At Roncesvalles, we had a fairly comfortable night in a 4-bunk cubicle. I took the top bunk, with Sharon below. The ladder was a challenge as it sloped in where it joined the lower bunk, so it was a bit like climbing a ladder from underneath. But once up there, …
Strangers become friends The first night of our first Camino was extraordinary. We had climbed what seemed like an 8km (5 mile) staircase — without the stairs. At Orisson where we had booked to stop for the night, we found ourselves bunked in with another Australian couple and we quickly …
“The Camino is a wonderful metaphor for life – what’s your take on that?” Camino podcaster Brendan Bolton posed this and many other questions when he interviewed me recently. You can catch the interview here on Project Camino My response was three-fold. Firstly, yes it is indeed a great metaphor …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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? …
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?
