Author: Thom

Late start this morning. We had breakfast in the albergue at 7 AM, and it was an hour later that we finally managed to get out the door. Shallow uphill climb out of town; nothing like yesterday, though. Under the forest canopy, through a land filled with bubbling streams and waterfalls, tiny grottoes and hulking industrial ruins. This was followed […]

The long 5 km climb out of Grado is brutal. The last push is steep enough that you almost want to scramble up on all fours. After this, the terrain is much more reasonable, though like yesterday there’s an awful lot of walking on concrete. There’s a little in the way of pilgrim services the first half of the day […]

I’m posting this in the early morning hours of May 10. Yesterday we walked our first stage of the Camino Primitivo, approximately 27 km.  We left our hotel just after dawn. The walk out of the city was cool and pleasant, although by the time we got into the countryside, the mist was already starting to burn off in the […]

Today we’re spending the day in the beautiful and delightful city of Oviedo. Sunday Mass at the cathedral – a stunning and majestic edifice constructed over the course of eight centuries. Somehow the succession of different architectural styles of the centuries blend into a harmonious whole. For breakfast I indulged in my typical Camino breakfast of café con leche and […]

Utterly exhausted. We were so tired and loopy while we were in Madrid that we didn’t manage much except breakfast at a lovely little panderia halfway to the city center. The Metro was partially closed, so we had to take a bus to bridge the service gap. But we were so mentally unable to go any further, that we just […]

We had a wonderful morning exploring North Boston. We took a water taxi from the airport, checked our backpacks at a nearby hotel, and set off to explore. We started with breakfast at Anthony’s, served by Anthony himself. Then we hit the Freedom Trail.  We explored the area around the old North Church, of “one if by land, two if […]

“The plan is nothing; planning is everything.” (attributed to Dwight Eisenhower) Our journey to Spain was scheduled to begin today with an early afternoon flight to LAX on Alaska. From there we’d fly British Airways to Madrid and then Iberia to Oviedo.  Last night, Francine was just starting to cook dinner, and I was finishing up some last minute chores. […]

I’m currently In that manic “getting ready to leave for three weeks“ rush. My to do lists have to do lists. In the midst of all of that, here is a photo of the front garden of Pistachio House, what I like to call my “happy place“. I took the photo yesterday afternoon while I took a moment to slow […]

This morning, Francine and I received the pilgrims’ blessing from Rev. David Mulholland at Saint Patrick Church, where I was baptized and we were married. It is a beautiful and ancient rite. In its current form it appears the Missal of Vich Cathedral, Barcelona, Spain, dated to AD 1078. In addition to blessing the pilgrims themselves, the packs (“rucksacks”), sticks (“staves”), and […]