Walking the Camino de Santiago
Today the Lord saw fit to begin my pilgrimage with an exercise in humility, patience, and trust. As I write this I am on an air-conditioned train racing the sunset to Le Puy. I flew standby from Heathrow to Lyon, arriving approximately six hours after I had intended. It was a near thing: I didn’t know I was going to […]
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Yesterday I received the traditional pilgrim blessing at my parish of Saint Patrick from our pastor Rev. David Mulholland on the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This was the first time I received this blessing from the same person twice, which probably says quite a lot about the number of parish transitions we’ve been through over […]
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Tomorrow I leave for France to begin my “long Camino”. This time, I am walking the route known as the Via Podiensis from Le Puy-en-Velay all the way to Santiago de Compostela, a distance of nearly a thousand miles. In a few weeks, Francine will fly to Spain with our friend Becky to begin serving as an hospitalera for two […]
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Kit for the Via Podiensis We’ve come to that part of the pre-Camino countdown where for every two or three items I’m checking off my list, I seem to be adding one more. Today my very last piece of kit arrived – a new windbreaker/rain shell to replace my old one. The new one is about a third the weight […]
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It is said that no plan survives contact with the enemy. To this I would add that no plan survives contact with the Camino. Nevertheless, and with some sense of trepidation, I offer here my plan for my “long Camino”. This is a total of 65 days walking (plus a scheduled Zero day in Burgos). Some days are short/half days. […]
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Early this morning, I had my follow-up visit with the podiatrist. He was extremely pleased and somewhat amazed with my rapid progress. We discussed a Cortizone shot, but given the level of improvement, he wasn’t too enthusiastic about it. So that’s off the table. Most importantly, he cleared me for my Camino. I am convinced that my rapid recovery is […]
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During my planning time, I’ve made reservations at a handful of gîtes along the first ten days of the Via Podiensis. Some of these make perfect sense – places that fill up quickly (e.g. the monastery at Conques), or places that are choke points (Domaine du Sauvage). But then today, I got it in my head to have reservations at […]
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This morning I met with a podiatrist. My left heel has been in a considerable amount of pain since we did a training hike to the waterfront back on May 17. My shoes were nearing end of life, and my inserts were well past their prime. We were hiking with full Camino packs, mostly over concrete. A perfect storm. It […]
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Several weeks ago, I was struck by the thought of carrying others with me on my long Camino this autumn. Now I know what you’re thinking. Sounds a little odd, yes? Perhaps the easiest way to clarify is to quote from the note to myself that I wrote back on April 3rd: I’d like to walk this Camino – all […]
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Ten years ago today, I posted here about my “nervousness, elation, and even fear” as I got ready to fly to Spain to walk our first Camino. To my great surprise, 137 days from today I will fly to Lyon, France for another adventure. From there, I’ll take light rail from the delightfully named Aéroport de Saint-Exupéry to the train […]
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