Pilgrims on the Way

From Burguete the Camino takes a hard right down a farm access road and into the woods. This is the first proper overland bit. As you can see, it’s raining and the stream is somewhat swollen with the springtime melt. Despite the weather, I could not have been more excited. Date: 02 April 2013Place: Leaving Burguete (Navarra, Spain) MAP! Here’s […]

Linda and I stopped in the first likely looking place we found, Bar Fronton in Burguete, for café con leche and a slice of pie. I liked it so much that three years later Francine and I had breakfast in exactly the same place. Linda liked it so much that she stayed for a second cup of coffee while I […]

Burguete is the first town following Roncesvalles, less than an hour’s walk. In this photo, you can see their peculiar street drainage system. You might also note that it’s raining. Maybe not optimal for the first day of my Camino, but it sure beats snow! By this time, Linda and I had met up and walked awhile together. We were […]

Much of the action of The Song of Roland takes place in and around Roncesvalles. This stone cross is located in the forest about 3km from the monastery. It is sometimes called “La Cruz Blanca” for the original colour of the stone, and it commemorates the spot where the Paladin Roland either died or was buried. Date: 02 April 2013Place: […]

This is one of the photos that every pilgrim takes. The sign just just outside of the grounds of the monastery of Roncesvalles. The distance, of course, is by highway. Everyone agrees that this is not the actual distance of walking the Camino. What that distance is, nobody can say with certainty, except that this isn’t it. Date: 02 April […]

With a final glance over my shoulder, I leave Roncesvalles, alone with my thoughts. I would seem to have fallen quickly behind the crowd, a theme that would recur often in the coming few weeks. I would run into Linda in just a few moments on the Way, but for now the Camino was silent in the pre-dawn hour. Date: […]

On the morning of my first Camino walking day, I was awakened at 6:30 to “Wake Up, Little Susie” on guitar and sung by an extremely enthusiastic wandering minstrel. This photo shows the new monastery albergue, which I think had its inaugural year in 2012. If you’d like to see the “old” albergue, I recommend the movie “The Way” with […]

After dinner, I attended Mass at the monastic church at Roncesvalles. The Gothic chapel is beautiful, but dark and difficult to photograph, at least with the iPhone 4 I was using in 2013. Three monks chanted Vespers and the Mass in Spanish and Latin. Following the Mass, with a single light on the statue of Madonna and Child on the […]

Returning after my shower, I discovered that somebody have moved my stuff from the top bunk to the bottom. I soon discovered that this had been done by this young lady from Berlin, Linda. She did so because “it’s polite to let the older people have the bottom bunk”. Ouch. We had dinner together, and the next day we walked […]