Cirauqui to Estella

The day dawned bright for our journey onward to Estella “Next there is Estella, which is fertile in good bread, excellent wine, meat, and fish, and full of all sorts of felicity” ~ Codex Calixtinus We departed our hostel before sunrise and headed down the hill as the first rays of …

Zubiri to Pamplona

Pamplona is the goal today. The morning dawned clear and cool as we headed back over the medieval bridge and left Zubiri behind us. It wasn’t long before the path began to climb. I looked back to see the town receding beneath us before we wound our way through leafy …

Riffing on Post Camino Blues

Camino podcaster Brendan Bolton asked recently: “When you hear the phrase ‘Post Camino Blues’ what is the first thing that comes to mind for you?” The way I see it, it’s kind of a late night Tapas bar staring into your vino tinto listening to a lone musician singing a …

Tarta de Santiago – a pilgrim’s journey bread?

Anyone who has walked the ancient pilgrimage route of the Camino de Santiago will have encountered a delicious almond cake with a characteristic cross of the Order of Santiago outlined in icing sugar. This is the Tarta de Santiago originating in the Spanish Autonomous Community of Galicia. I’ve included the …

Camino 2018 – The challenge of returning to daily life

From Sarria onwards to Santiago de Compostela, I found myself reflecting on what I had learned on the Camino, and wondering how I can take what I’ve learned back into my daily life. How do you reintegrate back into the life you left behind? I know this is something countless …

Camino 2018 – It’s All in the Mind

What about the mind? You reach Logroño, and by now you are getting settled into the Camino’s routine, and you are starting to feel like a pilgrim on a pilgrimage. But what does that even mean, and how might we think about it? What makes this different from, say, a …

Camino 2018 – Care of the Self

How do you conceive of walking 800km/500 miles when, like me, you typically take the car to the local shops less than a kilometre away? It’s a scary number, even more so when you look up at the Pyrenees, and see the vultures circling. Does that bell toll for me? …

Camino 2018 – The Ordeal of the Mountain

What is it about starting a pilgrimage with an ordeal by mountain? Is it a test of resolve? Or is it to give us a glimpse of the reward for our efforts in the majesty of the scene laid out before us?

Hands-free trekking umbrella

What the…? This post is my solution to using an umbrella hands-free. Sometimes when hiking, or walking with trekking poles, it can be useful to use an umbrella. Now, before I get shouted down by the ultra-lightweight hikers, it is, of course, a personal choice. The problem with an umbrella …