In a week, I leave home in San Diego, California, for my 12th yoga-focused winter in Chiang Mai, Thailand. I will be there for 12 weeks, practicing yoga at Wild Rose Yoga several times per week, strength training at the gym a couple of times per week, learning about the culture, and enjoying the food and people of what is called “The Land of Smiles.” I am considering taking a course on writing Thai while […]
Thursday, 01 July 2024 Reflections on Completing the Via de la Plata / Camino Sanabres Having been home for a little over a month after a three-week-long pilgrimage walk in Spain, I have been reflecting on that pilgrimage. It was an adventure, better than I expected. On the walk, I take many photos every day, and only a few of those get posted on my blog, so in this reflection, I’ll include a few photos […]
Wednesday, 23 May 2024Santiago de Compostela to Madrid by Train A pilgrim tradition is to get a “credential” also known as a “Pilgrim’s Passport” and collect stamps along the pilgrimage walk. The stamps can be obtained at places you stay, places you eat, at churches, police stations, and many other places. When a pilgrim arrives in Santiago de Compostela, they can go to the Cathedral’s Pilgrim’s Office, present their credential with all the stamps as […]
Monday, 20 May 2024Ponte Ulla to Santiago de Compostela21.5 kilometers Today was our final day of the pilgrimage walk to Santiago de Compostela. And we made it! The Camino de Santiago had a few challenges for us on our last day, particularly two long and fairly steep uphill sections in the last few kilometers. The last day was a beautiful day with sun much of the way. A beautiful day. Here is a photo of […]
Sunday, 19 May 2024Silleda to Ponte Ulla22 kilometers Today was the first day in what seems like a long time with no rain of significance. And tomorrow is expected to be even better as we will be on our final day on this pilgrimage walk to Santiago de Compostela. Walking today was about half and half paved secondary roads and natural paths. There were beautiful vistas all along the way including this as we were […]
Saturday, 18 May 2024A Laxe to Silleda10.5 kilometers We stayed overnight in our accommodation in Lalín. It was raining already when we walked across the street to the cafe at the 24-hour Repsol gas station for our breakfast. And breakfast at the gas station cafe was surprisingly good. The forecast for the day was rain, rain, rain, with some clearing in the late afternoon. This woud be a cold and wet walking day. We talked […]
Friday, 17 May 2024Cea to Estación de Lalín32.4 kilometers Today was a very long day. And it rained or was drizzling almost all day. The rain was relentless and unseasonable for May in Galicia. Also, the day was pretty cool with the high temperature in the high 50s Fahrenheit. Despite the rain and the cool (almost cold) temperatures, the scenery was continually beautiful. From the map, it can be seen that we are on a […]
Thursday, 16 May 2024Ourense to Cea23.2 kilometers Today was another cool and rainy day on the Camino de Santiago. We left Ourense at about 8:20 AM. Ron is having some difficulty with his knee, so he is taking a rest day and will take the bus to meet us at Cea, our destination today. In spite of the off-and-on rain, it was another beautiful day in Galicia, the northwestern most part of Spain. After walking […]
Wednesday, 15 May 2024Xunqueira de Ambia to Ourense24.5 kilometers Today was another day of intermittent rain and cool temperatures. The views as we walked to the large town of Ourense were as beautiful as all of Galicia has been. I’m basically going to let the pictures speak for themselves and keep the narrative minimal. There was some walking on natural paths, and fortunately very little mud today even though it rained hard at times last […]
Tuesday, 14 May 2024Vilar de Barrio to Xunqueira de Ambia14.5 kilometers When we woke this morning, we had concerns that it might be a challenging walking day on the Camino route towards Ourense and Santiago de Compostela. There was heavy rain overnight amounting to almost half an inch. Rain means mud on natural trails, so we were hoping that today’s route would be partly over paved secondary roads. And much of the route was on […]
Monday, 13 May 2024Laza to Vilar de Barrio19.5 kilometers The Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route today from Laza to Vilar de Barrio was characterized by another climb up, over, and down a mountain. A long, steep, unstable climb up, a bit of a rolling section at the top, then a steep but less unstable path down to Vilar de Barrio. It was a cloudy day, threatening rain from the outset, and the rain did come […]
Sunday, 12 May 2024Campobecerros to Laza14.4 kilometers Today’s walk on the Camino de Santiago was characterized by stunningly beautiful vistas as we descended along the side of a mountain into the valley and the town of Laza. We are now in Galicia and everything is a little greener than central Spain. Here is an example of the scene looking across the valley as we descended the mountain. The walk today was another day of walking […]
James the Intrepid Pilgrim 