Author: Thom

Apologies for the lack of posting the past couple of days. We were working as volunteers for Save Tacoma’s Landmark Church. Our (first annual?) gala auction was Saturday. The Iglesia de la Asunción in Villatuerta was built around 1200, burned down by the invading Castilians in 1378, rebuilt in the following years, and expanded in the 18th century. I’ve heard […]

The Camino winds its way through the suburban neighbourhoods and thoroughly modern buildings and plazas of Villatuerta before rather abruptly fetching up at this bridge, which seems to be an incongruous throwback to the Roman or Medieval era. Indeed, on the map it’s labelled Puente Románico de Villatuerta. A nearby sign indicates that it was built in the 13th century […]

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 […]