Walking the Camino de Santiago
Every pilgrim carries a credencial to identify him or her as a legitimate pilgrim. They are issued by various Confraternities of Saint James, and you can also get them at Cathedrals and other places along the Way. All pilgrim albergues and refugios require that you have a credencial in order to stay there. You get it stamped at least twice […]
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A conversation about journaling comes round on the Camino forums every so often – what do you use, how do you do it, and so forth. Rather than ramble there on scattered threads, I thought it might be better to ramble here, where at least my ramblings have the virtue of being together in one place. To be brief: I […]
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As a follow-up to Monday’s post, this morning we received confirmation for our reservation at Beilari. All of our pre-walk pieces are now in place. I’m a little giddy.
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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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