Walking the Camino de Santiago
We hope to begin our 2016 Camino in the quaint French mountain village of Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, a name that more or less means “Saint John at the Foot of the Pass”. Getting to Saint-Jean is always a bit of an adventure, particularly if you are, like us, flying into Madrid rather than Paris. You may remember that we purchased bus tickets […]
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On the Camino, there is an ancient greeting that is exchanged between pilgrims. Oh, those not on pilgrimage – hospitaleros, townsfolk, random people on the Way – will often shout out a hearty “buen Camino!”, but that’s not what I’m talking about. In a tradition that was first recorded in the venerable Codex Calixtinus in the eleventh century, the pilgrim […]
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Well, the Alsa web site is much better than it was three years ago. For one thing, it’s pretty clear that they have a new English translator, and that he or she knows English. There are still occasionally blocks of Spanish text, but that’s manageable. Trying to interpret Spanglish was not. As I said, much improved. And we are now […]
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Slowly but surely, we’re ticking things off of our pre-Camino “to-do” list. Today, I purchased our travel insurance. As in our last Camino, we purchased the “standard” package from World Nomads. What I love about these guys is that they have an exhaustive list of all activities covered under their plans – and that list goes from abseiling (rappelling) to […]
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Our Camino training has begun in earnest. We’re taking smaller walks throughout the week – some for speed, some for hills. On the weekends, we’re taking longer hikes with full packs. Today, that’s 12k. Over the coming weeks, this will ratchet up to 24k. Of course, the real “training ” for the Camino is in Navarra!
» Read moreWith any luck, this is the first post to this blog using the WordPress app on my phone. If this works properly, that’s one more thing I can check off my to-do list!
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The number of days to our next Camino continues to drop precipitously. Less than three months to go! At this point, equipment and footgear is all acquired. For shoes and socks, I have stuck with Keen. Their “garage” store is in downtown Portland, and it’s well worth a drop-by if you’re in the area. The shoes are rugged and comfortable […]
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Between our pilgrimages, we must live in the world. We try to hang onto the Way of the Pilgrim in our ordinary lives, but like all things, the lessons fade over the years unless they are reinforced from time to time. And what are those lessons? They are as individual as the pilgrim, but there are certain commonalities, certain sayings […]
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Since the rain and the early sunsets have curtailed much of our hiking schedule, little progress has been made in the training arena. We hope to address that this coming weekend. Since we’ve already celebrated our Thanksgiving, we plan on getting out and about on this coming four days off. In other news, my new passport has arrived! Huzzah! Logistical […]
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Francine injured her foot a ways back, and we have not been training as we ought. Yesterday, however, we had a nice hike with full Camino packs through Point Defiance Park. There was some trouble with water. At some point in transit to the trailhead, Francine’s backpack water bladder leaked about a liter of water into her pack. After a […]
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