Walking with my pilgrim wife

 

Sybille taking a photograph alongside the Thunersee © Ricky Yates
Sybille taking a photograph alongside the Thunersee © Ricky Yates

My sincere apologies that it is exactly one month since I last posted anything here on my blog. Long-standing followers will know that this is an extremely rare occurrence. Over the next couple of weeks, I do hope to write several new blogposts to compensate.

As I explained in responding to my Liebster Blogger Awarder Emily, answering her Question 3, I’ve spent two weeks of August, walking with my pilgrim wife Sybille. During that time, I had virtually no access to the internet – hence the absence of blog posts. I only returned to Prague last Thursday evening and this afternoon and evening is the first real opportunity I’ve had to compile a new post.

When Sybille first planned her pilgrimage, walking from Prague to Santiago de Compostela, the idea that I would join and walk with her for two weeks of my annual leave in August, seemed perfectly simple. But as the time for doing so drew near, the practical reality, became somewhat more complicated.

Sybille is deliberately not walking to a set timetable. Therefore, exactly where she would be by the time I was set to join her, was always going to be a crucial issue. My original plan was to fly to a major centre and then use public transport. As the time of my planned departure approached, flying to Geneva looked like the best option. But then Sybille said, ‘Why not drive?’ I did the arithmetic and found that the cost of petrol, together with a Swiss motorway vignette, was actually no more than the cost of a return flight from Prague to Geneva. The only problem then, was finding a safe place where I could leave my car for two weeks.

The solution to my problem came in the form of Sarah, a priest in the Swiss Old Catholic Church / Christkatholische Kirche der Schweiz / Eglise catholique-chrétienne de Suissean, who is an online friend of Sybille. Sarah and her husband Michael, live in Langenthal, north of Bern. So on Thursday 7th August, I drove from Prague to Langenthal and parked my car, by prior arrangement organised by Sarah, in the private car park of the nearby Swiss Reformed Church called Zwinglihaus. Numerous jokes have since been cracked about how reformed the ‘Carly’ is now, having sat there for two weeks 🙂

Once I’d transferred my rucksack, together with a bag of various things Sybille had asked me to bring for her, from my car to Michael and Sarah’s car, they then drove me south to Merligen where Sybille was staying that night. Then they insisted on taking us both out to a nearby restaurant for a most enjoyable evening meal of fish from the adjacent Thunersee, washed down with a most quaffable locally produced white wine.

 

Our little cabin © Ricky Yates
Our little cabin © Ricky Yates

Sybille and I spent that first night sleeping in this little cabin in the grounds of the guest house of the Christusträger Communität, a small group of Lutheran brothers. You can click on this link to find out more about what they do and use ‘Google translate’ if you cannot read German  🙂  

 

Christian guest house in Merligen © Ricky Yates
Christian guest house in Merligen © Ricky Yates

This is the main guest house where we had breakfast the following morning.

View across the Thunersee from Merligen © Ricky Yates
View across the Thunersee from Merligen © Ricky Yates

And this is the view that greeted us that morning.

After breakfast, we set off to walk together along the Jacobswege Schweiz, heading towards Thun. Our route followed the side of the Thunersee which meant it was basically flat, a great bonus for me on my first day of walking!

Thun © Ricky Yates
Thun © Ricky Yates

We reached Thun early in the afternoon. Below is a close up view of the beautifully decorated covered bridge which you can see in the foreground of the photograph above. The amount of water passing under the bridge is indicative of the very heavy rainfall that Switzerland had experienced in the previous few weeks and through which Sybille had been walking. We were therefore both thankful that our first day walking together was fine and sunny.

 

Covered bridge with floral decoration in Thun © Ricky Yates
Covered bridge with floral decoration in Thun © Ricky Yates

 

Kirche Scherzligen, Thun © Ricky Yates
Kirche Scherzligen, Thun © Ricky Yates

We walked on out of Thun, now on the opposite side of the lake, visiting this delightful Swiss Reformed Church on the way. One of the most pleasing aspects of our pilgrimage through Switzerland was that nearly every Church we passed was open and welcoming to visitors. In several of them, the lights were on sensors which came on when we walked in and presumably went off soon after we left!

However, that first day, we did struggle to find somewhere to stay overnight. The tourist office in Thun could only offer us a ridiculously expensive hotel room and the B & B in a village five km out of Thun, which would have been ideal, was already fully booked as Sybille discovered when she phoned earlier in the day.

Fortunately, Sybille then had the brilliant idea to phone another B & B in Einigen which appeared in her accommodation list because it lies on an alternative route that involves taking the ferry from Merligen across the Thunersee. The answer to Sybille’s enquiry was positive so, although it meant a three kilometre diversion from our route with the last section inevitably being uphill, the accommodation, host and view made it more than worthwhile.

Later that evening, a thunderstorm broke, followed by a rainbow which I just managed to capture in this photograph taken from our bedroom balcony.

Rainbow over the Thunersee © Ricky Yates
Rainbow over the Thunersee © Ricky Yates

 

Route from Merligen to Einigen

 

The Pilgrim is on her way

 

 Sybille about to set off on pilgrimage © Ricky Yates
Sybille about to set off on her pilgrimage © Ricky Yates

This morning, my wife Sybille set out from the front door of the Chaplaincy Flat, to begin her long distance pilgrimage, walking from Prague to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. I took this photograph just before giving her a long kiss and hug, as if all goes to plan, I will not see her again for about two months.

Sybille started out this morning at 05.30, wanting to take full advantage of the cooler hours of the day whilst we are experiencing a Central European heatwave with temperatures rising to well over 30 degrees Celsius in the afternoon. Her main aim today is to successfully walk out of Prague, hoping to reach a campsite between Zbraslav and Radotin, adjacent a short part of the route that we walked together last November.

If you want to know more about Sybille’s pilgrimage, her motivation, proposed route and much more, then do visit her Prague-Santiago website. There is also a link in the right-hand side bar of this blog. She is hoping to post an update roughly once a week, dependent on time and wifi access. There is provision on her website for you to sign up to receive an email each time she does post an update.

I’ve been promised a text message update each day, whilst Sybille is walking within the Czech Republic as the cost of a text between two Czech mobiles is minimal. Once she reaches Germany, more specifically Freistaat Bayern, then I’m informed that contact will be less frequent 🙁

In early August, I will be taking some of my annual leave and the plan is for me to walk with Sybille for a couple of weeks, provided I can get Šárek cared for and find a willing plant ‘waterer’. Where that will be we don’t yet know. It will depend on Sybille’s walking speed which will only become clearer once she has been on pilgrimage for some weeks. However, we think it will be somewhere in France. Readers can be sure of a blogpost about it here in due course.

2014 – The year ahead

Prague Castle from Charles Bridge © Ricky Yates
Prague Castle from Charles Bridge © Ricky Yates

On the first day of 2014, it seems good to think and write about the year ahead and what it might have in store for Sybille and I, for the Anglican congregations in Prague and Brno that I lead, and for the wider Czech Republic. What follows is what I’m currently contemplating, but as always, God might have other ideas 🙂

New leadership of State and Church

It does appear that, more than two months after elections at the end of October, the Czech Republic will once again, shortly have a properly functioning government which is able to command a majority in the lower house of parliament. It will be a three-party coalition, with Bohuslav Sobotka, the leader of the Social Democratic Party (CSSD), as Prime Minister.

However, one can never be sure, especially as all ministerial appointments have to be approved by President Miloš Zeman. Whilst the three political parties who will form the coalition have agreed on the number of ministries they will each control, the names of those proposed as ministers have yet to be made public. Several likely ministerial candidates from the CSSD are people Zeman fell out with before leaving the CSSD some ten years ago. Apparently, according to press reports, the President has indicated that he might refuse to formally appoint some of these individuals, should they be nominated.

If this happens, the matter will probably end up with a complaint to the Constitutional Court, seeking a ruling as to the extent of presidential powers. I do hope that all sides will see common sense and put the well-being of the country ahead of settling old personal and political scores.

It also does appear, that sometime in the coming Spring, the name of the next Anglican Bishop of the Diocese in Europe, will be announced. He, (sadly no chance of ‘she’ just yet), will succeed Rt Rev’d Dr Geoffrey Rowell, who retired in early November 2013. If you want to know more about what lies ahead for my next Bishop, see this link to the ‘Description of the Diocese and Statement of Needs‘.

I do find it absurd that, having known since early 2013, the date of Bishop Geoffrey’s retirement, it is only now that the process of appointing his successor is underway. What other major organisation, knowing the date of the forthcoming retirement of its CEO, would not have appointed their successor and had them ready to take over straight-away, thus ensuring a smooth transition? I do think that this is where the Church of England does need a complete rethink. I experienced a very similar situation previously in the Diocese of Oxford where we were without a Diocesan Bishop for around eighteen months.

Calvary on Charles Bridge © Ricky Yates
Calvary on Charles Bridge © Ricky Yates

The Liturgical Year ahead

This year, Easter Day is quite late, falling on Sunday 20th April. This is vastly preferable as far as I’m concerned, in comparison to 2013 when Easter Day was 31st March, the clocks went forward one hour overnight the night before, and there was snow on the ground in Brno.

What it also means is that there is a far longer period of ‘Ordinary Time’, between the end of the Epiphany season on 2nd February, the Feast of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple, and the beginning of Lent on Ash Wednesday, which with Easter Day being late, in 2014 falls on Wednesday 5th March.

Therefore, with now being in Year A of the three-year cycle of readings from the Revised Common Lectionary when the Gospel of Matthew predominates, throughout February, the Sunday readings focus on sections of the Sermon on the Mount. This should certainly make for interesting preaching material!

However, I note that during Lent, we also get several large chunks of the Gospel of John each Sunday. Appropriate Lenten penance, both in the time it takes to read the passages as well as then trying to expound them 🙂

Family, holidays and travel

I am looking forward to my son Phillip and his girlfriend Lisa, coming to Prague for a long weekend visit at the end of February. The dates of their visit were partly governed by when jet2.com are scheduled to resume their East Midlands Airport – Prague flights after a post-Christmas/New Year hiatus of seven weeks.

Phillip & Lisa during their previous visit in January 2013 © Ricky Yates
Phillip & Lisa during their previous visit in January 2013 © Ricky Yates

But I’ve since discovered that the weekend they are here, is when the Czech Gambrinus Football League resumes matches following their current mid-winter break. It means that Phillip and I can go and see Dukla Praha play in their stadium which lies directly behind where the Chaplaincy Flat is located, something we’ve talked about doing for the past four years. Dukla will be home to FK Teplice – a fourth versus third-in-the-table clash, which should be most enjoyable. Sybille has promised to take Lisa for a ‘Girls night out’ 🙂

After last year’s Intercontinental Church Society (ICS) Chaplains and Families Conference being held in Switzerland, this year the ICS conference will be in the UK, between Monday 12th – Friday 16th May, in a Conference Centre on the Leicestershire-Northamptonshire border, near Market Harborough. As this location lies almost equidistant between my daughter and son-in-law’s home in Daventry, and Phillip’s home in Nottingham, my plan is to take a week of annual leave following the conference, and spend time with both of them.

I have also been doing some price comparisons and have decided that probably the cheapest, and certainly the most convenient way to travel, will be to drive back to the UK, meaning the first time my right-hand-drive car, will have been driven on the left side of the road, for nearly six years. This will allow me easy movement around the UK which will hopefully also include a trip to the south coast to see one or both of my sisters.

The other big family news I hinted at, in reply to a comment on an earlier post about ‘Discovering the Way of St. James in the Czech Republic‘. Probably starting in late May/early June, Sybille is planning to make a long distance pilgrimage and walk from Prague, all the way to Santiago de Compostela in north-west Spain. We reckon that she will need somewhere in the region of four months to complete the journey, meaning that she will not be back in Prague until probably early October.

Provisionally, I am planning to take a couple of weeks of annual leave in July-August, and walk with her through part of France. I may well be able to bring back some things she will not require in Spain, thus lightening her load.

Eastern Archdeaconry Synod

Further ahead, at the end of September, there will be the annual meeting of the Eastern Archdeaconry Synod which in 2014, as I previously indicated, is being hosted by the Prague Anglican congregation. I’m very much looking forward to it, especially if we by then, finally have a Diocesan Bishop who is able to join us. But there is a lot of planning and organisational work to undertake in the meantime.

Discovering the Way of Saint James in the Czech Republic

Svatojakubská cesta – the Way of Saint James © Ricky Yates
Svatojakubská cesta – the Way of Saint James © Ricky Yates

As Sybille and I have, at different times, both made a walking pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, ever since moving to Prague more than five years ago, we have sought to discover more about pilgrimage routes that lead from the Czech Republic, via Germany and Switzerland, to link with the well-established paths in France and Spain.

Soon after we arrived in Prague, we managed to purchase a guidebook in German entitled, ‘Der Jakobsweg von Prag bis Tillyschanz/Eslarn‘. It describes a route starting at Kostel sv. Jakuba / Church of St. James, located in the Old Town centre of Prague, heading in a roughly south-westerly direction to the German border at Tillyschanz, a small village four kilometres from the Bavarian town of Eslarn. The guide is the work of three Germans and one German-speaking Czech and suggests that it is possible to complete the journey in ten days.

Over the past five years, we have from time-to-time talked about trying to use this guidebook and walk from Prague to the German border. But for a variety of reasons, the idea has never until now, become a reality. However, last Monday on my day-off, we finally set out to explore a short section of the route just outside the confines of the city of Prague.

We were particularly keen to discover how well the route is waymarked. We were already aware that there are no yellow arrows or scallop shell markings, showing the way from Kostel sv. Jakuba, through the Old Town, across Vltava River and out of the city. But both the German guide and my 1: 50 000 Turistická Mapa, seemed to indicate that waymarking should exist, beyond the outskirts of Prague.

We took the train out to the small town of Radotin, and following lunch in a town centre bar-restaurant, found the route where it passes through Namestí sv Petra a Pavla, the square in front of the parish Church of Radotin, dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul. It was here that I photographed the sign at the beginning of this post. The little blue and gold scallop shell emblems, show that the route from Zbraslav and heading via Vonoklasy to Karlštejn, is part of the Svatojakubská cesta – the Way of Saint James.

Bridge across the Berounka River with Kostel sv Petra a Pavla © Ricky Yates
Bridge across the Berounka River with Kostel sv Petra a Pavla, Radotin © Ricky Yates

As the sign also indicates, it is a ‘red route’ and therefore waymarked with by red and white marks, very similar to the French balises that mark long distance footpaths in France. At this point, it is also part of a European long distance footpath, the E10. We set out and walked towards Zbraslav, heading back towards Prague. The route took us over this footbridge across the Berounka River. Red and white waymarks were plentiful making the route quite easy to follow.

Former monastery at Zbraslav  © Ricky Yates
Former monastery at Zbraslav © Ricky Yates

As we walked down a steep wooded path towards Zbraslav, through the trees we were able to see this former monastery below us, with a Church dedicated to St. James – its small tower with a golden orb and cross, is just visible in the photograph. Unfortunately, the whole complex is now in private hands and appears not to be open to the public. I took the photograph below, by putting my camera through the metal gates that keep the grounds around the former monastery, secure from interested intruders 🙁

Former Monastery & Church of St. James, Zbraslav © Ricky Yates
Former Monastery & Church of St. James, Zbraslav © Ricky Yates

In the main square of Zbraslav is where unfortunately, waymarking of the pilgrimage route comes to an end. The red route/E10 heads eastwards across a bridge over the Vltava River, whereas the pilgrimage route to/from Prague, remains on the western side of the river. So far as we can establish, there is no waymarking at all between Prague and Zbraslav.

However, there are much more encouraging signs further west. Whilst our German guidebook only describes the route from Prague to Tillyschanz, it does mention an alternative more southerly route, that leaves the one described in the guidebook at Karlštejn, and heads via Príbram and Klatovy, and then crosses the border about six kilometres before reaching the small Bavarian town of Eschlkam. Between Príbram and Klatovy, is the small town of Nepomuk, where my friend Adrian Blank is based, who has regularly helped me with repairs and servicing of my car.

On the outskirts of Nepomuk, there is another Kostel sv. Jakuba / Church of St. James by which this more southerly route passes. When visiting Adrian in January earlier this year, I discovered a display board near the Church with a map showing this pilgrimage route, together with this newly installed sign indicating the distance to Santiago de Compostela.

Sign at Nepomuk © Ricky Yates
Sign at Nepomuk © Ricky Yates

Pelhrimov

Our lunchtime view across Masarykovo námeští, Pelhrimov © Ricky Yates
Our lunchtime view across Masarykovo námestí, Pelhrimov © Ricky Yates

 

As I mentioned in my previous post about the Church of St Bartholomew, here is the promised further illustrated post about the town of Pelhrimov itself, which we visited earlier this week on Tuesday 22nd October 2013.

Pelhrimov lies a short distance off the D1, the Prague-Brno motorway, just over one hundred kilometres south east of Prague. It should only take about an hour and a quarter to drive there but took us nearer one hour and forty minutes, because of traffic delays getting across and out of Prague. Like many Czech towns, there is industry and Communist era paneláks around the outskirts, but there is also a historic, well-preserved and restored centre, with many attractive buildings. Having found a suitable parking place for the car, we set out for the main square, Masarykovo námestí.

It being lunchtime, we first looked to find a place to eat. We opted for a pizzeria on the first floor of Hotel Slávie, overlooking the square from where this photograph was taken. Both the food and the view were excellent!

 

 

Hotel Slávie with its cubist facade and the buildings on the other side of the square, reflected in the ground floor windows © Ricky Yates
Hotel Slávie with its cubist facade and the buildings on the other side of the square, reflected in the ground floor windows © Ricky Yates

Hotel Slávie has a wonderful cubist façade as you can see in the photograph above. After lunch here, we set out to explore a variety of architectural gems around the square. Most have their current form after rebuilding following a serious fire in 1736.

Building with sgraffiti decoration © Ricky Yates
Building with sgraffiti decoration © Ricky Yates

Like the Church of St. Bartholomew, this building also features sgraffiti decoration.

Italianate façades © Ricky Yates
Italianate façades © Ricky Yates

On the opposite side of the square from Hotel Slávie are these Italianate style buildings, very similar to those in Telc which we visited previously, three years ago.

Zámek © Ricky Yates
Zámek © Ricky Yates

Just off the square and adjacent to the Church is this Zámek/Château, completed in 1554. At one end is one of three town gatehouses that still exist, giving access to the historic centre of the town. The Zámek itself now serves as part of the Pelhrimov Museum.

Zámek clock © Ricky Yates
Zámek clock © Ricky Yates

Another town gatehouse © Ricky Yates
Another town gatehouse © Ricky Yates

Here on the left, is a close-up view of the clock on top of the Zámek. The two characters either side of the clock-face, swing their implements, striking the little bell at the top, in time with clock striking the hour. The clock-face itself illustrates past history as it features a double-headed eagle, the symbol of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In the photograph on the right is another of the town gatehouses.

Arcaded building © Ricky Yates
Arcaded building © Ricky Yates

Arcaded building with sgaffiti illustrations © Ricky Yates
Arcaded building with sgaffiti illustrations © Ricky Yates

Here are two examples of beautifully restored arcaded buildings. The one on the right features sgrafitti illustrations including, between the two windows on the left of the photograph, the Virgin and Child. But it is also an example of ‘only in the Czech Republic’, as the building is now used as a Herna (gambling) Bar 🙁 The ground floor windows are totally obscured to prevent anyone looking in.

Scraffiti smiling sun © Ricky Yates
Scraffiti smiling sun © Ricky Yates

Above is one of my favourite examples of sgraffiti decoration in Pelhrimov – a big smiling sun!

Another beautifully decorated building © Ricky Yates
Another beautifully decorated building © Ricky Yates

Whilst I also love the style and artwork decorating this building which I presume dates from the time of the First Republic 1918-1938.

Fountain with statue of St. James © Ricky Yates
Fountain with statue of St. James © Ricky Yates

Modern metal sculpture of St. James © Ricky Yates
Modern metal sculpture of St. James © Ricky Yates

As Sybille and I, at different times, have both made a walking pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, we were surprised but also delighted to discover a statue of St. James. He stands on a pillar, in the middle of a fountain, at the centre of Masarykovo námestí. He is dressed in pilgrim’s vesture decorated with scallop shells, carries a water gourd, and holds a pilgrim staff with a cross at the top. We also found this more modern metal sculpture in the covered passageway leading to the tourist information centre.

Coat-of-Arms © Ricky Yates
Coat-of-Arms © Ricky Yates

 

 

 

 

The town takes its name from the Latin word for pilgrim – peregrinus. As can be seen here, the town coat-of-arms features a pilgrim, walking through one of the town gates. There are various related explanations, both to the origin of the town and its name, but all revolve around the Bishop of Prague between 1224-1225 who was Peregrinus of Wartenberg. He apparently passed through what is now Pelhrimov whilst on a pilgrimage, but his destination was Rome rather than Santiago!

The town council tourist information website explains this discrepancy by saying that St. James is the patron saint of pilgrims. Therefore, as the town derives its name from the word ‘pilgrim’, St. James can be deemed to be the patron saint of Pelhrimov 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

Masarykovo námeští, Pelhrimov © Ricky Yates
Masarykovo námestí, Pelhrimov © Ricky Yates