The Camino Cafe
The Camino Cafe
120 - Walking the Global Camino from Home: Leanne Prichard's Visionary Journey
Global Camino
Registration for Global Camino - FREE
https://facebook.com/events/s/way-to-st-james-global-camino-/1232047184820117/
Global and Tassie Camino Facebook Page
https://www.facebook.com/waytostjamescygnet/
Tasmanian Camino and Global Camion Website:
https://www.waytostjames.com.au/
What if you could walk the Camino from the comfort of your home? Join us on the Camino Cafe podcast as we welcome Leanne Prichard, the visionary behind the Tassie and Global Caminos. Leanne takes us through the genesis of the virtual Camino, born out of the necessity during the COVID pandemic, and how it has since evolved into a beacon of hope and connection for pilgrims worldwide. She shares her own transformative journey on the Camino Frances in 2018 and her heartfelt mission to give back to the global Camino community through these innovative events.
Explore the unique blend of local and global experiences that the Tasmanian Camino offers. With stories of pilgrims from diverse climates like Canada and Central Australia, the event showcases remarkable inclusivity. Hear about the extensive support provided to local participants, from accommodation and food to the transportation of camping gear. We also share touching anecdotes of emotional connections formed during the walks, including a 95-year-old participant who embodies the spirit of the Camino. The episode underscores the importance of fostering a sense of global community, peace, and solidarity through the shared experience of walking.
Finally, dive into the logistics and enriching experiences of the Tasmanian Camino, enhanced by live-streamed events that connect global participants. Enjoy musical performances, communal singing, and the symbolic carrying of an icon of St. James. Reflect on the transformative nature of the Camino, with personal stories of career changes and newfound appreciation for life's journey. This episode is a tribute to savoring each moment and embracing the full pilgrimage experience, inspiring gratitude and mindfulness in all who listen. Don't miss this chance to reconnect with the Camino spirit and be part of a global community of walkers.
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The Camino Cafe's intro and outro song with thanks to fellow Pilgrim, Jackson Maloney. Original Song - "Finnis Terre" - written and performed by Jackson Maloney - Singer, Musician, and Songwriter. Connect with Jackson: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3fdQsSqq9pDSwKcWlnBHKR
Hello pilgrims, Welcome to the Camino Cafe podcast. I'm Leigh Brunnen, your host. Today's featured guest is Leanne Pritchard, one of the key organizers of the Tassie and Global Caminos. In this episode, you will hear a brief introduction from Johnny Walker and myself inviting you and all pilgrims across the globe to walk with us on January 11th and 12th. Then you'll get to meet Leanne as we chat more in depth about how these two Caminos started and her very own Camino on the Frances in 2018. Leanne is just a pure delight and I admire so much how she is giving back to the Camino community via this global Camino. Well, let's get to it. We have a big announcement.
Speaker 1:Our friends in Tasmania a way down there in the Antipodes, invented a way of St James which hundreds of people walk every year At the pandemic. They invented also a global pilgrimage to engage pilgrims from every corner of the world. We'll give you details of how to register and on the 11th of January we all go out walking wherever we are and we share photographs and our experience and the fun of that with each other across the world.
Speaker 2:I'm going to be walking that day. John's going to be walking, yeah.
Speaker 1:I'll be in the south of Spain, on the Costa del Sol, but I guarantee I will start walking from the Church of Santiago in the city of Malaga.
Speaker 2:Here is Leanne Pritchard. She lives in Tasmania and she is the main organizer, so she has a few more words to say about it. So, leanne, you have a huge global event coming up in January. You've done it before, but we're hoping to help you grow it, so can you tell us a little bit about what this big event is in January?
Speaker 3:Okay, leanne, thank you for asking and thank you for your interest we have in January. On the 11th and 12th of January, we'll be hosting our fifth global Camino as a part of our Waiter St James Signet Tasmanian Camino. So how this global Camino first came about during COVID, when we couldn't host our Tasmanian Camino, and so I came up with the idea to link to our Facebook page to have an event for people all over the world to walk where they live. And because it was during COVID, a lot of people only had a five-kilometre radius to walk and so they just walked where they were and shared photos to our Facebook event. And since that first year in 2021, it's grown and developed and we now have the event coming up on the 11th and 12th of January next year, and we would love lots of people from all over the world to be involved. And I know that, with your help and with Johnny Walker's help, you're going to make this the biggest year we've ever had, with pilgrims uniting from all over the world.
Speaker 2:Well, we sure hope so. So what made you start this event in the first place?
Speaker 3:Well, part of it was due to COVID and I wanted to do something an online event to keep our Waitus and James signet Tasmanian Camino out there. But also I had such a great experience of the Camino Frances in 2018 that I wanted to do something to give back to the Camino and, I suppose, also just the opportunity to connect with pilgrims, because when you're in all the way down in Tasmania, at the bottom of Australia, at the bottom end of the world, you feel a long way from the Camino.
Speaker 3:So by creating this global event I actually first of all I got my pilgrim friends that I met on the Frances to join me and walk where they live for the first one and they helped me promote the first one. But also it just for me, it kept the Camino spirit alive and it seems from the feedback from Global Pilgrims it keeps it alive for them. So it was just an idea that came up out of the blue and it seems to have grown and developed. And for me I see amazing people like you, lee, who do so much for the Camino. It's my kind of little contribution to give back for all that um I've received and all that they've given me.
Speaker 2:I love hearing that, leanne, because I think that's one of the things that I really want to promote with everyone that's walked the Camino as a veteran pilgrim. I think we have such an opportunity to give back to this's walked the Camino as a veteran pilgrim. I think we have such an opportunity to give back to this community within the Camino as well as beyond the Camino. So I think what you're doing is fantastic and this just came to you out of the blue. So this, so it was during COVID and you just had this idea.
Speaker 3:Yeah, because we have a committee that runs this two-day Tasmanian Camino in Australia and our committee was busy and we were organising it and then COVID hit, and normally on these two days in January I'm walking the Tassie Camino and I thought, well, what can I do? Partly to keep myself busy but also to have that Camino spirit still happening, and we couldn't walk in person together in Tasmania. So I thought, let's just see, and I really just put it out there. I became a member of so many Camino groups and just that's how I promoted it. I just shared it away and I'm grateful to all those groups, many of whom probably listen to your podcast. I'm grateful to all the admins who let me promote it, because without them we wouldn't have got the message out.
Speaker 2:That's right, and I love seeing that camaraderie within the Facebook community, where we're all sharing all these great things that are going on. So I love to hear that. So now registration opens September 1st and people can just go right on the website. For people that are walking globally, it is free to register. For somebody that's walking in person, there's, of course, a fee because of the accommodations and whatnot that are going on, right can?
Speaker 3:you tell us a little bit more about that so for our Tasmanian Camino we actually it's only run on the two days in January because we actually have some road closures we also walk across people's farms and in fact we walk to a church of St James in a little town of Signet that's built in a Spanish style. So the origins of our Tassie one came from a priest that was posted down to that little church at the end probably one of the southernmost churches in the world and he saw that the neighbouring area looked a lot like the fields of Spain and we do pass vineyards and we pass the lovely fields that have the hay bales and it brings back so many memories for me of the Frances. So what has to happen in order for us to close roads, to actually provide a doctor and an ambulance? Because it's an organised Camino, we kind of look after our pilgrims. We even supply portaloos which, having been on the Camino, I know it's very hard to find toilets.
Speaker 2:Yes, it is.
Speaker 3:We actually provide toilets for the pilgrims. They also get a locally produced Tasmanian dinner on the first night and then breakfast the next morning. We also have to pay fees to police for infrastructure and things. So it only costs $120, but that covers all of those things. And it's important to let local pilgrims who want to come to Tassie know that, because sometimes I get feedback on the Facebook page saying oh well, if you want to do the Camino in Spain, it's free, but it isn't, because you pay for accommodation and food, whereas that's all kind of included. You can camp. We actually spend a night at a church and you can bring your own tent and camp nearby, and we even supply transport for all your camping gear so you don't have to carry everything with you.
Speaker 2:Wow, well, that sounds really reasonable for everything that you're doing. Wow, okay, but now for the global pilgrims that are joining in from their own location there's no fee to register for that. No, not at all.
Speaker 3:It's a free event and the way you register is simply to sign up to the Facebook event. That will be posted on our Waiter, st James Signet Facebook page. So you really just sign up, and we encourage people in the lead up in the discussion section to introduce themselves and tell us where they're going to be walking and then over those couple of days they post to that event. So there's no fee.
Speaker 3:Up until now I've been the main administrator, so what that means is for the last two years we've had the Tasmanian Camino running concurrently with the global, and so I post photos of the Tasmanian pilgrimage as we go, and we also have a couple of live crosses so our global community can watch our opening ceremony for our Tasmanian Camino and our closing ceremony, which includes a little Botafamero we have incense swinging, all of those things. So up until now I've been the only admin and I approve all the posts, which is getting tricky now because I will walk 16, 18 kilometers day one and while all the other pilgrims are relaxing, I'm busy in my tent approving all the other posts. So I'm hoping to get some help with a few people from around the world to help me with that admin of that this year Wonderful.
Speaker 2:So now in January you're starting your summer. The weather is getting a little better by January, yeah, so in many parts of the world we're starting your summer. The weather is getting a little better by January, yeah, so in many parts of the world we will be experiencing winter. So if people they can walk at a mall, they can walk on their treadmill, they can go out and brave the cold. You mentioned that you've actually had somebody, I think, in Canada that has walked in really extreme cold. Is that right?
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's right. There's a lovely man who's walked with his son. His name's Robert. He's about to come on for his third global Camino and he's walked in minus 36 degrees and posted videos of him with icicles on his beard. Yeah, so it is.
Speaker 3:It is a a time of extremes, because we have some people walking in places like South Africa and even in Central Australia where it's 40 degrees plus, and then we have very brave pilgrims in places like Canada and Iceland who are walking in extreme cold, and we always tell people to be safe when they walk extreme cold, and we always tell people to be safe when they walk. I think last year there were some pretty bad storms in America on that weekend, so some people chose to, yes, either just walk shorter distances closer to home, or they can go on a treadmill. We have lots of people walk with their pets and share photos of them walking with their pets, which is lovely, and the extremes in weather also make for some amazing photos that are shared to the event page yeah, well, you've had really young folks walking as well as people who are much older, even someone you mentioned to me that walked partially with a walker so there was a man I think his name is Michael, not young, he was probably 50 or 60.
Speaker 3:But he actually his mum really wanted to participate and she was 95. And she walked 500 metres, half a kilometre, in her walker, and she actually got her son to write that she was praying for everybody and thinking of everybody on the Camino, and she was a big hit amongst all the other pilgrims Lots of lovely comments, and they just loved seeing her doing that, and that's the thing about this global Camino. We see so many amazing things. I had two years ago. We had some people walking in Memphis dressed as Elvis, which I thought was pretty cool.
Speaker 3:The other thing that we invite pilgrims to do is to walk to a Church of St James, if they have one in their area, and, if so, to take photos of those churches. So we've had lots of people walk to different St James churches, which is fantastic. That's just. We try and make as many connections to the actual Camino as possible, so we invite people to also choose a scallop shell to put on their backpack as they're walking and, yeah, and to bring a pebble, if they want to as well, and leave it somewhere as a part of their weekend.
Speaker 2:Wonderful. So it sounds like it doesn't matter where you walk, how you walk. It's a matter of just being a part of this big community and walking in solidarity yeah.
Speaker 3:Definitely it's all about walking in peace and solidarity and in 2023, we actually had people walking in Ukraine with us, which is when the war had started, and that kind of brought home that importance of uniting across the world for peace and solidarity. I made a friend online called Oleg, who lives in Lviv, and he actually shared his story with our Australian media and he was a very big part of that Camino. On that Camino, I actually made myself a Ukrainian flag and walked in Tasmania to show our solidarity with the people of Ukraine. So, yeah, there's so many stories of the different pilgrims and what the gift for me is is I've made many um Camino pilgrim friends through the global, as if I've been walking with them, um uh, towards Santiago oh, that is beautiful.
Speaker 2:Now, leanne, we just met today I'm. Was there something in your background that are you used to doing this kind of event, or you know how? It seems like a really huge undertaking. So I know that we'll probably have pilgrims listening that are thinking could I do something like that? So tell me a little bit about what was life like for you. What's your job, what kinds of things do you do that have made you be able to pull something like this off?
Speaker 3:Okay, well, I suppose it takes me back to why I was interested in the Camino in the first place. So when I was actually, I was actually in Jerusalem on pilgrimage in 2012. As a part of my work, I'm a teacher and educator through Catholic education here in Tasmania and I had the great privilege of going to spend a month in the old city and one Sunday evening we had a video night and they showed the way and from that moment, I thought, well, this is interesting, I would like to do this, and I also then read a book by my favorite author, paulo Coelho. I read the pilgrimage and then, as you know, with all Camino things, things just started to happen. And then in 2016, I heard there was this two-day Tassie pilgrimage and I thought I'm going to go on as a pilgrim to as a part of my training, because I ended up doing I had planned to do the Camino Frances in 2018, because we're very fortunate in Australia that we get a thing called long service leave, so after you walk at work in a place for 10 years, you get three months paid leave. So I was actually got paid to go on the Camino, which is cool. So I was waiting for 2018 and I heard about this Tassie Camino. So the first one I went on. I went on as a pilgrim in training for the Camino and I loved that so much that I joined the committee after I did the first one.
Speaker 3:So I've been involved in that and I think there's been a bit of confidence building in that in creating the physical event. I think bit of confidence building in that, in creating the physical event. I think the physical event that we do in Tasmania has a lot more preparation and hard work in it than just setting up a Facebook event and and promoting it. I think that's the easy. That was a much easier bit for me, I I think, but I've had no other social media experience other than my own Facebook. I've just created a new Instagram page for Our Way to St James and I'm still trying to get my head around that. Yeah, so I just you know I've learned a lot along the journey and it's fun though, though it's really good, I love it.
Speaker 2:So you walked your first Camino in Spain in 2018 and then went back and you did the Tassie. Or did you do the Tassie first and then walk in Spain?
Speaker 3:I did two Tassie ones in the end 2016 and 2017. And then I well, I'm probably three, because I did the 2018 and then I went and walked the Francaise. So I walked from Saint-Jean to Santiago. I wanted to get to Finisterre but I ran out of time and my husband and son came all the way over from Tassie to meet me in Santiago. So I ran out of time, but that's okay, I'll do that next time. I was actually meant to have just completed the Portuguese. I was in Italy, in my village where my mum and dad were born and grew up, and while I was there, my mum actually passed away, so I had to fly home. That's okay, I had to fly home. This was about okay, I had to fly home. This was about five weeks ago. So, instead of doing the Portuguese, my pilgrimage, my Camino this time, was to make the journey home to farewell my mum.
Speaker 3:But I think she knew it was too hot in Portugal at the moment, but I wasn't fit enough. So that Camino will wait until next year, but I'm very keen to actually get to do another one overseas Wonderful.
Speaker 2:I. So I'm wondering how the Tassie Camino. So you did that three times before you came here to walk in Spain. How did that prepare you?
Speaker 3:uh, it in fact it kind of worked the other way, because I, we, we do have um for our tassie camino. We have try and make it connected to the um real camino. It's in the spirit of el camino de santiago. That's what um father michael, who created our Tassie Camino, says. So we do have the pilgrim passport and we've even got four special stamps made for four places that we visit, and we do have the scallop shell.
Speaker 3:I think probably the main thing that the Tassie Camino showed me was how, even over a couple of days walking with others, you can create a sense of community and you can have your little um Camino family. So the first time we did the Tasmanian, when we had 180 people walking, and just last year we had 160, we sold out actually. But when I went to do the Francaise I came back and I said, hang on a minute, we need yellow arrows. So first year the yellow arrows were handmade just with pieces of wood from my garden that I painted yellow. Now we've got a little bit more high tech and because we only run the event over two days, we have to go and put all the arrows up before. But they've been a real hit because we now get people who have walked the real Camino and they come back and they say we love the arrows.
Speaker 3:I also suggested that we should have sangria on the Saturday evening on offer. Love it. It's taken me four or five years, but we had sangria this January in Tassieie. I'm very happy, so it kind of worked a little bit both ways and what will be new this year for the event.
Speaker 2:What will some? If people have walked it in the past and they're coming back, will anything look different? Uh?
Speaker 3:yeah, different things happen each year. So this january we had a very special guest on our Tasmanian Camino and that was the one and only Bill Bennett. Oh yeah, hey, bill, jennifer Bill, who is the filmmaker of the wonderful new film my Way the Way. Big plug for that. So I actually heard from another friend of mine, jose, who I was telling you about, another friend of mine, jose, who I was telling you about from, who lives in Pamplona, who I've met through the Global Camino he runs El Camino People. He messaged me and he said, leanne, there's someone that you need to get on your Tasmanian Camino. He lives in Australia, he and his wife want to come, but it's sold out. And so I rang Jose and said tell me a bit more about this person.
Speaker 3:and he said you need him to be on the Camino. So Bill Bennett and his wife Jennifer. I made room for him and on the Saturday afternoon we always have some sort of pilgrim entertainment or a talk. So some years we have people who've done different Caminos to share and I interview them. And this year, yeah, and this year we had the opportunity for Bill to show the trailer of the film and for me to do a Q&A with him and Jen about the film. So this is January, before it was actually officially launched, wow.
Speaker 2:That one's going to be a tough one to talk how you're going to beat that. I've got some ideas, but I don't want to spill any beans.
Speaker 3:Yes, well, I think we might be trying to do some live crosses to some people in different parts of the world um who are participating in the global.
Speaker 3:So I think that might be part of what we might do, but we do try to mix it up a little bit each year.
Speaker 3:The other thing we do is we have um. When we walk into Signet in Tasmania, we actually walk into a folk festival and there's music playing and we actually meet up with a band and the day before, on the Saturday afternoon, we have a choral master come and teach us a special pilgrim song, so that when we arrive in the city, we actually we carry this huge icon of St James, which is really huge. It was made by some university students. We carry this icon through the city, we have the band playing, we sing our pilgrim song and then when we get to the church, there's normally someone singing um something in Spanish, and one year we had someone sing this amazing lament that had us all in tears. And then we go into the church and have a little ritual with the Batu Fumero. So there's plenty of exciting things for Tassie people and what's great for the global people is all those key things are live streamed to our Facebook page, so our global pilgrims can feel a part of what's going on in Tasmania.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's wonderful. I want you to plan my next Camino. You sound like you're really you're planning a fun Camino.
Speaker 3:You're coming to do the Tasmanian one. The other thing that we do do is on the Saturday evening after dinner. We have a couple of regulars One of them sometimes is my son to play some music. He gets drawn into it. But we've started inviting pilgrims to play a couple of songs or sing a few songs, and that is beautiful. So pilgrims bring their instruments and play music. Everyone else sits with their sangria or wine and enjoys just a community spirit on the Saturday evening, after we've walked all day.
Speaker 2:Okay. So, leanne, I am going to have a link for the Facebook page and that is where the registration link will be posted as soon as it goes live on September 1st. So if somebody wants to register, join the Facebook group. You'll see the link in the show notes and get ready. The link will be shared shortly, on September 1st that's right around the corner, and you also have a website page. I'll have that link in the show notes as well, in case somebody's not on Facebook. Leanne, you are, your personality is just. You're just full of vitality and just just. I love your energy and I just wonder, you know, how is the Leanne different from that first Camino? Let's say, the Tassie went on 2016 and then 2018, you come to Spain and walk a Camino. Have there been any shifts in your life or changes in you after you walk the Camino?
Speaker 3:No, well, the first thing that happened to me was I actually changed jobs when I got back and I don't know if that's a common thing after the Camino, I hear it is. So I actually had been in a job for a long time at a particular school and things had changed. So before I went on the Camino, I plucked up the courage to go and ask someone for another job and told them I was going on the Camino and they said when you come back we'll talk. And when I came back, I actually got my new job, which I'm still in now. So that was part of it.
Speaker 3:I think I value. I have a lot more gratitude, I think, for so many things. I think the Camino taught me lots of lessons. I'm very lucky that, as a part of my job, I get to share my Camino story with lots of students. In fact, tomorrow I'm sharing it with some 15 year old girls. They're looking at pilgrimage as a part of a reflection day, so I get to go and share my Camino story there and I get to share with them some of the lessons I learned about being grateful, my actual one of my hashtags for my Instagram, and I'm known as the purple pilgrim because I love purple, excellent.
Speaker 3:One of my key messages was the journey is the destination destination.
Speaker 3:And I distinctly remember after the first week or so on the Camino, where I was always focused on, I'd get John Briley beautiful John Briley's book out every break and I'd look and I'd say, okay, so I've only got three more hours to go, I'm going to arrive at my hostel in my Albuquerque at this time and then after about a week, I realized that, you know, I was missing the journey and I think that's been a big part of the change for me in my life.
Speaker 3:It's about enjoying the journey and how we often just look to the future. I can't wait until this is going to happen and this is happening now and we need to appreciate that happen. And, um, this is happening now and we need to appreciate that. Uh, and now I actually had, I kept a blog and I actually had 38 camino wisdoms for everyday life, because every day there was something from the camino that would teach me about life and I get to share a few of those with the students. One of the other ones is don't take uh, it's called don't take the bus and I tell the students how so many uh pilgrims and it's in their defense.
Speaker 3:In Europe they don't get the time off that we get, and so they hear that the meseta is boring. And it probably looks a bit boring for Europeans because they're used to mountains, but in Australia we have the desert and the desert is so beautiful and the meseta reminded me so much of that. So I talked to the kids about how some people take the bus and I also tell them, you know, through the meseta, and I also tell them that if I had taken the bus I would have missed meeting Dave from the Oasis of the Gods I don't know if you know David and he taught me that most important lesson. He was the only place where you could get food and drink and he didn't have a donation tin. And I asked him about that. I said you know, everywhere else you have a donation tin. Why don't you have one? And Dave said it's because I believe in our world today we've lost the art of giving for giving sake, so giving has become a transaction.
Speaker 3:And so I tell the kids that that was one of my biggest lessons on the Camino and if I'd taken the bus I would have missed that key message. And so I talk to them about how in our lives, we can always wish away the boring bits of our life. But we can't do that. What we have to do is find the extraordinary moments in the ordinariness of our day, and so they're just a couple of the messages, and I'm so privileged in my job that I get to live and share my Camino journey with so many people. There's one school I do 16 presentations to all their year 11 cohort that are studying pilgrimage, and that's a real gift for me to be able to. Not many people get that opportunity to share their Camino so often, and I get to do that often and hopefully inspire young people to one day walk the Camino themselves.
Speaker 2:Oh, there's no doubt in my mind that you are inspiring them and I think so many people, after hearing this, are going to be joining the global community that will be walking right alongside all of you down in Tasmania. Congratulations. This has just been wonderful hearing about this and meeting you today. Thank you for sharing, and I hope you can come back to the Camino Cafe and talk about all things Camino next time Wonderful.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much, and it's been a real privilege for me to meet you too, Leigh, and thank you for all that you do to share the Camino spirit across the world and I'm so excited that you're able to. I'm very grateful that you're do to share the Camino spirit across the world and I'm so excited that you're able to. I'm very grateful that you're able to share about our global Camino and, let's you know, get people all over the world. I'd love to have thousands of people walking in peace and solidarity in January.
Speaker 2:Oh, I agree, and thank you, that's so kind to say. Okay, so everyone, January 11th and 12th. We are calling on all pilgrims whether you have walked 10 Caminos already or you haven't walked one yet, make this one your first one. We're joining this global community. Become a part of it. Let's all get together and support what Leanne has started. I can't wait to see you on the 11th and the 12th of January. It's going to be fun.
Speaker 3:It's going to be awesome and I can't wait to walk with you.
Speaker 2:Lee, wherever you will be. Well, that's our show for today. Be sure to follow the Tassie Camino Facebook page to get the link to register for either the in-person or the global walk on January 11th and 12th. The link is in the show notes. We can't wait to see your photos from your corner of the world that weekend. Hey, thanks for listening and we will see you soon, pilgrims, thank you.