maximillion Posted June 2, 2014 Share Posted June 2, 2014 Do it, It would be interesting to know just how many steps....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnneLine Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 Welll.... I wear one of those puppies and they can count up to at least 9.99 miles a day... I am sure they can go much further. It will only track walking for a week however, so you'd have to write down your numbers at LEAST once a week..... But DO IT!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnneLine Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 If you get one, this is the one to get (or one like it...) However... pin it in your pocket OR wear it in a zipper pocket... or you can lose it very easily. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ancilla Domini Posted June 4, 2014 Author Share Posted June 4, 2014 I LEAVE TOMORROW AT 3:30!!!!!!!!!! I probably won't be on phatmass for quite a while, but I promise to show you all some pics of Phrance. :) Pray for me, and I will definitely pray for you! In Christ, Your devoted pilgrim, – Cilla Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChristinaTherese Posted June 4, 2014 Share Posted June 4, 2014 Have fun! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maximillion Posted June 4, 2014 Share Posted June 4, 2014 Prayers and best wishes Cilla! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ancilla Domini Posted June 20, 2014 Author Share Posted June 20, 2014 I'm writing a description of my pilgrimage, but I have to stop writing now - when it's finished (about 40 pages in the future :hehe2:) I'll post it here. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maximillion Posted June 21, 2014 Share Posted June 21, 2014 We want it ALL!!!!! Welcome back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ancilla Domini Posted June 21, 2014 Author Share Posted June 21, 2014 (edited) Alea jacta est! I think that the pilgrimage combined with the tour afterwards constituted the best 10 days of my LIFE! Forgive my terrible writing - I can write well, but right now, I'm just sort of spewing out the story as I remember it. :P We left for Paris on the 4th of June and arrived the 5th, at about 11:30 in the morning. The rest of the group arrived at around 2:30 the same day (it was a Thursday). We had the rest of Thursday and the entirety of Friday to walk around, and then we went (or were so supposed to go) to bed early so we could get sleep before the pilgrimage began the next day. We (myself and the rest of the kids in the group) played cards until 1:00 AM and then my roommate and I packed and talked until 2 o'clock in the morning. The wake-up call for the pilgrimage came at 4:30 AM. UGH! 2.5 hours sleep. (Poor planning on my part, staying up so late?) Then a bus came at 5:30 to pick us up to take us to mass at Notre Dame Cathedral. We deposited all of the baggage that we would need at the campsites at night into trucks lined up near the Cathedral, and then lined up to enter the Cathedral. Our group, the Chapter of Our Lady of Guadalupe, led by Michael Matt (editor of the Remnant Newspaper - anyone heard of it?) actually got into the Cathedral, for the first time since 2010! The Cathedral fits around 8,000 people, and there were still about 4,000 or more pilgrims outside, after it had been filled! Most of us had to sit crowded on the ground throughout mass, since there wasn't enough space for chairs for all of us. The actual walk began at about 9:00 AM. We spent the entire morning walking out of Paris, and our first rest stop was at about half past 12. (A much appreciated rest on my part, since I'd forgotten to bring a water-bottle and was extremely thirsty!) They provided 1.5L bottles of water, apples, and small bread-buns. The rest was only about 5 minutes long, and then we set out again, and walked until lunch-time, which was around 1:30. We stopped for lunch in a HUGE field, with NO trees and NO shade. It was about 90ºF (no exaggeration) and we were practically dying of heat. I had a lovely lunch of bread-buns, apples, beef-jerky that my best-friend had brought, and sunflower seeds. :eat: We had about 45 minutes for lunch and then we set out again. I took many many pictures of our walk, which I'll show to you all when I upload them onto my computer. (I'll use captions, too, so they're more easy to follow.) It wasn't a bad first day - we spent most of the day in the shade, except for the last 3 hours or so. (hehe, you see what it has done to me? I think of three hours walking in the blasting sun as "very little." XD 3 hours is very little, though, when you walk 12 hours per day. :)) The last lap of the pilgrimage had been nicknamed by the veteran pilgrims in our chapter as "Cardiac Hill." :P It was about 45 minutes uphill and an absolute TORTURE - also, since you know that the campsite is just around the bend, it's psychologically exhausting. :hehe2: All the way up Cardiac Hill, French kids from the houses along the way doused us with water from sprinklers which they had dragged up to the front of their lawns. :P It was a much needed, much appreciated dousing. XD When we got to the top of Cardiac Hill and walked into the campsite, at about 9:00 PM, a crowd of the people who had helped set up the campsite were waiting outside to greet us (and applaud as well.) Our chapter's tent was the very first tent as you walk into the campsite, so all we had to do was take our knapsacks off and flop down. Then, once we had caught our breath, we had to walk down to the other end of the campsite and get the bags we had put in the truck at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. My best-friend and I and another kid in our chapter played triple-solitaire and ate beef-jerky and bread-rolls until about 10:00. Then we went out and watched the boy-scouts sing around the bon-fire until 11:30. My best-friend and I would have stayed longer, but our companion, a very pragmatic 18 year old, insisted that we go to bed, so that we would have enough sleep for the next day's walk. After he went to bed, my friend and I played cards for another 20 minutes or so and then went to bed. Despite the fact that I had only had 2 and a half hours of sleep the night before, I didn't actually get to sleep until 4:15 AM. :ohno: At about 3:30 AM, it started raining and the water seeped through the tent (I was right under a seam XP) and completely soaked my hoodie, my sleeping-bag, and my tarp. :eek: Our wake-up call came at 5:00 AM, in the form of the Hallelujah, from Handel's Messiah. 45 minutes of sleep, this time!! They served us hot-chocolate and bread-rolls for breakfast (Ahh!!! So much bread! My little Italian stomach was in Heaven! :eat: ) Our group left at about 6:00 – the departure time "began" at 5:30, but we were around the 15th group or so, so we left later - and...we walked...and...we walked... And on the question mark right there, I need to go to bed, since I'm still in Paris, and it's nearly midnight and time for bed. I hope you've enjoyed my travel-journal so far. I've only covered the first 3 days, and there are 7 more to go!! Let's see...862 words for 3 days....2870 words left. :P I hope you have free time to read. :hehe2: It's so late...but there's so much to write...but I'm so.....zzzzzz.....sleepy.... Bed! Bed! I couldn't go to bed! Not for all the jew-els in the crowwwn!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ezy50aY6Bg Good night all! :sleep2: Edited June 21, 2014 by Ancilla Domini Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ancilla Domini Posted June 21, 2014 Author Share Posted June 21, 2014 (edited) Alea jacta est! I think that the pilgrimage combined with the tour afterwards constituted the best 10 days of my LIFE! Forgive my terrible writing - I can write well, but right now, I'm just sort of spewing out the story as I remember it. :P We left for Paris on the 4th of June and arrived the 5th, at about 11:30 in the morning. The rest of the group arrived at around 2:30 the same day (it was a Thursday). We had the rest of Thursday and the entirety of Friday to walk around, and then we went (or were so supposed to go) to bed early so we could get sleep before the pilgrimage began the next day. We (myself and the rest of the kids in the group) played cards until 1:00 AM and then my roommate and I packed and talked until 2 o'clock in the morning. The wake-up call for the pilgrimage came at 4:30 AM. UGH! 2.5 hours sleep. (Poor planning on my part, staying up so late?) Then a bus came at 5:30 to pick us up to take us to mass at Notre Dame Cathedral. We deposited all of the baggage that we would need at the campsites at night into trucks lined up near the Cathedral, and then lined up to enter the Cathedral. Our group, the Chapter of Our Lady of Guadalupe, led by Michael Matt (editor of the Remnant Newspaper - anyone heard of it?) actually got into the Cathedral, for the first time since 2010! The Cathedral fits around 8,000 people, and there were still about 4,000 or more pilgrims outside, after it had been filled! Most of us had to sit crowded on the ground throughout mass, since there wasn't enough space for chairs for all of us. The actual walk began at about 9:00 AM. We spent the entire morning walking out of Paris, and our first rest stop was at about half past 12. (A much appreciated rest on my part, since I'd forgotten to bring a water-bottle and was extremely thirsty!) They provided 1.5L bottles of water, apples, and small bread-buns. The rest was only about 5 minutes long, and then we set out again, and walked until lunch-time, which was around 1:30. We stopped for lunch in a HUGE field, with NO trees and NO shade. It was about 90ºF (no exaggeration) and we were practically dying of heat. I had a lovely lunch of bread-buns, apples, beef-jerky that my best-friend had brought, and sunflower seeds. :eat: We had about 45 minutes for lunch and then we set out again. I took many many pictures of our walk, which I'll show to you all when I upload them onto my computer. (I'll use captions, too, so they're more easy to follow.) It wasn't a bad first day - we spent most of the day in the shade, except for the last 3 hours or so. (hehe, you see what it has done to me? I think of three hours walking in the blasting sun as "very little." XD 3 hours is very little, though, when you walk 12 hours per day. :)) The last lap of the pilgrimage had been nicknamed by the veteran pilgrims in our chapter as "Cardiac Hill." :P It was about 45 minutes uphill and an absolute TORTURE - also, since you know that the campsite is just around the bend, it's psychologically exhausting. :hehe2: All the way up Cardiac Hill, French kids from the houses along the way doused us with water from sprinklers which they had dragged up to the front of their lawns. :P It was a much needed, much appreciated dousing. XD When we got to the top of Cardiac Hill and walked into the campsite, at about 9:00 PM, a crowd of the people who had helped set up the campsite were waiting outside to greet us (and applaud as well.) Our chapter's tent was the very first tent as you walk into the campsite, so all we had to do was take our knapsacks off and flop down. Then, once we had caught our breath, we had to walk down to the other end of the campsite and get the bags we had put in the truck at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. My best-friend and I and another kid in our chapter played triple-solitaire and ate beef-jerky and bread-rolls until about 10:00. Then we went out and watched the boy-scouts sing around the bon-fire until 11:30. My best-friend and I would have stayed longer, but our companion, a very pragmatic 18 year old, insisted that we go to bed, so that we would have enough sleep for the next day's walk. After he went to bed, my friend and I played cards for another 20 minutes or so and then went to bed. Despite the fact that I had only had 2 and a half hours of sleep the night before, I didn't actually get to sleep until 4:15 AM. :ohno: At about 3:30 AM, it started raining and the water seeped through the tent (I was right under a seam XP) and completely soaked my hoodie, my sleeping-bag, and my tarp. :eek: Our wake-up call came at 5:00 AM, in the form of the Hallelujah, from Handel's Messiah. 45 minutes of sleep, this time!! They served us hot-chocolate and bread-rolls for breakfast (Ahh!!! So much bread! My little Italian stomach was in Heaven! :eat: ) Our group left at about 6:00 – the departure time "began" at 5:30, but we were around the 15th group or so, so we left later - and...we walked...and...we walked... And on the question mark right there, I need to go to bed, since I'm still in Paris, and it's nearly midnight and time for bed. I hope you've enjoyed my travel-journal so far. I've only covered the first 3 days, and there are 7 more to go!! Let's see...862 words for 3 days....2870 words left. :P I hope you have free time to read. :hehe2: It's so late...but there's so much to write...but I'm so.....zzzzzz.....sleepy.... Bed! Bed! I couldn't go to bed! Not for all the jew-els in the crowwwn!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ezy50aY6Bg Good night all! :sleep2: I tried to edit the first paragraph a bit but wasn't allowed. Here are my edits - We left for Paris on the 4th of June and arrived the 5th, at about 11:30 in the morning. The rest of the group arrived at around 2:30 the same day (it was a Thursday). We had the rest of Thursday and the entirety of Friday to walk around Paris We went to bed early on Friday night (or were so supposed to go) so we could get sleep before the pilgrimage began the next day. Needed to clear up some confusion and some bad grammar. :) P.S. Rest assured that I am capable of better writing than I exhibited in the above travel journal. :P Edited June 21, 2014 by Ancilla Domini Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maximillion Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 Keep going! I mean with the story, not with the walking! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ancilla Domini Posted June 27, 2014 Author Share Posted June 27, 2014 Allóra! We've stopped moving around, and now that we're settled, (for the moment, that is) I am at liberty to continue my story. Give me a minute while I return to my previous excerpt and figure out where I stopped. :P Alright - I've gathered my thoughts enough to begin, (I think) so here goes: I'm going to leave out talking about our rest-stops since, for one, I cannot remember how many there were or when they occurred. I just remember being close to dying at various points and then seeing a blessed rest-stop up ahead and once more gathering the courage to continue. I don't remember how many there were, but I do remember that there weren't enough of them. ;) At around noontime, perhaps even as late as 1:00, we stopped for lunch and mass. The stop took place in a huge field with absolutely no shade whatsoever. (I should mention that it was about 95ºF - that's 35ºC to those of you who need the conversion) Mass took place before lunch, for our chapter, (for the chapters who had reached the field earlier, lunch was first and mass afterwards) and was a solemn high mass in the extraordinary form. (Does the OF have solemn high masses? I've never known) Half of us could hardly move, so it was practically impossible for us to follow the mass's "schedule" of kneeling and standing periodically (especially since most of the time, it took us so long to stand up, or so long to get onto our knees, that by the time we had actually accomplished this feat, the rest of the congregation had moved on. :P I gave up on the kneeling and standing very quickly, since my legs felt like a mix between jello and overcooked spaghetti, and I watched with a heavy conscience as my best-friend in front of me dutifully followed all of the rubrics throughout the duration of that 2 hour mass. It was a beautiful mass, once you managed to get over your own pain and pay attention, and was very uplifting. After mass, we had about 45 minutes or less for lunch, and then we moved on. (Allow me to go off on a tangent for a minute - last year, Michael Matt, whom I mentioned earlier, and my father, one of the guides/chaperones of the pilgrimage -- he has been for 10 years now, I believe -- went off just before our chapter left, either to get a bottle of water or use the bathroom, or something of that sort -- I can't quite remember -- and when they got back, our chapter was nowhere in sight!! Assuming the chapter had left without them, they ran about 5 miles, stopping at every group to see if it was ours. It turned out that in fact, our chapter had not left yet, and was still at the lunch-stop!! Don't even try to imagine their exhaustion, after walking about 15 miles, having to run 5, and then having another 15 to walk before camp. :pinch:) Alright, back to my story. It was on this day that, completely fading, I decided that I needed to take the bus, and was about to go find it at the next rest stop when my wonderful best-friend and the afore-mentioned pragmatic 18-year old persuaded me to continue with the pilgrimage, knowing me well enough to understand how horrible I would feel if, looking back, I could never say that I had finished the pilgrimage. (Fear not - it was only a quarter pride, the rest was a righteous sense of my duty to do penance. Alright...perhaps it was half pride...or perhaps...mea culpa, mea culpa. I am merely a poor sinner.) However, their persuasion did made me continue, and I was SO happy for it. (I got a lot of moral support from my two escorts, as well, which was very helpful. :)) We got into the campsite at about 8:30 PM, and imagine our sorrow when we realized that the campsite was over two miles long, and that we had one of the very last tents in the campsite! Those two miles, I think, were the hardest of that day's walk, both physically and mentally, since one knew that the end would come soon, but not yet, not yet... (Time for another anecdote - on our two mile walk to our tent, I was walking with Michael Matt and my best-friend, (whom I will henceforth refer to as Thing1, since I'm tired of saying "my best friend") when two young French-girls came up to us, evidently overjoyed to have an opportunity to show of what little English they knew. One of our group, whose identity will remain undisclosed, ( :hehe2:) informed the two French girls that Americans do not say "Hello," but "'Sup." The two girls, giggling because they gathered it was some sort of slang, proceeded to approach a group of nuns (in white floor-length traditional habits with the sacred heart embroidered on the chest) and cordially greet them "Sup!" and then burst out laughing. XD They then used that salutation for every person they passed until they got to the end of the campsite. :hehe2:) The second bit of bad news that day, after learning our position in the campsite, was that the food was all at the entrance to the campsite, a two miles' walk away!! Thing1, (remember who that is?) whom I have never, throughout our entire friendship, seen tired, offered to pick up food for everyone at the entrance, so none of us had to move. :) (I pick my friends so well, wouldn't you say? :P ) Then, after dinner and after gathering up some of our remaining scraps of energy, Thing1, Thing1's sister, the pragmatic 18 year old and his sister, another girl (Julia), and I got together to play cards and talk. We lit a small fire (using a tuna can filled with cardboard with wax poured over it) and roasted bread, beef jerky, and skittles over it. :hehe2: After that, Thing1 and I, who generally have more energy than the others (or perhaps it's more that we're less mature? I'm not sure... :P ) ran through some wheat fields until we got yelled at by some Frenchmen. Then we returned to the tent and played cards again until we got bored and decided to go to bed. (At about 11:30.) (Time for another anecdote - this time, it's less of an anecdote and more of an...observation? - The pilgrimage is an extremely informal place to meet people for the first time. Throughout the day, you have dirt-encrusted pants and shoes, you are absolutely exhausted and overall hardly a pretty sight, and then at the campsite, still not a pretty sight, you flop down on the ground with your knapsack as a pillow. It was while I was in this hardly formal position that my father chose to introduce me to Joseph Shaw (if you're traditionalist, you'll have heard of him - if not, probably not) whom I greeted with about as enthusiastic "Oh, very pleased to meet you, Sir" as I could muster at the moment.) Back to my story - This time, I had a grand old sleep! A total of 4 whole hours!! I was so proud of myself. :D I'm going to have to stop again, here, since my computer is running out of battery, and I don't know where the charger is. I'll probably continue sometime later today. So long, all! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ancilla Domini Posted June 27, 2014 Author Share Posted June 27, 2014 (edited) By the way, my deepest apologies to my dear Maximillion, who asked me to walk the labyrinth in Notre Dame de Chartres. It was covered, to my sorrow. :( Edited June 27, 2014 by Ancilla Domini Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maximillion Posted June 27, 2014 Share Posted June 27, 2014 (edited) Oh no! I have walked it twice, once in RL. Both times I was there it was uncovered, thank you Jesus! This sounds like a chronicle of ongoing penance and an exercise in endurance Cilla! I have never been on pilgrimage and vastly admire your fortitude, more so for not sleeping much. Oh, and welcome phriend! Edited June 27, 2014 by maximillion Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnneLine Posted June 28, 2014 Share Posted June 28, 2014 Maybe we can walk it together..... your pilgrimage does sound intense, but I can have some food ready at your next break in the walk.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now