Lyndon Penner - The Way of the Gardener: Lost in the Weeds Along the Camino de Santiago

2021 Lyndon Penner

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Printed and bound in Canada at Imprimerie Gauvin . The text of this book is printed on 100% post-consumer recycled paper with earth-friendly vegetable-based inks.

Copy editor: Marionne Cronin Proofreader: Alison Jacques

map: Kelly Laycock Cover art: Botanical background with floral elements in engraved style by Geraria / Adobe Stock

Cover and text design: Duncan Noel Campbell

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Title: The way of the gardener : lost in the weeds along the Camino de Santiago / Lyndon Penner.

Other titles: Lost in the weeds along the Camino de Santiago

Names: Penner, Lyndon, 1980- author.

Identifiers: Canadiana (print) 20200358685 | Canadiana (ebook) 20200359959 | ISBN 9780889778061 (softcover) | ISBN 9780889777835 (hardcover) | ISBN 9780889778085 ( PDF ) | ISBN 9780889777811 ( EPUB )

Subjects: LCSH: Penner, Lyndon, 1980-TravelCamino de Santiago de Compostela. | LCSH: HikingCamino de Santiago de Compostela. | LCSH: PlantsCamino de Santiago de Compostela. | LCSH: Christian pilgrims and pilgrimagesSpainSantiago de Compostela. | LCSH: GardenersTravelCamino de Santiago de Compostela. | LCSH: GardenersCanadaBiography. | LCSH: Camino de Santiago de CompostelaDescription and travel.

Classification: LCC DP285 .P46 2021 | DDC 914.6/11 dc23

University of Regina, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, S4S 0A2 tel: (306) 585-4758 fax: (306) 585-4699 web: www.uofrpress.ca

University of Regina, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, S4S 0A2 tel: (306) 585-4758 fax: (306) 585-4699 web: www.uofrpress.ca

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We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts for our publishing program. We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada. / Nous reconnaisson s lappui financier du gouvernement du Canada. This publication was made possible with support from Creative Saskatchewans Book Publishing Production Grant Program.

For Carol and Dan,without whom this journey would not have been possible

Contents

Introduction

It started with a beautiful piece of music. I had been invited to have dinner with my friends Dan and Carol at their home in Calgary, Alberta, and the stereo was playing the most exquisite violin concerto I had ever heard. I asked Carol what on earth we were listening to. This is Oliver Schroer, she said. Its his Camino album. I had never heard of either Oliver Schroer or the Camino. That was how it began.

For over a thousand years, people have been walking the Camino de Santiago (The Way of Saint James) trail across northern Spain. Aside from the journeys taken by the faithful to Jerusalem and Rome, it is the most popular Christian pilgrimage in the world. Each year, hundreds of thousands walk this ancient path to the city called Santiago de Compostela. A beautiful and frequently difficult route, the trail is nearly eight hundred kilometres long and takes many weeks to accomplish, as it is traditionally followed on foot. Ostensibly, the goal is to pray at the tomb of St. James, one of the twelve apostles of Jesus, but, for most, the Camino is far more about the journey than the destination.

Carol had done the Camino a number of years before, but she hadnt been able to quite finish it after she became ill not far from the end. She had decided a second undertaking was necessary, and now that we were talking about the Camino, she asked me if I would be interested in joining her. Not really having a clue what I was saying, I casually replied that of course I would. That was it. Somehow, within a few months plane tickets would be purchased and we would be on our way to Europe.

The great American artist Georgia OKeefe, whose work I love so much, once said, Ive been absolutely terrified every moment of my lifeand Ive never let it keep me from doing a single thing Ive wanted to do. Airports give me anxiety for no reason at all. Being on a plane or a bus or a train with so many other people is hard for me. I find having to be social exhausting . What could possibly be scarier for someone like me than going to a country Ive never been to, to a place where I dont speak the language, and immersing myself in an ancient sacred spiritual journey with strangers from all over the world for six weeks? Nothing. Absolutely nothing could be scarier. Nothing could be more challenging or demanding or hard for me. So when Carol asked me to go with her, I had to say yes.

I wasnt entirely sure what I had signed on for, but I was optimistic and curious. For most situations in life, a positive attitude and an inquisitive temperament will get you a long way. This is definitely true of the Camino.

I first met Carol in Waterton Lakes National Park many years ago. She and her husband, Dan, were in one of my wildflower tour groups. I didnt know her, but she knew me. She was an avid CBC radio listener, and for many years I had been doing a garden column for one of the afternoon shows. She knew my voice and my name and introduced herself. I liked her immediately. Carol is in her sixties, but youd never know it. She has the energy of someone half her age. We became fast friends and remain so to this day. Before the Camino, the only travelling we had done together was to go for a weekend at my friend Shellys beautiful lodge in northwestern Saskatchewan. Dan is not as strongly inclined towards the outdoors as Carol is, and the idea of walking hundreds of kilometres did not appeal to him, as it doesnt to most sane people. It would just be Carol and me (and several thousand others) making our way across northern Spain.

The route that Carol and I chose to travel was the Camino Francs (the French Way), which is the most popular and the most widely travelled route to get across Spain. There is also a northern route that goes along the coast (it is said to be treacherous), and there is a Camino Portugus (the Portuguese Way), which usually begins in Lisbon and winds its way north.

When we first started talking about walking the Camino, I told Carol I didnt want to go in spring or summer, which is my busy season, when Im taking care of clients and gardening my little heart out. I thought fall would be better because temperatures would be cooler (Spain is a very hot country) and my calendar would be a little more free and easy. Originally, we had planned to leave in early September, but then my very favourite cousin decided to get married in the middle of September, and I wanted to be home for that. So Carol and I chose September 18 as the day we would leave for our big fancy-pants trip to Europe. We booked our flights in February, and I had the entire spring and summer to prepare.