Walking the Camino de Santiago
I slept like a rock. After a breakfast of black coffee and fresh bread in the refectory, my first stop was the cathedral. There I gave thanks for having safely arrived in Le Puy, prayed lauds, and then the morning Mass. It was celebrated simply but beautifully, and since we sang the Latin Mass parts I could sing along. The […]
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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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Y’all It has been a day and it’s not even lunchtime. Date: 16 August 2023 Place: Pistachio House I am really trying to blog but I am out of practice. Bear with me as I catch you up… because reasons. 5am. Awake. See a plethora of messages from Thom about missed connections. Once again… he pledges never to fly through […]
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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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In which Thom is off to France and Francine begins her countdown. Date: 15 August 2023 Place: Pistachio House It is the feast of the Assumption. Today I bid Thom au revoir et bon chemin as I dropped him off at the airport after holy Mass. Then I went on a search for some boba tea and some Daiso shopping […]
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Today we walked our last 8km together before Thom heads to France. For the next two weeks my mind will now focus on the me portion of this adventure. Focus will be on Increasing my speaking of Spanish and rudimentary Portuguese. I am pretty confident with listening of both at my levels but cannot get over the speaking shyness. Me? Shy? […]
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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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I often talk about the idea of Camino Families – that extended network of people that you meet and walk with on Camino. You endure a lot of hardship together, share meals, laughs, and stories. You become close – you become family. Here are some of the members of our 2013 Camino family that we met up with again in […]
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This was the sanctuary of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela as it appeared in 2013, at the conclusion of our first Camino. Since then, the sanctuary – indeed, the entire cathedral – has undergone a glorious restoration. You can get a feel for how the place has changed in our post from last year. It’s now considerably brighter and […]
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