I landed back in Australia several hours ago to a comment posted on the blog, under the Coincidences? post, which some of you might have missed –

It was signed by someone calling himself, or herself, Satan – with an email address of 666@hotmail.com. The IP address led me to a server which is anonymous.

Here is what “Satan” had to say –

Hello Bill,

I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate you on this splendid job you’re doing on behalf of me. To see you rape the spirit of the Camino is a great joy for me. You’re even succeeding in turning true pilgrims into ordinary tourist. Ha, just loving to see you destroying those innocent souls.

But the public ‘execution’ of Sister Simon Clare has been your greatest feat to date. Your destruction of this vulnerable catholic nun warrants an upgrade to your future seat in hell.

Keep up the good work Bill!

Yours sincerely,
Satan

You might have seen my reply – and Steve’s reply – calling this Satan a gutless coward for making criticisms without revealing his or her true identity.

I am quite happy to have a dignified debate with this person on the issues he or she has raised, but I won’t do so with someone who hides cravenly behind anonymity.

Mind, you, I don’t know that a dignified debate with this person would be possible. He or she doesn’t seem to be particularly bright.

So ‘Satan” – if you want to step outside and have a real fight, then have the balls to identity yourself.

Come out from your creepy hidey-hole under your slimy rock into the full sunlight of transparency and accountability, and let’s go toe to toe baby…

Bill

Drove about 6hrs the other day and ended up in a small town near Munich called Dinkelsbuhl.

Dinkelsbuhl is on the famous Romantic Road, and is a picture postcard historic town, restored like a Disneyland theme park.

Even at this time of the yesr, it’s notoriously difficult to find a parking spot in these towns, especially when you arrive late in the afternoon as I did.

My GPS – yes, GPS – led me straight to the hotel in the main street, and surprisingly in a town jammed packed without a free parking spot anywhere, there was an empty parking space virtually right outside the entrance to the hotel – about fifty meters down, outside some shops.

“They kept it free for you,” my wife said.

I didmt know what she meant.

She pointed out her side of the car window, to the shop I’d parked out front of.

It was a clothing store – and on the glass panelling of the front door to the shop was a sign. It said PILGRIM. It must be a clothing or footwear brand.

But they kept the space free for me…

(photo to come)

Today Jennifer and I begin our long trip home.

We are driving from Munich back to Frankfurt, overnighting just outside of the city, then tomorrow morning we do the 34hr haul back to Mudgee, via Abu Dhabi then Sydney.

Hopefully I can access the internet from time to time and respond to comments.

Back to summer in Australia, and The Ashes – the epic cricket game between Australia and England. Five games, each of five days duration.

Cant wait!

Here are some shots taken on recent travels to north Portugal, Galicia in Spain, and Bavaria in Germany –

I have had very intermittent internet access since leaving Spain and Portugal. This was meant to be posted quite a while ago…

*****

This is an overview of a week spent driving from Porto through to Santiago de Compostela – following the northern section of the Camino Portuguese.

Our trip was to scout a tour we’ll be leading next April. Our purpose was to find suitable hotels, begin to negotiate rates, find wonderful restaurants and cafes – and generally try to get a sense of what it will be like to walk the pilgrimage route.

At first I tried to follow all the yellow arrows in the car, but I found it just wasn’t possible when the Camino went off road and down trails.

Here are the things I found from the scout:

• The route is beautiful, at first following the coast, then veering inland into some truly spectacular countryside.
• Whilst it’s not as difficult as the Camino Frances, it’s still a tough walk. There are a few steep sections that will require serious fitness.
• There are some magnificent churches and Cathedrals along the way – including some ancient Roman Churches.
• The food is glorious. More on that later…
• The Portuguese people are friendly, very helpful, and many understand English.
• The Camino Portuguese is not nearly as crowded as the Camino Frances. In mid November, I did not see one pilgrim walking in Portugal. The Way seemed empty.

Our journey started, as per the Brierely Guide, on a metro train heading out of the Porto City Centre to the outer suburb of Matosinhos. It’s by the port, where the fisherman land their daily catches, and it has the best fish restaurants in all of Porto.

My wife and I followed the very first yellow arrow out of the port area and then along the coast, by a huge lighthouse – heading up to Vila do Condes, about 20kms to the north.

The town’s market was in full swing when we arrived, and we wandered through, before finding out way down to the river.

A tendril of smoke caught my attention and as I walked closer I saw a man grilling pork ribs on a barbecue outside a restaurant. It was lunch, so Jennifer and I went inside and ordered… yes, the grilled ribs. They were truly delicious.

The next day we went through to Barcelos – famous for its chickens, and arguably the home of the world renown Portuguese Grilled Chicken. We now know the best place in town to have this local delicacy.

Nearby is Braga and Bom Jesus, which is just out of the town. We didn’t go there this trip – we’d been there earlier this year, and it’s very apparent why it’s the most popular tourist destination in all of Portugal.

The church, on a hill overlooking Braga, sits atop a series of ornate switchbacks., with little chapels at each end. Magnificent.

The next main spot for us to stop was Ponte de Lima – some say the jewel in the Camino Portuguese crown. It’s a gorgeous little picturesque town with a large Roman Bridge leading north.

We headed further north, through Valenca which is on the Portuguese / Spanish border, then crossed over into Spain and spent the night at the Parador in Tui – which looks across the river at Valenca.

The Parador was a big mistake. It’s a fair way out of town, expensive for what you get, and the service is ho-hum. We found better hotels in the Tui township, close to the magnificent Cathedral high on a ridge overlooking the town.

We were now in Spain – back on Spanish time (Portugal is one hour behind) – and back on Spanish food!

We made our way to Pontevedra – a large town with a very beautiful historic centre. The Camino cuts all the way through it, and crosses a bridge to the north. My wife and I followed the yellow arrows which finally led us out of town.

From Pontevedra we made our way to Caldas de Reis – a very old and elegant spa town with hotels that date back several centuries.

From there we went through to Santiago where we booked into the Costa Vella hotel. I went immediately to the Cathedral, but was disappointed to see that the front facade was covered in scaffolding. Obviously it was undergoing a facelift during the winter months.

I made my way inside, and sat in the pews and remembered the last time I sat there – having just finished the Camino Frances.

Later I met up with Ivar, who runs the Camino Forum – we had a great chat – lovely guy.

Scouting the Camino Portuguese as I’d done only made me more aware of how pilgrims  for centuries have made the pilgrimage from all over Europe – Portugal, Italy, Germany, even as far away as Russia -, forging their own “Ways” to come to this very special place – Santiago de Compostela.

I am now trying to catch up on a bunch of posts relating to the last week, and my travels with my wife through Portugal following the Camino Portuguese.

However i thought I would just post this first – something strange which happened yesterday.

Cue the Twilight Zone theme…

We’d flown out of Porto to Frankfurt, where I picked up a rental car and drove about 75kms to a small town on the Rhine River, called Rudesheim. It was dark when we got in, and after a dinner of local food in a small restaurant we strolled around the town.

It was cold, and you could feel that soon, in the next few weeks possibly, snow would fall.

Even in the darkness we could see that the town was beautiful – dominated by a huge and ancient church with what looked to be a Russian shaped spire. I felt pulled to this church, for some reason, and wanted to go in, but it was closed.

The next morning, after a breakfast of beautifully baked German breads and MilchKaffee, we made our way back to the church. Again it looked closed, but I leaned on the heavy metal door and it opened.

Inside it was sparse, unlike some of the more ornate Spanish and Portuguese churches I’d been in lately. The church had been built in the 12th century, but had been bombed during the second world war, and rebuilt. But it still contained some of its original relics.

I sat in the pews at the back, and couldn’t understand what had so compelled me to come here, to this town, to this church.

As I sat there, the church bells peeled 11 o’clock. I closed my eyes and meditated, and allowed these soft mantric sounds to seep into my being. I cannot describe the feeling.

i walked outside and something caught my eye – something on the wall outside.

A Camino symbol!

It was a Church of St. James, and as it turned out it was on a Camino from Frankfurt, part of the German Jakobswege, connecting through to Reims, Paris, and then down through Tours.

How is it that when I was trying to figure out an itinerary through Bavaria, my PGS led me to this town on the German Camino, and to this church.

I don’t understand it.

Pilgrims in times past would use various means to traverse the Camino. Most would walk, but some would ride horses, some would ride in carts and palanquins, some would ride donkeys. They would reach Santiago and they would receive their Compostela.

So in these modern times, why not do the Camino in a car?

I have just driven the Portuguese Camino from Porto to Santiago in a Peugeot 208CC Coupe. So why can’t I get a Compostela?

The Peugeot looks like a donkey. And it acts like one too – but that could be just be me having difficulties with the stick shift.

It’s an interesting dilemma.

Bikes are okay – but motor bikes aren’t. It’s okay to catch a train or bus for certain sections, but you can’t drive a car.

It seems like drivers are being discriminated against. Which must prompt the question – is that in the spirit of the “true pilgrim?”

There have been endless discussions here and elsewhere as to what constitutes a true pilgrim. I think we can all acknowledge that it really doesn’t matter whether you’ve carried your backpack all the way, or stayed in a Parador, or whether you’ve jumped a train between Burgos and Leon – it’s what’s in the heart that determines whether you’re a true pilgrim.

My heart, while I’m driving, is pure pilgrim. Believe me.

Especially when it’s pouring with rain.

Turning on the windscreen wipers beats donning a poncho, I’ll tell you that for free. Also, when it gets really cold, I turn on the heater. Fogs the windscreen sometimes, but who said being a pilgrim was easy?

There are exceptions to my pilgrim spirit while I’m driving. Tailgaters on the Autopistas, for instance – I’m not immune to yelling at them to f- off. And then of course I immediately regret it, realising I’ve momentarily lost touch with my inner pilgrim.

And when those pesky walkers with the backpacks and stupid walking sticks spill out onto the road, acting as if they own it, I have been known to blast them on my horn.

It delights me when they jump and curse me. It’s not very pilgrim-like to curse someone, buddy – I think to myself, grinning, as I whizz past.

And if I see a group of pilgrims up ahead walking on the road – my road – beside a puddle, I have been known to veer the car over a little bit and drench them all.

If you become a driving pilgrim you can have fun like me, I think to myself as I gleefully watch them in my rearview mirror as I speed away.

Being a driving pilgrim though is not all fun, let me tell you. You can develop very bad sores on your butt from sitting for long periods of time. And you can develop RSI from using the indicator too much.

Then there’s the road glare. Horrible. I know one of the big questions for the walking pilgrim is whether to wear boots or shoes. The big question for the driving pilgrim is whether to use polaroid on non-polaroid sunglasses.

It’s an important decision and one that you shouldn’t take lightly.

I would suggest, before you undertake a driving pilgrimage, you try out both types of sunglasses on a training drive. Only then can you make a fully informed decision.

I’m thinking I should publish my own Brierley guide – The Way of St.James, by car. I’d detail the practical route, by Autopista – and the mystical route, by secondary roads.

I’d include those hotels that have free parking, and the gas stations where they wash your windshield. I would explain how the tollways work, which lane to choose as you approach the booths, and where the speed cameras are.

I would also make a list of the historical buildings and churches that you can see from the road as you drive past.

If you’re a driving pilgrim, the choice of rental vehicle is critical.

A BMW or Audi is not cool for a driving pilgrim. You need to choose something a little more… ascetic. Something a little more boring, like a Ford Fiesta, or an Opel.

It should have no more than a 1.6L engine, and of course it has to be diesel, and preferably a stick shift. No automatics for the “true” driving pilgrim. And if you really want to be deemed a true driving pilgrim, then Air Con is a no-no.

Also, a true driving pilgrim would never be seen in a convertible, or dare I say it, a coupe. Or indeed anything with a sunroof.

A true driving pilgrim has to do it tough.

As for how long should you take? From St. Jean Pied de Port to Santiago, you could do it in two days, tops. That’s hammering it. Deal with the speed fines later.

This would though include stopping to check out a few Cathedrals along the way.

You are, after all, on a pilgrimage.

I won’t post further on the Sister Clare episode.

I’ve had enough – as I’m sure most of you have too.

I have made a public offer for Sister Clare to do a guest post – her right of reply. I have also sent her a private email informing her of the same.

I have told her privately, as I’ve stated publicly, that whatever she wants me to run, I will run – without any changes or editing. And irrespective of whether I believe it to be true or not.

If she chooses to do that, then I will consider this whole sad and sorry saga over. If she chooses not to respond, then it’s over too.

As I said in a previous comment, there are no winners in all this. Only lessons to be learnt.

Bill

Sister Clare had presented me with two guest posts, both of which I had refused to publish. Apart from anything else, I did not believe that Sister Clare should conduct herself on the blog as if nothing had happened.

I believed there had to be some kind of tacit acknowledgement, however oblique – and an attempt at atonement.

It irked me that it seemed like she wished to carry as per usual – when as far as I was concerned, there were now very serious questions about her credibility as a nun and as a counsellor and spiritual advisor.

Finally she wrote a confession – what I called a “so-called confession,” because I felt it still contained untruths.

The biggest untruth for me, and something which put into doubt everything which she had proffered as being true, was any reference to a weapon.

In her second email, she’d claimed that a gun had been produced. This to me elevated the whole incident to a much higher level. This was now a robbery at gunpoint. I don’t know the laws of Canada, but I would think that if a gun is produced in a robbery, then it’s considered a more serious crime, and it would attract harsher penalties.

Similarly, if a nun tells me that a gun is produced when she’s robbed of $700 for her rent and heating, then I would regard it more seriously. And I did.

However, Sister Clare was quick to point out that it was raining, there were no witnesses, and so I just have her word, her testimony, that: a) she was robbed, and b) a gun was produced.

I had since proven that her word was not to be trusted. This is why I dismissed her “so-called confession.” I didn’t believe it.

If she’d told me that she’d been panhandled by an old friend, and she’d stupidly fallen for the guy’s story, I would believe that. If she’d told me she’d left the money in a bag in a coffee shop, I would have believed that.

But there were still some inconsistencies in her original story.

She had set up various auto-withdrawals at her bank for periodic payments. Why not the rent? It comes out regularly. It’s presumably a fixed amount. Why would she withdraw rent in cash? Even if she didn’t have an auto-withdrawal in place for her rent, why not electronically transfer the funds?

Rent and heating are two very emotive words.

Had she mentioned these two words specifically to provoke the greatest possible reaction in me? That because she was robbed at gunpoint of her rent and heating, she would then be kicked out of her house in the cold?

Again I come back to my belief that this was all an attempt to solicit funds from me. I might be horribly wrong here, and I might be doing Sister Clare a huge injustice, but that’s what I thought. And nothing Sister Clare has written since has made me change my mind. If anything, it’s only reinforced that belief.

So I sent her this email –

Bill

At this point, I felt it was important that certain people on the blog – key confidantes, if you like – were made aware of what had happened. I’d become aware that Sister Clare was contacting them separately by private email, and telling a version of events which I did not believe were true.

I sent an email to one person – and I won’t say who – and told that person in detail what had transpired with Sister Clare. I contacted this person specifically because he/she had been particularly involved in the Kit the Nun campaign, and I felt a very real sense of responsibility to those people who had already donated goods and pledged cash to Sister Clare.

I could not allow this to continue, knowing what I now knew about her, and given that I was now considering not taking her on the tour.

I asked this person to hold off sending goods, and not to wire cash to Sister Clare, until these issues were revolved. I used certain words and language in that email, and I suspect it was then forwarded to Sister Clare, because she used that same language in her email to others – which I wasn’t copied on, but which was forwarded to me.

This is all getting messy now, right?

Here’s what she sent to one person –

…I apologise profusely about the lie, try to explain i just wanted support or understanding, but he says he called police, newspaper etc all over Westport and no robbery was reported-so He wants nothing more to do with me, he’s going to call XXXXX and tell XXX not to send anymore camino things (but he had already done that), I can’t go back to the forum, or be a moderator, he closed my gmail account and I can’t go on Camino and he never wants to hear from me again.

Later he says he’s going to publish my email and his so everyone on the blog knows what I did. I say fine, because I want to fix this. Later again he says he won’t do it because that would be punishment and he can’t forgive me if he punishes me

later he says write a guest blog about anything you want, and I can go on Camino. I wrote about my retreat and get-“I gave you an opportunity to write a blog after all you put me through and this is what you do? Think deeply about what you want to say here”So I write about Rachels good thoughts on community. Nothing. I ask if he wants a blog about whtever I want, or something he wants-no reply.So I thought, if this is the end I at least want to thank everyone for benig so generous and kind, Bill too, of course. Sent it, still nothing and it appears he isn’t going to print that one either.

So because after I got robbed I didn’t file a police report, said I did, a lie-and then right away said it was a lie, he doesn’t want anything to do with me, and as far as the Camino goes, I don’t know where I stand.

I’ve cried every day for a week, and I still want to offer myself to that bus.

I don’t mind writing a confessional-but then I wondered i fB ill would think I was trying to garner symaphathy. And why wouldn’t he just ask for that? I have already volunteered to write one, from the very first, because I believe in accountability-and I was wrong.Should I just write one and see if he publishes it?

I wish he would just say what  he needs me to do-I am more than willing, and I’ve told him that, too. I’m lost here-and I really am grateful for your point of view.What would you do ?

I have included all spelling and grammatical errors, and haven’t corrected anything. This gives some indication of the distress she was under when writing this.

Sister Clare then sent this email out to a whole bunch of people. I wasn’t copied –

Hi
I am sending you this email about something I feel you should know.I have written a blog about how very grateful I am to each of you, but so far Bill refuses to publish it.I have been banned from the forum, where I am deeply concerned about the prayer requests. I can’t get any answers, so I don’t know what the plan for it is.Although Bill has said if I left the blog people would miss me, he is about to do that, because he says you should be protected from me.And although he has written that I can still go on Camino, I’m pretty sure that is also being withdrawn. And I so very badly wanted to show you how to do Centering Prayer!! I give you my word before God, the Most Holy Sacrament and Blessed Virgin Mary that everything written below is true. I love you each very much, and will always keep you in my prayers.
 
I want to tell you all about something awful that happened, the stupid and wrong way I handled it, and how doing that hurt Bill, someone I love and respect. I realise I’ll likely also lose the love and respect of many of you, but I will do anything to make things right with Bill, and that comes first.And I am working with my confessor and my spiritual advisor about what I did, and will be receiving their ongoing help.
　
About a week ago I was robbed. I was coming out of the bank with my rent and heat money, was approached by someone I knew, who walked me to my car, showed me the weapon at his waist, and then stole my money.I sat in the car thinking and praying for a long time. I decided I didn’t want this guy to be prosecuted for many reasons, most of them wrong, but I still think there’s a chance that when things get better for this individual, he will eventually return the money.

I was scared and shaken up and needed to talk to someone, just to get my head on straight and settle down. And I thought of Bill right away because I trust him and he’s always been there for me.I also knew Bill is a standup guy who respects process and responsible decisions, so I did a very stupid, wrong and evil thing.Because I wanted his support and sympathy, which was selfish and manipulative and I still can’t believe I did this-when I told Bill what happened, I also lied and told him I made a police report.

Well Bill is an extraordinarily generous guy, and right away he offered to do some fundraising to get me the money I had lost-and when he said that, an awful part of me that I am deeply ashamed of, wanted that money for a moment or two longer than even I had thought myself capable of.Disgust. And I told him no-and I told him I had lied about making the police report, that I hadn’t made one.And the thing is, because I am stupid and selfish it was only then that I realised how much lying to Bill would have hurt him. Because I needed someone to make me feel better, I lied to one of the best people I have ever known.And I realise no one will likely believe this, but I didn’t turn to Bill because I wanted money.I can swear that unconditionally before the Sacred Blood of Christ.I wanted his attention and sympathy-which is worse, because that’s a piece of his heart that should only be given, not manipulated.
　
Bill decided that I should no longer be part of the forum and some other things.He has every right to deny me the trip to the Camino. What hurts so much is that I have lost my good friend Bill, and I will do whatever he needs me to do to fix that.I am hoping and praying as fiercely as I can that he will be able to forgive me, and I am hoping with all my heart that he will let me be his friend again, although I don’t deserve that.
　
I am so very sorry. I am sure some of you now think of me with disgust,and that makes me incredibly sad.I have spent a week in acts of Penance because I need and want to and because my Confessor told me to.I would have done it anyway-but its not helping. I’ve cried a river and can’t stop crying,but that doesn’t make me feel better either.All I can do in reality is go forward with my head hanging down , learn from this shameful mistake and keep praying that one day I’ll get an email from Bill, and because he has an amazing heart, it might say that he forgives me. I don’t have the right to hope he’ll want to be my friend again, but I will pray every day that the impossible happens and he does.I don’t expect him to, but maybe God will take pity on me and help.I apologise to all of you, and ask very very humbly for your forgiveness, to. Its all I can do-and believe me, I know its not nearly enough.
　
I am so sorry Bill. I am so sorry.
Sister Simon Clare 　

You’ll notice that finally there is now a mention of the weapon. But only after I had pointed out to her that it was not in her original confession. That it was a lie by omission.

When I was forwarded this email, I felt I now had no choice but to make this public, and lay everything out for you so you could make up your own mind, with all the facts.

I was concerned that in this last email above, that Sister Clare was positioning me as someone who was persecuting her unjustly. She said: I have been banned from the forum, where I am deeply concerned about the prayer requests. 

There was no way I was going to allow her to continue to have Moderator Permissions on my Forum when I knew her to be a liar. And someone not to be trusted. And for her to say she was worried about the prayer requests – well I saw that as arch manipulation, once again.

She said: Although Bill has said if I left the blog people would miss me, he is about to do that, because he says you should be protected from me.

Damn right I felt people on the blog should be protected from her, especially vulnerable and people seeking spiritual advice and counselling – I felt those people needed to know what I knew about Sister Clare.

And what about the people who had pledged thousands of dollars worth of goods, and in some instances cash, to Sister Clare. They needed to know about her, absolutely. And immediately. Yes, I did need to protect people from her – however Sister Clare in her email positioned those words in such a way as to make me look like I was unfairly hounding her.

She said: although he has written that I can still go on Camino, I’m pretty sure that is also being withdrawn. And I so very badly wanted to show you how to do Centering Prayer!!

Once again she was using her position as a nun to elicit sympathy. And in saying that I would be denying her the opportunity to give Centering Prayer sessions to pilgrims on the tour – as if I was the bad guy who would be preventing those pilgrims from their spiritual development… well, knowing everything that I now knew about Sister Clare, I did not see how I could possibly take her on the tour, presenting her as a spiritual counsellor.

So – after reading this email which she sent out to a whole bunch of you on the blog – I felt I had no choice but to now make this public. I wanted the full version of events to be available, so people could make up their own minds about me and Sister Clare. This is what I wrote to her –

Sister – 

She sent me back this – nothing but this –

http://funkypickens.com/25-funny-auto-correct-fails

So that’s The Strange Tale of Sister Clare. You now have it all. I have tried to keep this series of posts objective and unemotional. I have wanted to present the facts, and my interpretations at various points to explain my actions.

I have not doctored or edited any of the emails – except to redact the name of a person mentioned in this post – and I have not omitted anything. This is the full story.

Sister, if you are reading this, I now give you the blog – a guest post – to write whatever you want. I will not change a word. True or false. Whatever you send me, I will publish.

You now have the right of reply.

I love you
I’m sorry
Please forgive me
Thank you

Bill