Walking the Camino de Santiago
You don’t often get traffic jams on the Camino, but when you do they usually involve livestock. This flock of sheep is coming down a farm road to take over the Camino on their way to their grazing pasture. Fortunately for me, this photo was taken looking backwards towards the village of Viscarret where we had lunch, so we missed […]
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Just around a corner in one of the little plazas of Viscarret, we came upon a bar with outdoor seating and lots of pilgrims. We sat down to my first Camino lunch. Here we see Cliff and Eamon chowing down on their packed lunches. I, on the other hand, popped into the bar and discovered the delights of the bocadillo […]
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From field and forest, the Camino emerges onto an asphalt and concrete path running a few meters off of the busy N-135 highway. Eventually, we arrive at the next village, variously called Viscarret, Biskarreta, or Viscarret-Guerendiain, depending on whether your native language is Spanish, Basque, or Bureaucracy. Once in the village, the Camino runs down what was probably once the […]
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This wooded area of Navarra has signs indicating that in the Middle Ages, it was known as a “witch wood”. To me, though, it seemed some sort of otherworldly faerie forest, perhaps in the western reaches of Middle Earth. Walking here, with its brilliant green mosses and dull brown fallen leaves, you could almost imagine yourself walking in Harlindon in […]
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The Camino is home to hundreds of small monuments – historical and religious markers, roadside crosses, and memorials of fallen pilgrims. And this one, in the forests of Navarra? It seems to have the same text in three languages (Basque, Spanish, French?) asking pilgrims to pray the Salve Regina to Our Lady of Roncesvalles. So here we are. Sing along, […]
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While the principal inhabitants of the surrounding meadows appeared to be sheep and lambs, there were a couple of areas where we ran into these guys. Ponies? Horses? I don’t know the difference, but they were furry and friendly. Date: 02 April 2013Place: Between Espinal and Viscarret (Navarra, Spain) MAP! Here’s the route I’m walking today (Roncesvalles to Zubiri).
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We snuck off the road for a few moments into a meadow with a gorgeous view of the mountains and surrounding forests. Here we see Eamon, sandwich bag still firmly in hand, marveling at the beauty surrounding us. First lesson of the Camino: take time and occasionally get off the road. You never know what you might find. Date: 02 […]
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At some point while we were in Espinal, the rain turned to sleet. This is Cliff, in the sleet, having just readjusted his shoes and pack. I think he’s got the same Osprey pack I do. Cliff is a retired firefighter from Massachusetts, walking on some new replacement hips. He joked that he was walking the Camino while they were […]
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I met Eamon and Cliff in the woods just before Espinal. Eamon is from New Zealand, and he had come to a crossroads in his life, the solutions to which he hoped to find on the Camino. He had walked from Saint-Jean, though I was told that the pass was closed. We walked together until León – a distance of […]
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And here we are at our second quaint little village of the day, Espinal. It was about here that I actually started conversing with some of my fellow pilgrims. You’ll meet a couple of them in the coming days. There’s not much to the village – this photo probably contains half of the village’s buildings. Date: 02 April 2013Place: Espinal […]
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