Jacqueline Bossé-Andrieu
They took step after difficult step for eight hours a day – rain or shine. They are Arlette Henry and Michèle Dextras, two recently retired employees of the University of Ottawa. Like thousands of other pilgrims have done for centuries, these two women walked the Way of St. James, covering a distance of 1600 kilometres in less than three months. They left Puy-en-Velay in the central part of France on April 19 and arrived in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, on June 30. It is here that the tomb of St. James, one of Jesus’ 12 apostles, was discovered in the ninth century – according to legend, as a result of a star (compostela, which means “field of the star”).
Henry and Dextras prepared for this pilgrimage not only by learning Spanish, but also by walking 10, 20 and, eventually, 30 kilometres a day through the streets of Ottawa while carrying 18-pound backpacks.
The women left Puy-en-Velay in high spirits. They travelled happily along the Way of St. James admiring the wheat fields, the trees in bloom, old churches built in the 11th century as well as ponies (who were not as gentle as they expected and who bit), caring little about having to sleep in dormitories or share showers with a dozen people of both sexes. Along the way, the women met and befriended other pilgrims from around the world. It is clear from their blog that they will bring back many entertaining anecdotes.
After a few weeks, however, their “engines” began “misfiring.” Henry had problems with her toes – muscle spasms would begin after about an hour of walking – and Dextras accidentally broke a toe one evening at an inn. Then they both began having problems with their heels. So, before they even crossed the border into Spain, each step they took was a painful one. Henry had never imagined such pain. Nonetheless, driven by their will, their courage and, above all, their determination to help people living with Parkinson’s disease (Henry and Dextras invite all their friends to make a donation to the Parkinson Society at www.Parkinson.ca), they arrived hobbling – but overjoyed – at their destination and received the compostela. This certificate, written in Latin, testifies that they completed the pilgrimage to the tomb of St. James on foot. While they did not start from their homes, as is required in theory, they easily met the requirement of covering at least the last 100 kilometres on foot.
Caption for « Santiago »: Recently retired from the University of Ottawa, Michèle Dextras and Arlette Henry tread the paths walked by pilgrims since medieval times. Here they pass through the mountains of northern Spain on their journey to Santiago de Compostela.
