April 23, 2016 Saturday Beautiful Post-Rain Walk from Estella to Los Arcos Walking Day #6 After the rain, the air was clear, the sky was bright with some white puffy clouds against a deep blue background. It is a glorious day! Shortly after leaving Estella we came upon the fountain with wine and water. The Bodega Winery provides free wine to pilgrims on the Camino, or you can fill up with water. Because this […]
April 22, 2016 Friday Puenta la Riena to Estella and Rain Walking Day #5 I met Philippe and Marie-Pierre for breakfast in the hotel. They have only two days of walking left for this year’s section of the Camino de Santiago. We soon started the walk to Estella, and it was once again, a beautiful day. There will be only a couple of hills, but not nearly as difficult as those we have traversed […]
April 21, 2016 Thursday Walking from Pamplona over Alta del Perdon and on to Puenta la Riena Walking Day #4 After the rain yesterday, today was clear, bright, with a little crispness in the cool air. A beautiful morning. On the route for today is crossing over Alta del Perdon, where the sculpture of the pilgrims sits on the mountain in between the power-generating windmills (this is another place that was seen in the […]
April 20, 2016 Wednesday Walking from Zubiri to Pamplona in the rain Walking Day #3 It is often said or sung that “the rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain.” [from the film My Fair Lady]. That may be true, but the rain was falling in Zubiri, and fell on us all the way into Pamplona, and we are far from the meseta (the plains). It rained and rained today, and while not […]
April 19, 2016 Tuesday Roncesvalles to Zubiri Walking Day #2 After that long, long uphill hike yesterday, I am ready for some downhill, and today is indeed a day of mostly downhill. But downhill walking brings more stress on the knees, and my knees are already feeling the stress of the first day up and over part of the Pyrenees mountains. Yesterday, the first day was hard and I was too tired to take […]
The First Day, A Very Hard Day Walking Day #1 Today is my first day walking on the Camino Frances route of the Camino de Santiago. The Camino Frances starts in the little hillside town of Saint Jean Pied de Port in southwestern France, very near the border with Spain. Here I am, about to start walking from the entrance to Saint Jean Pied de Port in France to Roncesvalles in Spain. Somewhere in the […]
The Start of the Camino, Saint Jean Pied de Port It is Sunday, and another day of mostly travel. I went to the Montparnasse train station in Paris to see if would be possible to get an earlier train (so I could get to St. Jean Pied de Port before 10 PM). And one was available to leave at 12:30, two hours earlier than my 2:45 original departure. I’m sorry, no pictures today. I’ll have […]
Transferring through Paris France My Camino trek has begun. On Friday April 15, I got to Los Angeles International Airport three hours before my flight to Paris, France, as is recommended by travel people today. Check-in was uneventful, and security a breeze. It seems that new rules are in place, because we did not have to take off shoes, take off belts, laptops and other electronic devices were to be left in a carry-on bag. […]
Description and Some History of the Camino de Santiago Through history, three important pilgrimages for Christians evolved: The first led to tomb of St. Peter in Rome, travelers to Rome were called wanderers, and took the cross as their symbol. The second led to the Holy Sepulcher of Christ in Jerusalem; those who took this road were called palmists, since they had as their symbol the palm branches with which Jesus was greeted when he […]
Reflections and Impressions on my 4th Winter in Chiang Mai I have been home for exactly three weeks now and as I reflect on my winter in Chiang Mai, the first thoughts are very similar to those I had after returning a year ago, that (1) it was very different than I had expected, and (2) unexpected things occurred that changed things; not making it better or worse, just presenting different experiences. Going to Thailand, […]
January 26, 2016 I started this blog with one of my favorite quotes about the journey, and I’m reminded of it today as I contemplate my journey home, one of my favorite quotations, the last sentence in a book named “Up Country” by Nelson DeMille: The journey home is never a direct route; it is, in fact, always circuitous, and somewhere along the way, we discover that the journey is more significant than the destination, and that […]
January 25, 2016 After the rain on Sunday, a cold front moved in overnight, and it is cold today – unusually cold and rainy. The staff at 3-Sis put me in touch with a woman from Bulgaria who wanted information on meditation. Since they see me going over to Wat Chedi Luang for my morning meditation, they thought me to be something of an expert. I am flattered, but consider myself a relative beginner. I […]
James the Intrepid Pilgrim 