reach

Santiago de Compostela and right nowyou are holding the testimony

of this journeyin yourhands.

What didweset out to do by walking the Camino? First of allweboth

had of course ourown personal reasons and motivations.It is safe

to saythat especiallyin ourtimes it should come as no surprise that

pilgrimages like the various Caminos to Santiago are rising in popula-

rityeach year.Itseems that humans do more than everbefore,but get

less and less out of it.There is awish to escape,a longing for somet-

hing that a lot of people feel even if theydon't talk about it very often.

Tothis day the title of German entertainer Hape Kerkeling's book

about his pilgrimage on the Camino Francés“I'moffthen“,through its

beautiful simplicity,connects with a lot of us living in today's society.

In ourcase we decided to add anotheraspect to our personal motiva-

tions by making charity a part of ouradventure.Through Instagram

& Facebookweinvited people to join us on ourwalk to Santiago,from

theveryfirst preparations right to the steps of the famous Cathedral.

Weset up a fund-raising page and throughout our 12 dayjourneyen-

couraged people to donate in support of the International Rescue

Foreword

Committee.The IRC helps refugees all around theworld and to us

it seemed like the obvious cause to support through a journey that

would make uswanderers in a spiritual sense.Seeing the support

coming in aswereached destination after destinationwas incredible

and to havebeen able to raise this much moneyforcharity through

ourpilgrimage still fills uswith humility & contentment to this day.

Finally a few words about this book:what is it supposed to be?As

mentioned earliermainly& simply a testimony of our pilgrimage to

Santiago.Tom'sjournal notes retell the journeyin an immediate and

raw style,describingbasic everydaylife on the Camino aswell as

attempting a metaphysical narrativeof this moving & thought provo-

kingwalk.Incombination with the countless pictures and little com-

ments here and there we hope that this book can convey maybe just a

tinyspark of the joyfull wildfire that this experience represented for

us.Ifyou are thinking about doing a pilgrimage yourselfwesincerely

invite you to do so.Don't think too much aboutwhich route and how

manykilometers in how many days,these are all of no importance.

There is no“right“or“wrong“way to do the Camino,there is simply

doing it ornot doing it at all.

Wewant to thank ourfriends & families fortheirsupport of our

project,fortheirdonations and their kindwords of encouragement.

Aheartfelt thankyou also goes to Dorothy,Nora,Milena,Ricardo &

Alemaozinho forall the moments of joy,laughter,pain & sweat that

wegot to share.Youwill alwaysremain ourpilgrim friends through

the memoryof this most peculiarjourney.

¡Ultreya y Suseya!

Tom & Jo

Tom & Jo‘s Camino forCharity2019

Travel Log

6

Herewe are.It is the daybefore ourdeparture to Porto and forthe

first time during this journey,I am trying to squeeze thiswhole ex-

perience inwords and sentences.Justyesterday wedid our“final

rehearsal“,22 km from Echternach to ourhometown Grevenmacher.

It went quite well,butas someone who has performed in playsbefore,

I know that you usually want the“final rehearsal“to go completely

pear-shaped.But hey,that‘s just superstition,right? In general,I do

believethatwedid a prettygood job preparing forthis trip.We plan-

ned it in Octoberof lastyear,booked the plane tickets and hotels in

Porto & Santiago in advance and read a ton of advice from formerpil-

grims.We bought ourbackpacks in January so thatwecould get used

to them fora few months and we went on regular hikes around our

hometown,slowly increasing the length and theweight of our back-

packs.We even spokewith ourlocal Dean about the spiritual aspect

of a pilgrimage.Nearly perfect preparation,right?

Well let‘s just say that I am well awareof the nature of a pilgrimage.

Itis verydifferent from going on a hike.Hikes are clean,professional

sports activities that are takenvery seriouslyby people who practice

them.Pilgrimages on the otherhand are raw,dirty and hityou from

anglesyou didn‘t even know existed before.All sorts of people go on

pilgrimages:young hippies,old Catholics,desperate Casanovas loo-

king fora quick shag in the confessional,couples who don‘t know that

they are going to file for divorce halfway through the Camino...

And of course,nowthere is us two.Who exactlyare these twoyuppies

seeking to reach Santiago de Compostela?

Tom‘s Journal, 18.06.2019

We really did everything we could to

prepare ourselves. But can you actually

really prepare yourself for a pilgrimage?

7

February 2019

First training hike

First Meeting!

#winterpilgrim

Our favourite bar definitely has our backs,

they even gifted us hats with their logo on

it to protect us from the sun!

This was actually a charity hike!

Really fitting for our project

8

JoRisch is 20years old and from Luxembourg.He enjoysall things

expensive,especially watches and clothes.Regularly he spends lu-

dicrous amounts of his moneyon material objects and uses them

to boast his status on social media.He is also awomanizerlikeyou

couldn't imagine and his thousands of loveadventures alone could fill

a series of books.Politically he leans conservativeand during argu-

ments has a habit of relying on provocation to get his points across.

On the otherhand,you haveme:TomWeber,22years old and also

from Luxembourg.I am a writerwho published his first book at the

age of 16.My interests besideswriting include spirituality in all sha-

pes and forms,languages and cultures aswell as the appreciation of

whisky,wine & Chinese style tea.I am also an introvertwho experien-

ced severeanxiety that ultimatelyled to a burnout last year.I lean left

from a political point ofviewand would describe myself as a critic of

capitalism aswell as a cosmopolitan.

Iwouldn‘t hold it against you ifyou questioned this partnership after

reading this short introduction.Believe me,a lot of people were very

surprisedwhenweannounced this project.However,in a weirdwayI

have this feeling that Jo is the only person that could possibly join me

on this pilgrimage right now.Regardless ofwhat happens in the fol-

lowing two weeks,I believethat we will get to know each other even

betterthan we alreadydo and who knows,maybewe‘ll even reach this

damned cityof Santiago.If nothing else it would definitelymake fora

good story and as awriterthatwould be a win in mybook.

Btw don't worry,I've shown this description to Jo

and he thinks it's very funny. Self-awareness is

one of his better qualities

Going the Camino de Santiago has been a

dream of mine for several years. It is a weird

feeling now that the moment has come, but I

am very excited at the same time.

9

Look, we even put ourselves

behind bars!

#joke (please don‘t sue us)

Onwards!

¡Buen Camino!

Are we really sure about

this? Whatever, we‘ll be fine!

10

Distance walked during training:

Wedidn‘t alwayskeep track,but about 100 km

Distance from Porto to Santiago:

About 260 km

What‘s next?

Catching ourflight to Porto!

What have we learned so far?

Weare just as surprised as prettymuch everyone else that this is

reallyhappening.

Jo & I have never been on holiday together.

Is it madness to take someone like him with

me on the Camino? Probably, but then again

most people already think I have at least

some degree of madness and as a writer I

have always considered this a compliment

11

Porto

On our way!

12

In terms of first daysI think wehad one of the best possible.The

flight to Portowent really well and at the airportwe were greeted by

the first friendlyface of this pilgrimage: Miguel,ourdriver.Hewas

supernice and told us a lot about the citythat he clearly holds dear

in his heart.Even during this first interaction,I began to understand

what people meant,when theytalk about the openness & friendliness

of the Portuguese people.Thiswould be proven to me again laterthat

evening,when we dined at“AEscola“restaurant.Our mainwaitress,

Sarah,was such a delight and immediatelyI felt a warmth towards

mysurroundings that I hadvery much missed these last couple of

years.Porto as a city