Phil Brennan

Posted on August 24, 2021

Posted in Phils Blog |

Scribbles of a curious wanderer along the way of St Declan

Setting out is not covering miles of land or sea or travelling faster than the speed of light.
It is first and foremost opening ourselves to other people, trying to get to know them, going out to meet them…It is possible to travel alone,
but the good traveller knows that the journey is human life and life needs company.
(Dom Helder Camara)

Make a pact with yourself to walk a Camino some time in your life. Once you take that first step out into the unknown, you will want to keep going. It is more than just an adventure. It is an odyssey of sorts that draws you beyond the safer sanctuaries you have left behind to a space the world cannot reach. The way of St Declan has been over 1,500 years in the making. Voyagers from times past have carved their footprint in the land; labourers, pilgrims, rebels, saints, adventurers – each with a story we may never know. As you leave the ancient citadel on the hill in Cashel behind, you sense the spirit of those who have passed this way before. It is we who follow in their steps. Their imprints show us the way.

The moment you set out from the Rock of Cashel you know you’ll need to draw on every fibre of your being to make it all the way to Ardmore some 115km away. It’s just you, your backpack, your companions and the universe. So much of what you once depended on no longer matters. Your phone is safely tucked away. The world can wait. This time is your time! St Declan’s Way delivers more than it asks of you. It pushes you to the limits of your endurance and demands an honesty from you but somehow you make it. There’s a life force that carries you, an elemental bond with a universe that reveals its beauty around every bend. There’s no need to force the pace. Getting there matters but so too the steps in between!

The Camino is all about the people you get to share it with. It’s the company that keeps you going just when you feel the fatigue kick in. When you’re walking, you find your own cadence. You walk to the beat that suits you. It pays to slow down on occasion and enjoy the camaraderie of a fellow traveller. It is then the magic happens. Before you know it, they know someone you know and the connection is made. You will meet people you may never meet again, yet, something happens that stays with you long after you’ve returned home. Their story so often sheds a unique light on your own. It’s as though they speak a truth you were meant to hear. You hardly realise you’re scaling the Knockmealdowns at its highest point and about to descend through the woods into Mount Melleray. On Camino, the chats are everything.

It’s good to take a little time on your own too along the way. There’s no need to reason, analyse or think. Just you alone in the universe. As you blaze your solitary trail, it’s like stepping outside yourself for a moment and watching all that has happened in your life pass before you like flickered reels on an old film. It is strangely cathartic to stare in the face all that once defined you and accept it for what it is. Beautiful and all as your story may be, there is pain in there too. Every one of us knows what it feels like to have to pick up the pieces and start all over again. The Camino of life can be the toughest of them all. But it does not have to defeat you. The stream you pass has stepping stones, each resisting the tumult of the waters, each stoic in its self defence, each inviting you to make your way home.

St Declan’s Way has a little bit of everything – castles, forts, holy wells and hallowed vaults, streams, rivers, mountains, vales; each echoing to timeless strains barely audible to the passer-by. It’s as though past and present collide in perfect symphony to open up the wonder of nature in ways you may not have noticed before. It’s simply magical to walk by the water’s edge alongside the River Blackwater as you leave Lismore en route to Cappoquin. Just 2 kilometers of exquisite beauty and peace. The Castle we leave behind still beats to the pulse of a bygone time. It retains its mystique, its mesmeric charm; its lofty walls privy to stories the passing world may never hear. In the distance, silent silhouettes emerge from shades of dawn as anglers take their place along the river bank. They stand there, still, focused, shrouded in the mystery that surrounds them, oblivious to the curious observer from afar. Lines cast ripple outwards in great, gentle waves to somewhere deep inside. It touches you to the core. You’ve got to be there to sense it!

We pass this way but once. Prophets tell us that we never quite walk into the same stream twice. The texture changes with the changing tides of time in a nod to all that has happened in between. Yet the river moves with a reassuring calm, unswerving in its course. It pays to slow the pace and listen. In the stillness, you sense you are not alone. The silence lingers. Here, beyond the noise and restlessness of the world, you find peace in every step. What once burdened you surrenders to something deeper. Swallows descend in telepathic streams as if to rouse you from your reverie and remind you of all that awaits in the days ahead. Time to get a move on! The mist lifts and a pathway, once obscured, becomes clear again.

The final day along St Declan’s Way is as liberating as it gets. By now, your muscles are conditioned to the demands of the task and they work on autopilot. They ache a little but you have that spring in your step needed to make it to the end. The sea appears on the horizon and stays there elusively beyond your reach until you arrive on the beach at Ardmore some two hours later. It’s good to take your hiking boots off and feel the cool water massage your feet. We retrieve the child-like wonder of it all as if for the very first time. Our footprints linger until the tides roll in to shore. We climb the holy hill and rest awhile in solitude beneath the tower. It feels good!

Arrive on Camino open to discovering something new about your place in the universe. The great outdoors have a way of nudging you in the right direction. It’s better to simply let go of your presumptions about life for a while and let the journey itself take hold of you. Dare to take that first step. You’ll be glad you did!

‘Dare to Be’

When a new day begins, dare to smile gratefully.

When there is darkness, dare to be the first to shine a light.

When there is injustice, dare to be the first to condemn it.

When something seems difficult, dare to do it anyway.

When life seems to beat you down, dare to fight back.

When there seems to be no hope, dare to find some.

When you’re feeling tired, dare to keep going.

When times are tough, dare to be tougher.

When love hurts you, dare to love again.

When someone is hurting, dare to help them heal.

When another is lost, dare to help them find the way.

When a friend falls, dare to be the first to extend a hand.

When you cross paths with another, dare to make them smile.

When you feel great, dare to help someone else feel great too.

When the day has ended, dare to feel as you’ve done your best.

Dare to be the best you can –

At all times, Dare to be!
(Steve Maraboli)

This Sunday, August 29th 2021, we lead our first group along St Declan’s Way. We look forward to sharing the path with our friends from Celbridge. After all the uncertainties of the last 18 months, it’s great to be back. In late September we lead a group from Our Lady’s Hospice and into next year we look forward to welcoming groups from around Ireland, Norway and the States. For further information, check out www.waterfordcamino.com You can contact Phil and Elaine directly on info@waterfordcamino.com

Phil Brennan

Posted on July 31, 2021

Posted in Phils Blog |

The day has come…

When someone encourages you, that person helps you over a threshold you might otherwise never have crossed on your own.
There are times of great uncertainty in every life. Left alone at such a time, you feel dishevelment and confusion like gravity…
(John O’ Donohue)

We can’t wait to lead our first group along St Declan’s Way at the end of August. Our voyage in business has taken a circuitous route since we started out 4 years ago but it has led us to where we want to be. In a strange, somewhat fortuitous twist of fate, the pandemic has given us the time to take a more circumspect look at our tours and to hone in on what can work best for us as we come out the other side. It has not been easy to be honest. Like many others, we’ve had to press pause for most of the last 18 months. We’ve had to dig deep. We’ve had no choice. We are ready to rise again.

On the Camino of life you quickly learn that you cannot do it on your own. St Declan’s Way is no different. Each journey is only as good as the people you share it with. What stays with you are the unscripted moments that you could never plan for. Over the course of the 5 arduous days of walking, you learn to rely on the comraderie of others when the going gets tough. It’s the chats that carry you – the stories, the laughs, the songs. 23km each day 5 days in succession is not easy. An elemental solidarity kicks in and you know you’ll make it to the end. It’s hard to explain it. Strangers become friends almost unknowingly. It’s sealed over a pint or a cuppa when the walking is done. It’s the simple things that make it all the more worthwhile.

Before starting out on our path from the Rock of Cashel, we take a little time to connect to source – from where it all began. It was at this very location St. Patrick conferred on St. Declan the status of Bishop of the Déisi Muman people of Waterford after one of the many occasions when they met here. What few realise is that Declan had been working with missionary zeal in the South East of Ireland long before the coming of St. Patrick in 431AD and that his epic Camino over and back to Cashel from Ardmore to meet with Patrick actually predates the iconic Camino de Santiago in Spain by over 400 years. A carved stone icon of Declan stands quietly, resolute, amid the silent ruins of a bygone time. In the stillness you feel the timeless wonder of it all.

St Declan’s Way is more than a journey of 115km but a journey through time of well over 1,500 years. Here on this ancient ‘Rian Bó Padraigh’ once trodden by the saints of old, we pass castles and forts, holy wells and hidden vaults, breathtaking views and barren places – an eclectic collage of visual sensations that seep deep into the prism of the mind as we make our way. Faint whispers rise above the hallowed hill and linger for a while. In the solitude, you hear the distant echo. You sense the presence of those who have walked this way before. It is they who have blazed the trail… we who follow in their steps.

The Knockmealdown Mountains are absorbing in their beauty and in the challenge they present. Day 3 and the limbs are tiring. The 14km hike over the mountain pass down into Mount Melleray will live long in the memory. This is wilderness; bleak, barren, remote yet compelling in its simplicity and in the honesty it asks of you. The lens widens to reveal a pattern that can be lost in the minutiae of life below. The panorama opens up as one vast kaleidoscope of vista and colour that rolls out gracefully to the seas beyond. Your eye gravitates to the River Blackwater as it navigates its mystical course through shimmering light en route to Youghal. You’ll be glad of the cuppa when you descend the tree lined pathway into the Abbey. You might just feel like something a little stronger when you realise that you still have another 10km to go before you arrive in Lismore! It’s all part of the Camino experience.

Herein lies the magic of St Declan’s Way. Each trail gives you space to breathe, to step back a little from the world for a while and connect to source again. It is good to detox, to clear the head of all that burdens it, to find perspective. It is strangely reassuring to know that whatever it is you’re going through, others before you have gone through more and persevered to the end. The destination matters, but so too the steps in between. Along St Declan’s Way, no two days are the same; one day you’re hiking over a mountain, another by the water’s edge as it rolls from source to the seas beyond, passing castles and forts, old monastic settlements and vibrant eco spaces – each concealing secrets beyond the gaze of the passer-by.

We place a real value in creating experiences along the way that will live long in the memory. We have assembled a team of guides that allow us to do just that; Iain Tweedale from Wales with his quietly spoken wisdom to match the warmth of his smile, Br Phil Ryan with his assuring stride and intimate knowledge of the land, Alice O’ Donoghue with her honesty and passion for all things ‘Lismore’, Mark Rylands who leads us over the Knockmealdowns in a way that brings the microscopic to life, not to mention the ‘Boss’ herself, Elaine, who has a way of putting everyone at their ease and making sure we all make it to Ardmore with a spring in our step even when our energies are waning. Almost unknowingly, you unearth reserves of courage that you never knew you had and somehow you find the strength to keep going. You re-claim the truest version of yourself. You feel the release from all that has held you back to this point. You find your way home.

Our planning is done and the pieces are falling nicely into place. Coach transfers are sorted each day in association with Suirway Coaches, we come back each evening to the comfort of our en suite rooms whether it is in The Tower Hotel, Waterford, Cahir House Hotel or the Guest Rooms in Mount Melleray Abbey. Luggage is transferred onwards each day and waiting for you in your room on arrival, packed lunches on your table each morning for the day ahead, dinner each evening – all culminating in a Gala Dinner on the final night in the 13th Century Choristers’ Hall in Waterford Treasures to celebrate the feat and to receive your stamped Pilgrim Passport. It was from here over 500 years ago Mayor James Rice set sail to do the Camino de Santiago on two occasions. Ancient vaults welcome the pilgrim home once again. It’s fitting too that our first group is from Celbridge in Kildare. Our very first Camino started our with Bridie O’ Connor and her friends over 4 years ago. We’ve seen them every year since. Loyalty of this kind is priceless!

It’s hard to stay positive when the elements conspire against you. Trust us, there were days over the past year when we wondered if our business would withstand the tumult. Our raft was floating out to sea at the mercy of elements we were powerless over. You connect to something deeper to carry you when the winds are up. You’ve got to trust the universe, you’ve got to trust yourself. You will find your bearings all over again. You’ve just got to wait for the tide to turn!

Do not fight against the torrent, do not look for that immediate quick fix, never worry what the world will think, do not force a resolution that will not last; instead seek out stillness, listen to the lapping of the waters, observe the majesty of the birds in flight, become aware that you are part of something far greater than yourself. Peace of this kind is rare. It does not present itself cheaply. You have to earn it. You have to be prepared to step back from the world as you know it and simply breathe.

Then you discover for yourself what philosophers, poets and mystics have tried to articulate over the years – the source of life is all around us. You feel it in the kindness of a friend, in the humming of a lark, in the setting of the sun. Listen and you will hear. Wait for the door to open. Wait for the dawn to break!

…When a friend comes with words of encouragement, a light and lightness visit you and you
begin to find the stairs and the door out of the dark.
The sense of encouragement you feel from the friend is not simply her words or gestures; it is
rather her whole presence enfolding you and helping you to find the concealed door.
The encouraging presence manages to understand you and put herself in your shoes.
There is no judgment but words of relief and release.
(John O’ Donohue)

Dr. Phil Brennan and his wife Elaine look forward to rolling out St. Declan’s Way this autumn. It will be lovely to share the path with Our Lady’s Hospice and The Marie Keating Foundation in the months ahead and to be welcoming groups from Escape Travel, Norway and Celtic Journeys, USA from Spring 2022. You can contact Phil and Elaine directly on info@waterfordcamino.com For further information, check out www.waterfordcamino.com

Phil Brennan

Posted on June 28, 2021

Posted in Phils Blog |

The wellbeing way – Waterford

“With room to breathe and room to think, we can live a more meaningful life.
And this type of ‘room’ is not necessarily physical space; rather,
it is the absence of all that is extraneous alongside the sweet feeling of liberation
that comes with realising that you have enough,
and that you are enough, just as you are.”

(Michelle Ogundehin)

The day breaks as the sun casts its crimson glow across the bay on this summer solstice morning to announce the arrival of a new dawn. If this time has taught us anything, it’s that time itself is precious. We stand here on a stepping stone between all that has passed and all that is yet to come. This moment matters!

It is not always easy to slow down in a world that moves at pace. Exertion without rest drains us to the core and dims our coordinates. We heave our way from one target to the next on the treadmill of life and rarely connect to source. The last year has been a ‘wake up’ call for us all. It has made us slow down a little and given us the space to weigh up what matters. It is good to press pause now and again. Here, by the water’s edge, we learn to let go of the excess, to shed anything that does not serve us well. The waves roll to shore with unwavering ease to remind us that we are part of something far greater than ourselves – that we are not alone.

Everyone needs a little solitude, a chance to retreat to your very own ‘still zone’ and just be. From this place of silence, we find peace. We are ready then to rise and allow the light we have drawn from source guide us the rest of the way. It is good to break free to the waters and the wild, to breathe in the freshness of the open air, to feel the breeze on your face, to freewheel in the slipstream of the natural wonders that await around every bend. There’s a life force at play here, something primordial, elemental even, that carries you along. Once we step off the beaten track, we leave the world as we know it behind for a while. It feels good to be alive!

We all walk the Camino of life with a cadence and a spirit that is uniquely ours. No two people are the same. Unscripted moments along the path often lead to unknown places you would never find on your own. People pass your way for a reason, each with their own story to tell, their own song to sing. We’ve discovered this for ourselves over the last few years on our Camino trails. Two such people, Deirdre Lawlor and Sinead Gaynor, joined us on a Camino weekend last September and a ‘spark’ was lit. They’re stuck with us now! These encounters do not always happen by chance. I’ll let our two friends, part of the aptly titled the ‘Hiking Hussies’ from Prospect, Ballymoney, tell the story from here…

Deirdre – It was September 2020 and we just about got to squeeze in our trip to Waterford before everything closed down again! A friend had booked a group of us for a weekend on the Waterford Camino. I had no idea what to expect but was happy to be getting away!

From the moment we arrived, Elaine and Phil made us feel like we were visiting old friends. We only stayed for one night and reluctantly left on Sunday after our boat trip in Dunmore East. Over the course of the two days we laughed, we cried, we reflected and we ate! Spending time in nature with Phil and Elaine as our guides was an experience that stayed with me long after we got home.

I have been passionate about wellness and self-development for a long time. My background is in early years education and I was always fascinated by the beautiful and curious nature of children and the change that happens when they get a bit older and become conscious of what society expects from them. They say we are born knowing love and learn to fear – it’s so true.

During a particularly turbulent time in my life, I looked for answers everywhere but eventually realised that everything I needed was inside. That spurred me on to train as coach and NLP Practitioner specialising in personal wellbeing and development. Many of us carry hidden wounds in life. I guess life has taught me that real healing comes within. The weekend away in Waterford awakened something in me that had always been there. Sometimes it is good to give yourself a little space to retrieve from within the reserves you need to help you handle what life throws at you. Time with Phil and Elaine did just that. It got me thinking…

Sinead – As I look out tonight across a magnificent sunset sky, I am in awe of the beauty all around me and find myself counting my blessings. To the forefront of my mind and my musings are my friends, ‘the hiking hussies’, that have become such a big part of my life in recent years. We were the fortunate ones last Autumn stealing away from Covid fatigue, our families and commitments to enjoy some much-needed down time in each other’s company.

I knew there were plans to walk the Waterford Greenway, experience the now extended Dunmore East Cliff Walk and hike in the Comeragh mountains, but nothing could have prepared me for the memories I know I will cherish and remember for many years to come. I immediately liked both Phil and Elaine, and was struck by their passion and energy, their wicked sense of fun and their clear, genuine intent to give us ‘hussies’ a truly great holiday. Little did we know that some weeks later we would join forces to begin a partnership that has culminated in an exciting new business venture – the Wellbeing Way.

As we hiked through some of Waterford’s most spectacular scenery, I got to know Elaine and Phil and they got to know me and my good friend and business partner Deirdre. I shared some of my own background, what was important to me and how much I admired what they were doing with Waterford Camino Tours. They listened. I just knew deep down something special was happening.

My passion and interest in Wellbeing has stemmed from my 20 plus year practice as an executive coach and leadership development facilitator. In running my own corporate training and development business I have always appreciated and valued the importance of self-care and I live by the motto ‘you cannot pour from an empty cup’.

My own cup was overbrimming with renewed passion, energy and vitality following our mini-Camino and so I wondered if there was a way of channeling our collective gifts into creating a ‘time-out’ that was unique to us and built on the natural synergy between the wellbeing, resilience and personal development work I was doing for my clients, the life coaching expertise Deidre brought to the table and the magic of Phil and Elaine… a few months later, here we are, on the cusp of where we want to be…

Our wellbeing way has the beautiful surrounding of Faithlegg House Hotel in Waterford as our base where you will have a chance to relax and unwind after spending the day walking along the headland in Dunmore East, or cycling a stretch of the Waterford Greenway, swimming or paddle-boarding in between and having the craic! The universe works its own unique brand of magic. We just create the conditions and allow the rest to happen. We will be rolling out our ‘Wellbeing Way – Waterford’ this autumn. It will evolve in its own way as it is meant to. We can’t wait!

Time out off the beaten track is good for mind, body and soul. It’s strangely liberating to leave civilisation as we know it behind and abandon ourselves to the power of the great outdoors. Our ‘Wellbeing Way’ is more than just a break away. It draws you into something deeper in the universe, in you!

“Make of yourself a light,”
said the Buddha,
before he died.
I think of this every morning
as the east begins
to tear off its many clouds
of darkness, to send up the first
signal — a white fan
streaked with pink and violet,
even green…
Even before the sun itself
hangs, disattached, in the blue air,
I am touched everywhere
by its ocean of yellow waves.
No doubt he thought of everything
that had happened in his difficult life.
And then I feel the sun itself
as it blazes over the hills,
like a million flowers on fire —
clearly I’m not needed,
yet I feel myself turning
into something of inexplicable value…

(Mary Oliver)

Phil and Elaine are excited to be teaming up with Sinead Gaynor and Deirdre Lawlor to roll out ‘The wellbeing way – Waterford’ this autumn along with our ‘Celtic Camino in the steps of St. Declan’. Our autumn schedule is almost fully booked and our followers will be delighted to know that our bookings for 2022 are already shaping up well. We’ve some lovely announcements to come. Watch this space! There are places available for our 3 Day Wellbeing Way from Tuesday September 21st with Faithlegg House Hotel as our base. For more details and pricing, you can email us directly at info@waterfordcamino.com

Phil Brennan

Posted on May 15, 2021

Posted in Phils Blog |

The long walk home

If one has courage, nothing can dim the light which shines within… Since a price will be exacted from us for everything we do or leave undone, we should pluck up the courage to win, to win back our finer and kinder and healthier selves. There is no failure as long as you learn from your experience, continue to work, and continue to press on for success.

(Maya Angelou)

I like nothing more than to go for a gentle jog along a coastal path near where I live in Tramore. It helps clear the head and sets me up for the day ahead. One particular run I do leads me on a loop around the back strand, down the beach and back to the prom for a well-earned cool down in the sea. Just me and the universe, as the early morning sun casts its crimson glow across the bay. It’s as liberating as it gets! Once or twice old niggles surface on the soft sand and I turn the bend four miles out to face the long walk home. The elements often conspire to make it that bit tougher; rain, hailstones, a strong breeze coming right at you… you’ve got to dig deep. You’ve no choice!

The long walk home is your defining hour. It can make you or break you. I sometimes lose it for a moment, release a few choice words into the heavens and question myself for being out there in the first place. Just as well there’s no one around. It’s the frustration you feel more than the pain. Running to standstill – this was never in the plan. The way ahead seems blurred and in the haze I struggle. I find it good just to slow my cadence right down, stop by the water’s edge, breathe, listen. The ebb and flow reminds me that this too will pass. Waves roll into shore with unwavering ease to calm the stirrings of the restless mind. The universe always speaks when you need it most. Stillness draws you back to the source from where you find the strength to go again. You know you’re not alone. Your way back starts with one single step.

We cannot change the cards we’re dealt in life but we can choose how we play them. It is not how we start; it’s how we adapt when things don’t go to plan. Painful episodes leave a scar that only those closest will ever see. Hidden wounds become part of who you are. Somehow, you must find that spark even in the darkest of places. You cannot give up. I remember at one time in my life when things were particularly scary, staring out the window in search of a sign to help me move beyond my deepest fears. I could see a small bird on a ledge not too far from my humble abode surveying its surrounds before it took flight. There we were, before the world was yet to waken, just me and this bird.

I began to visualise the bird leaving the sanctuary of its lofty perch, its fragile wings yielding to the vagaries of the wind as it soared through the skies. At that moment, it felt so real. A once captive creature was free again to re-claim its place in the cosmos. The reverie lingered and lulled me back to sleep just for a while. When I awoke, the bird was still there. It had stayed exactly where it was. I needed to get closer. As if aware of my curiosity from afar, the bird nodded gracefully before descending at pace into the darkened space below. Minutes later, it reappeared, and rose steadily to embrace the freedom beyond the narrowed walls it had left behind. Light seeped through shaded skies as dawn broke. I too would rise.

A small, delicate creature had unearthed something in me I never knew existed. Its mystery lingered and eased the simmering pain of a broken man. Unspoken, unannounced… a simple truth had set me free. The peace we seek along the way doesn’t come from superiority and might. It flows from the deepest, most vulnerable part of our being, that unmistakable core within that makes us unique. A meaningful life does not come from being rich, being popular, being highly educated, being perfect. It comes from staying true to you especially when you’re tested most and staying humble to the end. Listen to your gut, your inner compass. It always points you where you need to be. Your deepest pain can reveal your higher purpose. Every fall is the beginning of your flight.

Gravitate to the light and the shadows will soon pass behind. Good people are priceless. You know the type. Those who will never hide away, who lift you up when you fall, who remind you of the song you’ve still got to sing. Others can be quick to ridicule and to judge. They have no idea of the price you have paid to be where you are now. Make time for those who are weak and are broken along the way. Make time for them. They too have their story. Walk the path with them rather than look on from afar. Leave your imprint on the sands of time. One tiny act of kindness ripples out in quiet abandon into the universe to reveal the source that makes it all possible in the first place. God is love and those who trust in love will endure to the last.

Musical airs drift into the evening skies in mystical homage to what has gone before. Chords once lost have now been found as I learn to laugh and smile all over again. Life feels good. This time everything does not have to rhyme. There is beauty in the flawed note beyond the reach of those who cannot hear. Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore. A voice whispers from afar. You are a child of the universe. No less than the seas and the stars you have a right to be here. You have come this far. Now make your way home!

Starting today, learn more, laugh more and do what you truly love to do. Do not be denied your destiny. For what lies behind you and what lies in front of you matters little when compared to what lies in you.

(Robin Sharma)

Phil and Elaine are excited to be teaming up with Sinead Gaynor and Deirdre Lawlor of ‘ReNew You Retreats’ to roll out ‘The wellbeing way along the Waterford coastline’ from this autumn and to be rolling out our ‘St Declan’s Camino’ from August this year. September is already fully booked. You assemble the group, leave the rest to us. Check out www.waterfordcamino.com or email us directly at info@waterfordcamino.com

Phil Brennan

Posted on April 13, 2021

Posted in Phils Blog |

The day time stood still

Matara, Sri Lanka, December 26th, 2004, 9am.

Charles Hewawasam looked out through the front door of the church. One large wave was rising just beyond the shoreline and moving swiftly towards the island. The people had their backs to the onslaught oblivious to what was coming their way. In all his years looking out on the Indian Ocean, this Sri Lankan priest had never seen anything like it. The sound was deafening as roaring torrents crashed in around them. Terror gripped his flock as they gasped in disbelief. They rushed out of pews with arms flailing, voices screaming, hands grabbing children, legs stumbling, tripping… torrents gushing through the double doors, bodies flung against pews and pillars.

Charles directed the people to take the steps to the balcony beyond the sacristy to the rear of the church. The higher level offered their best hope of survival. Some followed; others fled the building, fearing for their lives, hoping to outrun the relentless surge. Men in the 80s, children as young as four, all in a race for their lives. Of the 28 who fled, none survived! The raging sea waters churned and swallowed everything in their path. A car ploughed through the double door and pinballed against the stone pillars inside. Those who stayed behind and made it to the balcony… they were the lucky ones!

Charles knew there was more to be done. Piercing screams alerted him to people in trouble outside. He waded through the waters trying desperately to reach as many as he could. The current was strong. One by one, he carried them inside. Frenzied hands and petrified faces struggled to withstand the pull as they drifted downstream. There, amid the chaos, he noticed his mother. He could see her face as the waters swirled with ominous intent. Time was not on his side. He waded through the torrent once more and managed to catch her hand. He pulled her towards him and wrapped his arms around her. The receding tide dragged them both towards the sea. They clung to each other and to a lamp post close by. It saved them…

The Peace Choir visited Matara 2 years later and sang for the same people who were in the church that morning. Charles welcomed us with open arms. Our harmonies merged with the hushed tones of the waves as they rolled gently into shore. Pain and courage oozed through the smiles on faces we had never seen before. We listened to their stories. Many recalled the aftermath of the tsunami. Christians, Buddhists, Muslims came together to bury their dead, to feed each other, just to mind their neighbour. Their tragedy was their stepping stone to a sacred space they might not otherwise have known. Their common humanity is what carried them. Their solidarity for one another found expression in kindness. Nothing else mattered!

Something about my time in Sri Lanka has stayed with me ever since. The people have a spirit that no wave could reach. There was a bravery in how they picked up the pieces and started all over again. Their grace is of a kind that invites you in. When you give a gift to a child, it is not opened for days. The gesture alone is what pleases. The simplest of things take on a whole new meaning; a cricket match by the shoreline, a walk along a sandy beach as the sun sets, a visit to a Buddhist shrine that is precious to them, laughter and song… you being with them has a value beyond rupees. When the child speaks, it pays to listen:

The day was clear
The sun shone bright
Upon my island home
When all at once wailing echoed from her shores.
And it came whirling, swirling, churning and sweeping
A monstrous twenty-foot wave
With a booming voice and mighty hurt
Destroying everything in its way.
Father and mother grieving
For their loving children lost.
Little children searching everywhere,
Searching for! their parents lost.
The waves shattered Sri Lanka
Yet humanity it could not break.
Compassion, love and kindness reached out to all,
And gave hope in every way.
Oh Tsunami you ! hit us
Expecting us to fall.
But we will rise stronger,
Much better than before.

(Excerpts from ‘Tsunami you hit my island home’ by Ivan Corea, Sri Lanka)

How we emerge from our darkest hour defines us as people. Life is not always an easy free-wheel downhill. Tough days bring us to the edge. We unearth what we need to carry us the rest of the way. Time of tragedy can become a time of hope. The Chinese have a term to capture this. The ‘Kintsugi’, or that quake out at sea, can bring pain and possibility in equal measure. The broken pieces from the tremors assume their past through the trauma, and, land on safe ground paradoxically more resilient and more beautiful than before the shock. We grow through our hard times. As we wade through the darkness, we discover the true strength of the brilliant light within that can never, ever, be dimmed.

Time has stood still for us all over the past year. We’ve felt it in ways we could never have prepared ourselves for. Maybe as we re-emerge from the other side of this pandemic, it is not a time to look back and try to have everything we once had. We all have a choice to make here; to retreat or to advance, to fall into old habits or to allow our deepest instinct guide us the rest of the way. You have to trust your gut. It aligns your life with where you need to be. Invest your energies wisely. It pays to to have a purpose that is yours and yours alone. Seize it lest it pass you by!

You would rather find purpose than a job or career… purpose is an essential element of you. It is the reason you are on the planet at this particular time in history. Your very existence is wrapped up in the things you are here to fulfill. Whatever path you choose, remember the struggles along the way are only meant to shape you for your purpose.

(Chadwick Bosman [1976-2020], Actor, Howard University Address to the class of 2018)

This piece is dedicated to Agnes and all our friends in Weligama, Sri Lanka.

Phil and Elaine are planning for later this year to roll out their signature Camino experiences. We are taking group bookings from mid-July in the hope that the vaccines will have worked their magic by then. You assemble the group, leave the rest to us. September is fully booked. Check out our range of Camino offerings on www.waterfordcamino.com and if you have any specific inquiries email Phil and Elaine directly at info@waterfordcamino.com

Phil Brennan

Posted on March 12, 2021

Posted in Phils Blog |

There comes a time…

The last goodbye is never easy. There’s a deep emptiness that no words can fill. You stand and stare and feel the aching loss. The finality of it all does not seem fair. In the numbness, you search for answers that lie out there, somewhere, beyond your reach. The rawest pain of all is when you lose someone close to you, someone you’ve come to know and love, someone whose presence has made your world all the more safe and secure. You wait for the fog to lift. You know you need to pick up the pieces, you’re just not sure how. You know there comes a time…

Grief brings us face to face with our fragile hold on life. We languish for a while on the edge of the precipice with nowhere to turn. The normal certainties are no more. We momentarily forget and expect to find him there where he always was. It’s just not the same anymore. Our tried and trusted compass points seem obsolete in shades of light we have not seen before. We owe it to those around us to brace the elements and make our way home. The road ahead seems strange but somehow the universe reminds us that we are not alone.

Everyone must leave something behind when he dies, my grandfather said.
A child or a book or a house or a wall built or a pair of shoes made.
Or a garden planted. Something your hand touches some way so your soul has
somewhere to go when you die and when people look at the tree or that flower
you planted, you’re there.
(Ray Bradbury)

There comes a time… to allow your memories breathe again. What you lived and loved, you never lose. It becomes part of who you are. Narrow down the lens of time and retrieve the unscripted events that matter most. The funniest memories often reveal so much about the person. Relive the humour, the love, the magic of it all. It matters even more now. Remember the tough days too, the decisions that needed to be made, the courage, the passion, the unwavering faith ye had in each other. It is natural to want to hold on. There is meaning in the memory. We grieve for someone who didn’t tell us how to live. He lived and let us watch him do it. It’s the simplest of things that define our legacy. Their spirit lives on in what they leave behind.

There comes a time… to start living all over again. It is not easy. We lash a life force that supposedly cares and question how it could allow all this to happen in the first place. The answers we seek may never come. We wade through the torrent not quite sure if it’s even worth making it to the other side. Think of those who need you. They rely on you for strength in ways you may never know. You are their connection with the one you both love. They long to see your smile back. Take that one step into the unknown even if you’re not quite sure where it’s leading to. Day by day, you will find your way. What is of lasting value lies within. You will find a courage you never knew you had.

When our days become dreary with low-hovering clouds of despair, and when
our nights become darker than a thousand midnights, let us remember that there
is a creative force in this universe, working to pull down the gigantic mountains
of evil, a power that is able to make a way out of nowhere and transform dark
yesterdays into bright tomorrows.
(Martin Luther King)

There comes a time… to open the blinds again and allow the light in. Our instinct can be to batten down the hatches and hide away for a while. The world outside will not have changed but your life has in ways you will feel with each passing day. So, go easy at first. Watch for the rays seeping out between the clouds, see the daisies and the buttercups return, observe the trees fill up again with leaves, listen to the laughter of a child and know that there is hope for us and for the world. There’s a life force at play in the universe that will not let us down. Be still on occasion and observe. As wave follows wave into shore, you sense the energy that makes each movement possible. Miniscule and all as each life may appear, we are one fragile note in a wider symphony that gives it meaning. The song is over but somehow the melody lingers on.

There comes a time… to choose the companions you want alongside you for the way ahead. Love is really the only thing we can possess, keep with us, and take with us. Family and friends will want to be there for you as you have been for them. Your true friends will find ways of reaching you. Don’t be afraid to let them in. Cook those dinners again, plan your day trips, take a stroll along the water’s edge. Never feel that you are alone. People understand more than you know. Some will have felt that same pain before. Where there is empathy, even in the most microscopic of exchanges that the world may never see, there is healing. Having the right people by your side is everything. It can see you through the storm.

And once the storm is over you won’t remember how you made it through, how
you managed to survive. You won’t even be sure, in fact, whether the storm is
really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm you won’t
be the same person who walked in. That’s what the storm is all about.
(Haruki Murakami)

The reality is that you will grieve forever. You will not ‘get over’ the loss of a loved one; you will learn to live with it. You will heal and you will rebuild yourself around the loss you have suffered. You will rise again but you will never be the same. Nor should you be the same nor would you want to. There is a light in each of us that we’ve got a hold of for an instant before we hand on to future generations. The spark lives on in the child that follows. Your light will shine again. Do your best. Let life do the rest.

In memory of Elaine’s Dad, George Harvey, who died on February 22nd, 2021.

Phil Brennan

Posted on February 11, 2021

Posted in Phils Blog |

Stepping out into new frontiers

We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time…

It’s almost a year now since we bid farewell to our last international group. We led a family of American visitors on our ‘Greenway to the Falls’ experience. They were due to stay in Lismore Castle for 7 days but had to fly home 3 days early as the pandemic kicked in both sides of the Atlantic. The sun shone down on us for the day we spent together. We cycled the Waterford Greenway from Durrow into Dungarvan, made a detour to sample the panoramic delights of the Copper Coast before lapping up the Irish stew in Kiersey’s, Kilmacthomas. Our walk through Crough Woods up to the Mahon Falls rounded off a perfect day. Little did we all know when we parted 12 months ago what we were facing into.

The uncertainties of the last year were not easy to navigate. In ways, all we could do was anchor in at the isle awhile and wait. Our bookings literally vanished overnight. It has led us into the twilight zone where once reliable coordinates have dissolved into the unknown. Tried and trusted formulas have had to yield to the uncontrollables of this pandemic. Like everyone else, we’ve had to dig deep. We kept ourselves busy; doing some additional research on all our trails, connecting with tour operators from Oslo to Milan to Boston, exploring new trails when we were free to move beyond our 5km, and hosting some amazing Irish groups at the latter end of last summer. We’ve had time to think, to anticipate, to explore… to push out the boundaries of our thought processes. No one said it would be easy. It hasn’t been. We will hoist those sails again… we all will!

Sometimes, when it feels like the elements are conspiring against us, we find that ‘spark’ to guide us on your way. Here on the edge, our antennae hone in on what matters. We put a value on people we know we can rely on when the chips are down, we gravitate to kindness in its rawest most vulnerable form, we learn to laugh again, we feel the pain of those who are broken… we drop the trappings and strip life down to only the essentials. We have to trust our deepest instincts when the going gets tough.

The great outdoors have a way of aligning our lives with the power of the universe. It pays to step off the beaten track every now and then. During the summer, we walked along the path of St. Declan from Cashel to Ardmore. By the end of it, we knew we were alive. Our feet were sore, our limbs ached, but we made it. We walked by the river’s edge as the Suir rolled seawards from Cahir, we took the original pathway of Declan over the Knockmealdowns, we passed castles and forts and tombs along the way… our cadence changed to the rhythm of what was happening around us. You don’t even see it happening. But you know! The world you return to may not have changed, but, somehow you have. There is no turning back!

…Through the unknown, remembered gate
When the last of earth left to discover
In that which was the beginning;
At the source of the longest river
The voice of the hidden waterfall
And the children in the apple-tree
Not known, because not looked for
But heard, half-heard in the stillness
Between two waves of the sea.
(T.S. Eliot)

Random experiences don’t just always happen by chance. The universe has a way of leading you to where you need to be. We have not created the St. Declan’s Way Camino. It has been there for centuries waiting to be discovered. This is more than a journey of 112km but a journey through time of well over 1,500 years. St. Declan’s Way actually predates the Camino de Santiago by over 400 years. Right back in the 5th Century, St. Declan walked this very path on his return trips to Cashel from Ardmore to meet with St. Patrick. Declan was in Ireland spreading the Christian story two decades before Patrick. Here on this ancient ‘Rian Bó Padraigh’ you come to know that you are part of something far greater than yourself. You sense that you are not alone!

We have met with people along the way and have been guided by them; from hoteliers to walking groups to historians to the monks in Mount Melleray. Our week long Camino includes overnights in Cahir House Hotel, Mount Melleray Abbey, The Round Tower Hotel in Ardmore and the Tower Hotel Waterford. Coach transfers, packed lunches, evening dinners, even stamped Camino passports and all part of the experience.

We are thrilled to announce that Br Phil Ryan will become part of our team into the future. We’ve been working closely with Phil now for years in the Edmund Rice Chapel. He has been missed since he went to Bray but we’ve kept a strong connection with him over the past 2 years. Phil hails from Tipperary so there’s no one better we can think of to lead us out from Cashel across pathways he knows so well. Iain Tweedale in Wales will also become a key part of our team going forward. Iain has become a great friend through lockdown helping us to produce our monthly Virtual Taizé Vigils. Some of our Caminos will take in a little of St. Declan’s Way, then onto St. Kevin’s Way in Glendalough before doing a little of St. David’s Way along the West Wales coastline.

There have been so many people working below the radar for years now helping to open up the old St. Declan’s Way as a pilgrim experience. The St. Declan’s Way Committee and Knockmealdown Active have been the driving force behind making this ancient pilgrim path accessible again after all these years. By this summer, it is hoped that the entire route from Ardmore to Cashel will be a fully way marked and signposted trail. It is due to be inspected and approved by Sports Ireland as a fully validated pilgrim way over the coming months. All the new signage and map boards are being manufactured at the moment. The timing could not be better. It is just what people will need when we come out the other side of this pandemic. Serendipity at its best!

We carry more inside than the world can see. We are creatures that worry, that beat ourselves up, that struggle to pick up the pieces. Now, more than ever, hold onto your belief in who you are. Keep doing what it takes just to hang in there until the storm passes. Do not let go of your dreams for the future. They are more precious now than ever before. Little by little, we will all get there.

My grandmother once gave me a tip:
In difficult times, you move forward in small steps.
Do what you have to do, but little by little.
Don’t think about the future or what may happen tomorrow.
Wash the dishes. Remove the dust. Write a letter. Make a soup.
You see? You are advancing step by step.
Take a step and stop. Rest a little. Praise yourself.
Take another step. Then another.
You won’t notice, but your steps will grow more and more.
And the time will come when you can think about the future without crying.
(Elena Mikhalkova)

***

Dr. Phil Brennan and his wife Elaine look forward to rolling out St. Declan’s Way as their signature Camino experience from August 2021. For further information, check out our St. Declan’s Way Camino on www.waterfordcamino.com or contact Phil and Elaine directly on info@waterfordcamino.com.

Phil Brennan

Posted on January 8, 2021

Posted in Phils Blog |

Before you know kindness…

“Before you know what kindness really is
you must lose things,
feel the future dissolve in a moment
Like salt in a weakened broth.
What you held in your hand,
what you counted and carefully saved,
All this must go so you know
how desolate the landscape can be
between the regions of kindness.
How you ride and ride
thinking the bus will never stop,
the passengers eating maize and chicken
will stare out the window forever…”

Life can be a strange ole puzzle to crack at times. Just when we’re on the cusp of making sense of it all, events can conspire to leave us clasping for clarity all over again. No man’s land can be a desolate place. We’re caught between conflicting forces struggling to make our way in a world that has lost its familiarity. It’s hard to make it through unscathed. There will be times when we’re really tested. It is then we can feel most alone. Barren places often bring us back to where we belong. As the mist lifts, we come face to face with the truth about ourselves. All that once was is seen with new eyes. Trust your path. You have arrived at this point for a reason.

There is a spark in each of us that tends to kick in when the pressure is on. We see it every day in the stoic courage of ordinary people dealing with crushing blows in life who somehow find the strength to hang in there when they’d have every reason to give up. These people show us the way. Just look at the heroism of people who have put their own lives at risk to protect and care for others over the past year. Doctors, nurses, labourers, teachers, shop assistants, neighbours… you name it, good has been unleashed into the world just when we needed it most. Human kindness is the life force that has carried us through. It is this we need to hold on to as we come out the other side.

Our destinies are not mapped out for us in advance. It is now we shape the course of what is yet to come. Listen to your inner voice and map your goals accordingly. No matter how tough it has been, dare to believe again as if your life depended on it. The way ahead will be shaped by your attitude. Channel your energies into discovering what makes your life worth living. If there’s something in you that you have always wanted to do, make it happen. Do not wait. Resist doubt at all costs for despair is a luxury none of us can afford. The purpose of life is a life of purpose. When you passionately believe in something that doesn’t exist, create it. It starts with one single step.

Before you learn the tender gravity of kindness,
you must travel where the Indian in a white poncho
lies dead by the side of the road.
you must see how this could be you,
how he too was someone
who journeyed through the night with plans
and the simple breath that kept him alive…

A light rises through the shadows to guide us on our way. We cannot do it on our own. It pays to stay grounded and humble. Often the voice of the silent one needs to be listened to most. The raw, broken story of people who have endured real pain in life lies beyond the lens of social media. Real prophets speak their truth quietly. They have a dignity that lingers long after their last note is struck. You see it in their smile, in their tenderness, in their stoic courage. Above all you see it in their humour. They find something so strong inside!

I am slowly realising that we cannot come to know the people on the margins from a safe distance. Walking alongside the homeless has led me to a new place. Here I have discovered the indivisible union between me and those singing before me. We are one. Maybe it’s that I know only too well what it feels like to be broken, to lose everything, to slip up, to fall short… only when we come to know the homeless as friends, when we share the most precious gift of all, our time, with them, do we come to see in them the reflection of our truest selves.

Everyone has a story to tell. It pays to listen, to make time, to be there… to open the pores of our humanity to the needs of others. There are many out there with burdens to carry far greater than you can ever imagine. Beneath the surface lies a decency that the eye may not always see. As the world walks by, slow you cadence a little and you will hear. We are all shaped by what has happened to us in life. Our flawed note completes our song rather than takes from it.

Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,
you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.
you must wake up with sorrow.
You must speak to it till your voice
catches the thread of all sorrows
and you see the size of the cloth…

Make time for people along the way but be discerning. Your time is precious. Gravitate to those who do not act for show. The world is full of pretense. What is real is all that matters. The rest is froth. There are certain things that we should never sell out on. Dignity doesn’t just mean being stiff and composed. It means a belief in oneself, that one is worthy of the best. Dignity means that what I have to say is important, and I will say it when it’s important for me to say it. Dignity really means that I deserve the best treatment I can receive. And that I have the responsibility to give the best treatment I can to other people.

Ultimately, you and you alone can shape the course of what is to come. Believe in yourself even when storm clouds gather and the way is not so clear. Strive to be the best version of you, complete with all your strengths and limitations. For always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. The peace we seek along the way doesn’t come from superiority and might. It flows from the deepest, most vulnerable part of our being, that unmistakable core within that makes us unique. So do not be denied your rightful place in the universe.

When you show vulnerability, you give others permission to do the same. Vulnerability is not weakness; it is our most accurate measurement of courage. This truth once discovered changes everything. Your hour of uncertainty creates an opening for the light to shine through. The storm clouds part and the landscape, though somewhat tinged by pain, glows with a hue you may have never noticed before. No bird soars too high if she soars with her own wings, no matter how broken they may be.

Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore
only kindness that ties your shoes
and sends you out into the day to mail letters and purchase bread,
only kindness that raises its head
from the crowd of the world to say
it is I you have been looking for,
and then goes with you everywhere
like a shadow or a friend.”
(Naomi Shihab Nye)

Phil and Elaine are happy to wait until this uncertainty passes before we roll out our signature Irish Camino Experience in the year ahead. We’ll rise again when it is safe to do so. Check out our range of Camino offerings on www.waterfordcamino.com and if you have any specific inquiries email Phil and Elaine directly at info@waterfordcamino.com

Phil Brennan

Posted on December 21, 2020

Posted in Phils Blog |

A light flickers… Christmas on no man’s land

Christmas time has its own magical allure. The lights, the gifts, the music, the myriad of sporting spectacles beamed live to our sitting rooms, the gatherings among family and friends, the scent of the turkey roasting in the oven, the frenzied shopping, the carnival atmosphere in town; all combine to create something wonderfully festive that eases us almost unknowingly through the dreariness of the Irish winter. This year, after the year we’ve had, it all seems very different. Now, as the year rolls to a close, a faint light makes its presence felt. In the dark, the eye begins to see.

This Christmas we’ll value those we have around us that little bit more. We’ve missed people in a way we could never have foreseen. We’ll have them home again. Human connection is everything. For a while, it felt like we were stripped of all we once lived for. Maybe we needed the nudge in the right direction. We have retrieved what is best in us. We checked in on each other while all around us human goodness carried us through the madness of it all. In this unwanted space across a once obscure land, we found ourselves. It would be a shame to let it go.

The star still shines, oft’ hidden and unnoticed, to light the way. Beneath the layers of tinsel and chimes, lies the age-old story that gives it meaning. Christmas 2020 is our time to see again what might have passed us by before. ‘Silent Night’ brings us back to where it all began. The poignant lilt of the harmonies of this age-old carol leads us to a place we may have left behind. There we find the simple truth hidden within its hallowed lines. We sense that we are not alone… that our story is part of something timeless in our midst. Our song, though flawed and broken, lingers long into the night.

Christmas 1914 on the battlefields of Messines brings us face to face with the power of this simple carol. Picture the scene. Young men and boys sunk in the blemished mud of Flemish and French trenches, ears reverberating to the terrifying sounds of shells exploding before them with a deafening defiance – scarcely imaginable to spectators from afar. Germans on one side; the French, British and Irish on the other. Between them, ‘no man’s land’ littered with the spoils of war, a sordid premonition of the fate in store for up to 13,000 soldiers a day.

Yet, amidst the chaos, hope simmered fleetingly on the horizon. The German soldiers were sent Christmas trees from home and placed them above their trenches, numbing the oppressive doom that enveloped them. A strange confluence of dark and light rose from the shadowy mire. The luminous trail extended for miles, a seamless halo from afar that transfigured the wretched landscape. The soldiers were moved. They remembered their loved ones back home.

They momentarily forgot where they were. And then the German tenor sang ‘Stille Nacht’. Soldiers from both sides fearlessly opted to leave the relative sanctuary of the trenches and embraced their ‘foe’ as their own. Stories were told, cigarettes smoked, brandy consumed, even a football match was played. Once hostile voices merged as one in common humanity.

A young British soldier, Albert Moren, near La Chapelle D’Armentieres, France, recalled: “It was a beautiful moonlit night, frost on the ground, white almost everywhere; and… there was a lot of commotion in the German trenches and then there were those lights – I don’t know what they were. And then they sang ‘Stille Nacht’ – ‘Silent Night’. I shall never forget it. It was one of the highlights of my life.” Echoes from afar whisper softly through veiled skies.

Against the bleakest of backdrops, a spark was lit and the shroud lifted. Humanity had become participants in the nativity story 1914 years on revealing the face of the infant Jesus to the world. Their song echoes in the stillness of the night. Hidden in the silhouette, their hushed murmurings can still be heard. The men of 1914 did not just remember the first Christmas; they lived out its meaning.

I was privileged to travel to Messines in December 2014 with The Island of Ireland Peace Choir to pay homage in song to the young men of the Christmas Truce on the 100th anniversary. It was deeply humbling to see the graves of two Irishmen side by side in one of the tiny cemeteries scattered across the furrowed fields. On one headstone: 24th of December 1914, Private Delaney; on the other, 29th of December 1914, Private Murphy. In between… the Christmas Truce. Something timeless spilled out onto the battlefield that silent night that must never be forgotten. Sleep in heavenly peace.

In the stillness, you will hear. As sparrows soar homeward in telepathic waves through the evening skies, you will see. Slow the pulse down and you will feel their truth rise through the shimmering light. Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore. We honour them today as we did then – in song. Its soft refrain lilts through the cold air… to somewhere only they know.

“When you sing Alleluia
You must give your bread to the hungry
Clothe the naked
Shelter the stranger
By doing this not only does your does your voice sing
But also your hands are in harmony with your voice
As your deeds are in accord with your words.
May your light lead the way for others to follow.”
(St. Augustine, 3rd Century AD)

This Christmas members of the Peace Choir and friends managed to get into the Edmund Rice Chapel to record, within the current guidelines, our 10th annual ‘Christmas Truce 1914 – Carols Vigil’. This year, we felt it was more important than ever before to tell the story in song. It can be viewed on our Waterford Camino Tours facebook page anytime from 8pm on Wednesday 23rd of December, 2020.

Phil and Elaine would like to wish you all a peaceful and happy Christmas and everything you wish for in 2021. For further information, check out our website on waterfordcamino.com or email us directly at info@waterfordcamino.com

Phil Brennan

Posted on November 2, 2020

Posted in Phils Blog |

This Is The Time To Be Slow

This is the time to be slow,
Lie low to the wall
Until the bitter weather passes.

Try as best you can, not to let
The wire brush of doubt
Scrape from your heart
All sense of yourself
And your hesitant light.

If you remain generous,
Time will come good;
And you will find your feet again
On fresh pastures of promise,
Where the air will be kind
And blushed with beginning.
(John O’ Donohue)

Lie low to the wall until the bitter weather passes…as light fades beyond sombre skies, we sense what is coming before it has arrived. The way ahead blurs into obscurity. Barren spaces rarely offer shelter when the weather turns. We feel alone and lost, estranged from the world we once knew, captive to the elemental fury of wind and rain as it sweeps down around us. Nothing can quite prepare you for the torment. Times of trial pushes each one of us to the edge. It takes courage just to hang on in there. Each step forward summons up reserves we never knew we had. It’s amazing what we discover about ourselves when we are tested most.

When the deluge arrives, it can appear like an ambush. Here along a mountain pass up the Comeraghs, 12 of us quickly discovered there was nowhere to hide. One minute, we were cruising along at low altitude in stunning sunshine; the next engulfed in a storm we could not escape. Remind me never to trust the weather app up the mountains. Rain, gales, hailstones can descend on you in an instant without warning. We were all soaked to the skin. The wind howled with ominous intent as we braced ourselves for the way ahead. Step by step, we trudged onwards. All we could do was check in on each other and remind ourselves of the safe refuge that awaited in the village below. We would make it…together!

Nothing beats the glow of a warm fire when you make your way back. We stopped off at Kiersey’s in Kilmacthomas for lunch. One of the group spotted a Charity Shop and within minutes everyone had dry clothes to change into. As we tucked into our toasted wrap and soup, little did we know that the Manager had collected our wet clothes, tumble dried them in her home up the road and had them neatly folded for us when it was time to go. It was a defining moment for all of us! Pure kindness of this kind is never just for show…it comes from a place we all need to find. People like Jenny lead by example. A day on Camino so often mirrors the story of our lives. In a world that can be cynical to high ideals, it pays to remain generous. You cannot beat basic human decency.

There’s a general anxiety out there that I have not seen before. You feel it in the atmosphere. It’s strange not being able to do all we once took for granted. The uncertainty it brings is affecting everyone differently. I guess collectively as a people we’re being tested now like never before, not just in the literal sense. We’re all in it together yet each one of us have our own way of coping. The spinning around us may not stop for some time. Now, more than ever, it pays to place your feet on solid ground, to process what is of real value and to let go of the rest. If we were all honest with ourselves, this is the reality check our lives needed.

Anthony de Mello tells a powerful story of the wise man, or Sannyasi, who had withdrawn from the world in his search for happiness. The Sannyasi had reached the outskirts of the village and settled down under a tree for the night when a villager came running up to him and said, ‘The stone, the stone, give me the precious stone’. ‘What stone?’, the Sannyasi replied somewhat puzzled by the strange request. The villager went on to explain. ‘Last night the Lord Shiva appeared to me in a dream and told me that if I went to the outskirts of the village at dusk, I should find a Sannyasi who would give me a precious stone that would make me rich forever’. The Sannyasi rummaged in his bag and pulled out a stone. ‘He probably meant this one’, as he handed the stone over to the villager. ‘I found it on a forest path some days ago. You can certainly have it’. The man gazed at the stone in wonder. It was a diamond, one larger than any precious stone he had seen before. He took the diamond and walked away. All night he tossed about in bed unable to sleep. Next day at the crack of dawn he woke the Sannyasi and said, ‘Give me the wealth that makes it possible for you to give this diamond away so easily’.

Maybe the world we’re in had lost its way long before Covid reached these shores. Seize on the opportunity this time presents to anticipate possibilities for yourself and for those you love that you might not otherwise have imagined. Dare to see things differently. Dare to be yourself! Now is the time to be true to you rather than drift anonymously into the slipstream of others. A reliance on social media is not good. It’s crucial to have a life beyond it. What we project of ourselves online and what we see and read of the world around us does not always correspond with the truths we know. So choose wisely how you spend your time. Find your very own way of trying to make sense of it all. Stillness is the key to navigating any storm.

A good book can elevate you to a space where you begin to see more clearly. Some people’s stories can inspire us to believe all over again. ‘My Journey: Jim Stynes’ is a book that has quite simply changed how I look at everything in my life. I loved Jim as a footballer but the imprints he leaves behind go well beyond his sporting achievements. You might remember Jim as the tall, athletic Dublin Minor Gaelic Footballer who went on to become an Aussie Rules legend. At 42, healthy, fit, President of Melbourne AFL and a married father of 2, Jim was diagnosed with metastatic melanoma and faced the battle of his life with stoic courage until his untimely passing 3 years later. He was honoured by a State Funeral in Melbourne on March 27th, 2012. Jim Stynes embodies all that is good in humanity.

Tough times help us to distil the ebb and flow of life down to what really matters. We strip it of the excess that we no longer need to sustain us on our way and start to build again on solid ground. The light breaks through darkened clouds to guide us on our way. This month, I want to leave the last word to Jim. He is the man! He inspires at the deepest of levels. Long may his star shine!

“If you get stuck, look around and there will be another way. Don’t be afraid to take a risk, take on a challenge, try something new. Improvise. Think independently!…

I had found, through my treatment over the past 18 months, that anything I was unhappy about or troubled by slowly rose to the surface. One by one, these light bulb moments would come to the front of my mind. I began to think of them as precious stones that simply needed to be gathered up and polished to help lead me to a better life. Sometimes they would force me to confront aspects of my life that I was not especially comfortable with. These were stresses that I had carried around with me for years. So I began to knock them off one at a time.

One of the most important stones was that of understanding the art of ‘being there – learning to be present, rather than being distant because your mind is on what happened earlier that day, not thinking about solutions to unrelated problems or sending a text message when someone else is talking to you…

In the city I would be too busy to stop, to look around and listen. At the beach there were times when the only noise was the birds calling, or the waves lapping at the shore. I noticed how the treetops stooped in the wind, the patterns of the tides and the clouds. There was time to think deeply, to contemplate what it all meant.

I had always believed that life was about becoming all you could be. It was about opening yourself to opportunities to learn and experience new things. In the end it’s not the years in your life that counts; it’s the life in your years.” (Jim Stynes)

Dr. Phil Brennan and his wife Elaine look forward to welcoming groups to Waterford again once this time of uncertainty has passed. Our website www.waterfordcamino.com has recently been re-modelled to reflect our unique offerings for 2021. For further information, email Phil and Elaine directly on info@waterfordcamino.com