Walking the Camino de Santiago
Getting ready physically for the Camino.
Back in December of 2019, I posted some noodlings about the call of the Camino and where we might walk next. While both of the options I discussed there are still very much in our future plans, a more immediate Camino adventure calls: the Camino Primitivo. Francine and I have been talking about this particular Camino for close to a […]
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Near the beginning of our virtual Camino, February 2020 Yesterday my beautiful bride Francine and I finished walking our virtual Camino from Lourdes to Santiago, a distance of roughly 957km. You’ve heard of staycations? This was a staymino. It took us just over a year. At least I got one thing accomplished during lockdown! We mostly walked around our neighbourhood […]
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Over the past few days, Francine and I have been hiking with our friend Callie out near Leavenworth in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. We hiked 16 kilometers over rough ground at altitude on two back-to-back days. It’s been awhile since I’ve hiked 32km! Needless to say, this has had an enormous effect on our “virtual Camino“. In fact, we almost […]
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You may have noticed that I’ve not been posting our “Camino Photo of the Day” recently. There’s a story behind that. We’ve been in South Lake Tahoe in Nevada. Oh, not for any vacation – well, not really. We were there to complete our training as hospitaleros. But I’m getting slightly ahead of myself. Prologue: Virginia City We arrived at […]
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On this, the memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes, it seems opportune to post an update on our Camino plans, or lack thereof. Back in 2018, we started making plans for a 2020 Camino. The basic idea is that I would start in Saint-Jean, and Francine would rent an apartment in Burgos or, more probably, Santiago, where she could do […]
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Ever since we returned from our first Camino in 2013, Francine and I have been taken with the idea of serving as hospitaleros. These are the folks who staff the albergues along the Way. Except in the private albergues, the hospitaleros normally work in two or three week shifts. They staff various municipal, parroquial (and monastic) and association albergues throughout […]
» Read moreWe thought we’d try something new. This is a (rather disjointed) attempt to put together a video about how we train for the Camino. I blather, Francine makes funny faces, and we walk. And eat second breakfast. Our Training plan for 2016.
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We leave for Spain on Tuesday, and we’ve definitely entered into scramble mode. Equipment purchases, refinements, and testing has gone on for months, but it always seems like there’s something breaking or not working at the last minute. Our rigourous training schedule has gone by the boards this week due to increasingly frantic work pressures. And of course, there’s always […]
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Just thirty days from now, Francine and I will be boarding an airplane for Spain to begin our third Camino. While this one will be quite a bit shorter than the others – two weeks as opposed to six – that doesn’t make it any less meaningful. This is a spiritual journey, as well as a physical one, and who […]
» Read moreThere has not been a lot of training this week. In fact, I have not left the house since Sunday. I get migraines a couple of times a year. Normally, I can spot the symptoms of a developing migraine and “head it off at the pass” with hydration and Excedrin. On Saturday afternoon, however, I did not spot the symptoms […]
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