Walking the Camino de Santiago
My beautiful bride Francine refers to these sorts of rocky, treacherous downhill bits as “goat paths” on the theory that they were clearly designed for the use of goats and not people. Going down into Zubiri, we come to the first of these – a Roman Road Goat path. It’s actually not dangerous (except when it’s raining), but it does […]
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This is always good advice. I needed it then, and I needed it this morning. There are quite a few signs like this along the length of the Camino, and they often pop up just when you need a little dose of encouragement. Date: 02 April 2013Place: Between Viscarret and Puerto de Erro (Navarra, Spain) MAP! Here’s the route I’m […]
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In several places, the Camino follows the old Roman road network. Here we see what happens when your road is pillaged for building material for more than a thousand years. That’s Eamon up ahead. I think he’s photographing a flower. Date: 02 April 2013Place: Between Viscarret and Puerto de Erro (Navarra, Spain) MAP! Here’s the route I’m walking today (Roncesvalles […]
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Sometimes it takes a sudden vista to remind you that you’re still walking down out of the Pyrenees – and will be for a week. Navarra is gorgeous, even in the rain. I’m partial to mountains anyway, having grown up in the dead flat of Chicago, but there’s something homey and hobbity about the northern Pyrenees. Date: 02 April 2013Place: […]
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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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