Walking the Camino de Santiago
Today is the feast of Saint James the Apostle, son of Zebedee and Salome of Bethsaida, brother of Saint John the Apostle and Evangelist. One of the “Sons of Thunder” (Mark 3:17). Santiago. On this day last year, I wrote about what we know of Saint James from scripture and tradition. That was before I had walked 500 miles to […]
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God’s communications with us humans are often subtle. As the Prophet Elijah discovered, the Voice of God is often to be found in the whispering wind (1 Kings 19:11-13). Sometimes, however, God reaches out and whacks us upside the head, either physically or mentally. One such time in the history of the Church is the famous story of my name […]
» Read moreMy post-Camino reintegration proceeds slowly. Today, I got the first seven days of my Camino posted to Flickr and tagged. Day 8 is loaded as well, but I haven’t tagged the photos yet. LINK Enjoy! More to come as I am able.
» Read moreWell, we’re home at Pistachio House. Many thanks to Mel and J for getting us from the airport. Counting the bus, planes, and layovers, that was 36 hours of travel. I reckon I’ve done a 50-hour day today, so a real update will have to wait. Shower and my own bed. It feels good to be home.
» Read morePraise God, yesterday at about 3pm, we arrived in Santiago de Compostela. On the way into the city, we kept running into people we knew – people who had shared some portion of the walk with us – probably a dozen reunions before we even reached the Cathedral. Entering the plaza in front of the Cathedral was an experience like […]
» Read moreAn easy walking day today of only about 20 km. Once again, Francine has been powerwalking in the mornings and slowing down in the afternoons, which is fine as this is my method as well. I try to plan our lunch stop for about two-thirds or so of the way through the day’s distance. Before leaving Arzúa this morning, we […]
» Read moreThey say you meet the Devil three times on the Camino. While I cannot (yet) attest to the veracity of this tradition, I can verify that his temptations are to be found everywhere. Despite such temptation, yesterday we completed the long, long walk from Palas do Rey to Arzúa, aka “Cheesetown”, a distance of about 30 km in the pouring […]
» Read moreWe’ve made excellent progress the past two days through the undulating farm and forest lands of Galicia. We’ve certainly had our share of weird weather en route, from sudden hailstorms to today’s gale-force winds, but overall it’s been sunny and cool. In my experience so far, there are three basic kinds of people walking the Camino: pilgrims, tourists, and hikers. […]
» Read more27 April A beautiful, mystical walk in the forests of Galicia this morning. Unfortunately, thanks to a drunken Englishman with a penchant for snoring and shouting in his sleep, Francine got very little sleep last night. By the time we got to Sarria, she was done for the day. We had a last lunch with Eamon and bid him adieu […]
» Read more26 April We walked through the Galician mists today, to the magnificent monastery of Samos. While we were enjoying our second breakfast, who should come ’round the corner but my NZ buddy Eamon! Lunched in Triacastela and convinced him to accompany us to Samos. He was not disappointed. Galicia seems like home – almost a faerie-tale country – and the […]
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