Walking the Camino de Santiago
Today was probably the most physically challenging day of my life so far. We bought some sandwiches and left Saint-Jean in good spirits. We soon met up with Penny, a seventy-ish woman from Idaho and Matthias, a young German who started his Camino three months ago from his home in Köln. Penny wasn’t walking with a pack, having sent hers ahead. […]
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First breakfast and Lauds at Corazón Puro. István and Barbara drove us to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port. We are in France! We stopped in at the pilgrims office for our orientation and map. Then to Boutique du Pelerin to pick up our new hiking poles and an Opinel (with a corkscrew, naturally).We walked up to the citadel – the medieval castle was apparently […]
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It was 24 hours of travel! High winds in London meant flight delays. We were an hour late in landing, and we had some panicky moments when we thought our flight from Heathrow to Madrid might be canceled.Fortunately, it was only delayed about an hour. We made up some time in the air, and landed 45 minutes late. We breezed […]
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When in April the sweet showers fall And pierce the drought of March to the root, and all The veins are bathed in liquor of such power As brings about the engendering of the flower, When also Zephyrus with his sweet breath Exhales an air in every grove and heath Upon the tender shoots, and the young sun His half-course […]
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One week from today, we will be in Spain. Yowza! It’s odd, this countdown being the same as the countdown to Easter. It seems to give both things an even greater urgency, as if that were even possible. Since we volunteer in our parish, this week – Holy Week – is already pretty busy. Now add to that the fact […]
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This evening at the end of the Vigil Mass for Palm Sunday, our pastor imparted to us the traditional Pilgrims’ Blessing. The specific rite was originally recorded in the Missal of Vich Cathedral in Barcelona, and is thought to date to about the year 1078. We are very grateful to Fr. Wichert, our pastor, for imparting this ancient blessing to […]
» Read moreThere has not been a lot of training this week. In fact, I have not left the house since Sunday. I get migraines a couple of times a year. Normally, I can spot the symptoms of a developing migraine and “head it off at the pass” with hydration and Excedrin. On Saturday afternoon, however, I did not spot the symptoms […]
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My hosting provider has been wildly unreliable for the past 24 hours, with the site going down intermittently sometimes for hours at a time. As they keep telling me, “we are really sorry for the inconvenience”. Even making this post has been an exercise in patience as the site keeps going down. At this time there is no indication of […]
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On the beautiful, sun-shiny Saturday just past, Francine and I walked 18 kilometers. I’m still a little achy! Francine’s foot was bothering her, and she very nearly called it quits at 4k. Instead, we slowed our pace down from 13-minute kilometers to 15-minute kilometers, and that made all the difference in the world. We still needed rest breaks every so […]
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