Cilla Cole's website (more great reads there) cillacole.com.au
Cilla Cole grew up in Avalon and after finishing school, spent a year as a Rotary Exchange Student in Indonesia. After studying Economics and Anthropology at Sydney University, she completed a Graduate Diploma in Tourism at James Cook University, Townsville, before returning to Sydney to work in wholesale travel.
Now with four children she works part time with her husband Richard as the office administrator for the family architecture firm, Richard Cole Architecture and as a volunteer for the NGO Good Return, while spending her spare time planning the next holiday and writing about the last.
Her just released book The Camino Diaries is a great read which shares one of those trips from the perspectives of three walkers; herself, her father in law, and his architect.
The Camino De Santiago or The Way of St. James ( 'French Way' or simply 'The Way'), is a network of pilgrims' ways or pilgrimages leading to the shrine of the apostle Saint James the Great in the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia in northwestern Spain, where tradition has it that the remains of the saint are buried. Many follow its routes as a form of spiritual path or retreat for their spiritual growth. It's also popular with hiking and cycling enthusiasts and organised tour groups. The Camino Francés, or French Way, is the most popular.
How many of us know someone who has actually completed this marathon pilgrimage though and can hear, first-hand, about what is seen and what can be found along the way?
Although in journal form this shares a very immediate perspective of a very long walk. You can feel the sun, and the cold rains, even marvel on the falling of snow; see the sights such as a foal just wobbling to its feet, the descriptions of lunches and dinners, although matter of fact, and the changes in that menu through the regions traversed, make for a very interesting read and may even leave some readers hungry!
The descriptions of villages, the getting of stamps for the ‘passport’ – the landmarks, the way traversed, even the scallop shell, often found on the shores in Galicia, which has long been the symbol of the Camino de Santiago are better than and documentary on this journey as they come from familiar voices – or voices with a familiar tone – our own.
A chat with our July 2019 Artist of the Month - Cilla Cole:
Where were you born?
At Mona Vale Hospital! I grew up in Avalon so haven’t strayed too far from home. My father passed away a few years ago but my mum is still in the same house in Careel Bay. Apparently when I was little, we were driving past the hospital and my mother asked, “Who was born there?” and I replied: “Jesus?”
Where did you go to school?
I went to Avalon Public school after Playtime Kindergarten (just like our kids did) and then travelled up to the North Shore (to Abbotsleigh) for high school.
Have you always loved writing or always done a lot of writing?
A little bit. I remember enjoying creative writing in primary school. I came across an old school report recently from my second-class teacher (Mrs McCarthy) who had listed ‘written expression’ in the column beside “Aptitudes and Strengths” and added ‘Perhaps she will become a writer?’
And I always kept a diary when travelling.
Have you travelled very widely?
Not necessarily but I had the chance to travel to some quite different places as a teenager to Africa and Tonga, and after school I spent a year in Indonesia as an exchange student. I also did the classic Europe backpacker trip in my 20s and about 10 years ago we took off for three months to travel around Australia on a camping trip.
Why did you decide to do this legendary walk?
After we were married, Richard and I went travelling around Europe on a sort of extended honeymoon. Just before we left his father told us about a long walk he wanted to do in France and Spain and we said, since we’d be in the area, why don’t we meet up and we’ll do it with you. So we didn’t really give it much more thought than that and as a result, I really didn’t know what I was getting myself into. The Camino is very well known now, but it wasn’t then. Even now, most people ‘just’ do the Spanish part which is half of what we did. But my father-in-law doesn’t do things by halves! Although if you read my diary, I may not have seemed grateful to him at the time for suggesting this walk, looking back it was an amazing thing to do, and a great time to do it before it got too busy and well known.
What were the standout moments for you, naming the most challenging and the most memorable?
The most challenging would be trying to walk with blisters and very sore feet while keeping up with the others, as we all had pretty different personalities and abilities. By the end I could manage the longer days without too much complaint but the early weeks in the cold and rain were hard work.
I think the places that stand out in my memory the most are the tiny simple churches and small medieval towns in France which we had time to wander around in and explore. I think having walked to them, it almost felt like we had just come across them and that they were our own special discovery. There was also one particular day early on in the walk which was a beautiful sunny day after having snowed overnight and everything was dusted with snow. The whole landscape seemed to be in black and white apart from the yellow heads of the daffodils poking through.
How did The Camino Diaries begin?
About 4 years ago, I realised it was 20 years since we had walked the Camino and I thought it would be a nice idea to type up the diary entries and send them by email to family and friends on the corresponding day twenty years earlier. When I told Terry (my father in law) about my project, he immediately offered me his diary “to provide the facts”. He claimed I would have made up everything in my diary. So, over the next few months, I sent out our journal entries and they gained a bit of a following. Many family and friends said they had become quite addicted to their daily soap opera!
I really enjoyed doing that and reliving it all (although it was excruciating at times) and I felt a bit flat when it was finished. So, I then thought I’d put them together in book form, together with photos and Richard’s sketches, as a Christmas present for the family. I also got in touch with Tom, the fourth member of our group, who kindly agreed to contribute his diary too, which added another perspective again and some lovely descriptions of the architecture along the way (he is an architect).
And then, since I had done all that work on it, I thought I may as well go the final step and produce it in paperback form.
I’m very grateful to Terry and Tom for contributing their journals as it certainly wouldn’t be the same without them. And for being such good sports about it!
My father-in-law, Terry, is a former judge and later led the Royal Commission into the building industry and when I was sending out the daily email instalments, I apologised for some of the things I’d written about him, giving the excuse that I was young and had lots of time to think etc but he just said, “Don’t worry Cilla. You should have heard what the Unions said about me!”
And Tom’s diary was great too – it added another element again, especially about the architecture and scenery and also gave another very different take on the whole thing. I feel I gave Tom an undeserved hard time, yet I see now I would have been very frustrating to walk with.
What did it feel like to finish this Pilgrim’s marathon?
It was a real anticlimax. We just finished and that was it. (We felt pretty fit though!)
We (Richard and I) went to London afterwards and worked for around six months to earn the money to come home. Then it was back to living in the real world – finding work, buying a car and a house and a year later starting a family… and packing my diary away in a box for the next twenty years!
This is also a very locally produced work too though – the cover design is by Emma Long at Penguin Creative in Avalon and the book also includes some of Richard’s sketches – it must be great to have produced something with such wide appeal locally?
Yes, it made it a very fun project, with friends and family involved. Emma was very patient with me when designing the cover! And Samantha Miles, (formerly of Finch Publishing at Mona Vale but has now set up Bad Apple Press which The Camino Diaries is published by) helped edit it and she said she felt she knew us all personally by the end and felt a bit sad when it was all over. And Richard’s sketches illustrate the book beautifully – he kept a sketchbook instead of a diary during the walk and now says he is very glad he did!
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Day 10 sketch Estaing - by Richard Cole
Life must be full and busy – must have been busier too when Richard was President of Avalon Beach SLSC?
More so for him than me then – I was kept pretty busy with family life though. Our four children are growing up now and becoming more independent – only two are now living at home – so life is a lot less frantic. With more time up our sleeves, we have even started talking about doing a bit more travel – so you never know, maybe we might go on a long walk somewhere…?
What are your favourite places in Pittwater and why?
Careel Bay as it is where I grew up – I love the pelicans cruising around and I spent many days as a kid exploring the mangroves with friends in a canoe and building a cubby house there. There is also a bit of a tradition on Christmas Day to have a treasure hunt through the mangroves with the extended family. It’s always the same treasure (chocolate coins) but always fun.
Also Currawong. I have stayed there a few times and our family had a Christmas there once – it is just across the water but feels a world away and I love its low key and relaxed feel.
What is your ‘motto for life’ or a favourite phrase you try to live by?
I should probably say something profound and Camino related like, ‘It’s not about the destination, but about the journey” but, having just had a melanoma removed, another favourite phrase at the moment is: “Don’t forget your sunscreen!”
The Camino Diaries
By Cilla Cole, Together With Terry Cole And Tom Keelty And Illustrated By Richard Cole
Available through Beachside Bookshop, Bookoccino and Berkelouw Books Mona Vale or direct from the author: www.cillacole.com.au ($25)
What's it about?
Is it madness or naivety when a young woman thinks walking the ancient Camino de Santiago pilgrimage path with her husband, her father-in-law, and his architect, would be a fun way to spend her honeymoon? But it doesn’t take Cilla long to realise that walking 1500 kms across France and Spain with a single-minded judge and an ex- Army commando and avid bushwalker will be no sightseeing holiday.
Experience the landscapes, cuisines and eccentric personalities of the Camino de Santiago, not to mention the tears and tantrums, through this compilation of the candid journals kept by Cilla, her father-in-law Terry and friend Tom when walking the ancient pilgrim trail across France and Spain together in 1995.
Much like the medieval pilgrims who walked the same path 800 years before them, as adversities start to take their toll and divergent motivations clash, this unlikely group find themselves inside a walking pressure cooker. But there are three sides to the story.
*Over the centuries the scallop shell has taken on a variety of meanings, metaphorical, practical, and mythical, even if its relevance may have actually derived from the desire of pilgrims to take home a souvenir.
