Author: Thom

After lunch, four of us sped through the countryside, talking and laughing. Eamon, Petra, and I met up with our old friend Kristof in Lorca. As we caught up, the kilometers just flew by. Date: 05 April 2013Place: approaching Villatuerta (Navarra, Spain) Map! Image

This image of Santiago decorates the wall of the Albergue de Lorca / La Bodega del Camino. Although I’ve never spent the night here, I did eat here during both our 2013 and 2016 Caminos. It’s a dark, cave-like place, and it’s wonderful. The food is solid, and the atmosphere can’t be beat. The image also reminds me that earlier […]

The dramatic angle of this photo of the Parroquia de San Salvador in Lorca is required by the narrowness of the street in front. The walk to Lorca was cold, windy, and muddy. Spent most of the morning walking with Eamon and Charlie. An unexpected portion of it was highway walking, as part of the Camino was washed out. It’s […]

Memorial to Skov Arne Schmidt. A Danish pilgrim aged 76, he died of a heart attack near this spot in 2011.  In 2012 his widow and family members erected this iron cross in his memory. Date: 05 April 2013Place: approaching Lorca (Navarra, Spain) Map! Image

Shortly after crossing a modern steel and concrete bridge over the busy A-12 highway, we cross a rather more modest and, dare I say it, human-scaled bridge over a small stream with the rather imposing name of Regacho de Dorrondoa. Although the bridge is meant to call back to its Roman and Medieval antecedents, my understanding is that this was […]

While this is clearly not a Roman aqueduct, it’s definitely in territory that they once developed. During our Caminos in Spain, we’ve seen a great many complex modern irrigation systems, but I think this was the only one that wasn’t on the Meseta. And it’s certainly the tallest. It’s enough of a landmark that it’s even on the map below. […]

This represents the coming together of two threads in Camino life: ubiquitous graffiti and the ongoing discussion of what constitutes a “true pilgrim” The “true pilgrim” is generally understood as not being, for example, a hiker or a tourist. Some of these discussions get pretty crazy, along the lines of the “no true Scotsman” fallacy. This graffiti, found in an […]

The Roman road from Cirauqui has clearly seen better days. While I’m sure this was a useful and lovely bridge when it was built, and perhaps for centuries thereafter, it’s now rather a chore to cross. Apparently the warrantee ran out after the first thousand years or so. Having said that, it’s definitely better than no bridge at all. Date: […]

My apologies for the fuzziness. As we walked the Roman road from Cirauqui, we could see this lovely bit of landscape art. I tried to zoom in on the image, with the results you see here. I don’t know if this still exists, as I don’t remember seeing it on our 2016 Camino. Date: 05 April 2013Place: between Cirauqui and […]