Connecting with a group of Tasmanian pilgrims is giving Oleg Shostak a chance to see his home city of Lviv in western Ukraine differently.
Mr Shostak is one of about 800 pilgrims from 47 countries taking part in The Way to St James global pilgrimage — which is based around a two-day walk in Tasmania's Huon Valley — this weekend.
The Tasmanian pilgrimage, inspired by Spain's Camino de Santiago, was held as a virtual event in 2021 and 2022 because of COVID-19.
While it is back in its original form this year — with 80 pilgrims walking about 30 kilometres over two days from Mountain River to the Spanish-style St James Church in Cygnet — it is still attracting people from around the world who are walking where they live, and keeping in touch with fellow pilgrims via social media.
"I will try to see my city [through the] eyes of a pilgrim, not only a resident," Mr Shostak said.
"I want to see again how beautiful my city is, and how ugly things [have been] done by Russian invasion."
On the first day of his pilgrimage, he walked through Lviv's open-air museum to see examples of traditional Ukrainian architecture, through the city centre where monuments have protective covers to shield against missile strikes, and to a military memorial "to remember what price Ukraine pays for freedom".
He said the pilgrimage was an opportunity to feel "in peace".
Way to St James Cygnet organising committee member Leanne Prichard said about 10 people from Ukraine had signed up to take part in the global pilgrimage.
Ms Prichard is walking the Tasmanian route with a Ukrainian flag attached to her backpack.
"Often we can feel helpless about what we can do for people in Ukraine and in other parts of the world, and the whole thing about the Camino is bringing the community together and bringing the world together," she said.
"To be able to do that with Ukraine is quite special."
Lois Yip is joining the pilgrimage from her home on the outskirts of Vancouver in Canada.
"I'll be walking along the Trans Canada Trail to the St James Church in downtown Vancouver," Ms Yip said.
She said the church was in a disadvantaged community.
"I'm walking towards people that really need a lot of help, there's people down there that need just a 'hello' and 'how are you today' and I open up to that as I walk."
It is Ms Yip's third time joining the Way to St James global pilgrimage.
She had already developed a love of walking the Camino in Spain and Portugal, but when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, that became impossible.
"I was isolating [because of COVID] and I was feeling really down and then this [global pilgrimage] came up on my Facebook somehow and I thought, 'that sounds really interesting, it could be motivating for me'," she said.
"It has really helped me along, I love walking with them."
Ms Yip said despite the distance, she felt part of a community.
"I always felt that the Caminos, or the pilgrimages, should be open, but the world should be like it — it's such a beautiful feeling just walking and taking care of yourself and taking care of other people," she said.
"The world needs it and here's this small place [in Tasmania] that I'd never heard of before and had to look up on a map, and it just fell into place."
Way to St James Cygnet founder, Father Michael Tate, said the growth of the global pilgrimage was "a wonderful, unexpected effect of the COVID crisis".
"It shows that throughout the world there's a yearning, in our frantic, frenetic, blinkered existence, to have a couple of days where you walk with a purpose," Fr Tate said.
In Tasmania, the pilgrims carry a pebble that they will lay at the foot of the icon of St James at the end of the pilgrimage, which Fr Tate said signified "lightening their burden that the started the journey with".
"I can't imagine the burden in Ukraine, but everybody carries something," he said.
"We've tapped into a universal yearning, I think, to have natural beauty contouring the soul."
Betty Lake did the pilgrimage virtually in 2020 and 2021, and this year has travelled from Broome to join the Tasmanian pilgrims.
"It's the challenge of being part of a group of walkers, not hikers, but walkers, and also a challenge for me personally to be able to walk the way of St James."
Ms Lake said she was "really hoping" to go to Spain in May.
"To walk the way of St James to [the Cathedral of Santiago] de Compostela.
"That's my goal."
Ms Prichard's niece and nephew, Ruby and Bede Prichard — aged 17 and 15 — said they enjoyed meeting others on the pilgrimage, but also taking time to reflect.
"Pilgrimages are meant to be a meditative and quiet time," Ruby said.
"It's nice and slow and simple," Bede said.
