Walking Day 4: 24 kilometers 34,914 steps We started the day leaving a sleepy Pamplona at 8:30 in a very brisk morning, almost expecting some rain. Thankfully, the rain never came. Pamplona is elevation just under 450 meters (1400 feet), and the main hill today is Alto del Perdón (The Hill of Forgiveness) at over 750 meters (2500 feet), and back down to Puenta la Reina at about the same elevation as Pamplona. So basically […]
Walking Day 3: Zubiri to Pamplona 22 kilometers 31,783 steps Today was a generally flat day compared to the previous two. But even the guidebook elevation diagram showed undulations, up and down, up and down. The climbs, while not nearly as long as the climbs of the last two days, were at times a bit steep. Much of the walk today was in forest or adjacent to forest by fields. And only some very short […]
Walking Day 2: Roncesvalles to Zubiri 23 kilometers, 32,235 steps The guidebook elevation map for today’s walk from Roncesvalles to Zubiri gave the impression that the walk was generally flat or downhill with two or three short climbs. While the guidebook was not wrong, it is unintentionally just a little misleading. This was a difficult day. The uphill stretches were very steep, most rocky, and some with mud and rocks. The flat or downhill stretches […]
Walking Day 1: Saint Jean Pied de Port, France to Roncesvalles, Spain 25 kilometers 36,044 Steps Today was the first day walking the Camino de Santiago in autumn 2017. The route is over the Pyrenees mountains from Saint Jean Pied de Port in southwestern France (elevation 200 meters, 600 feet) up and over the Pyrenees (high point elevation 1450 meters, 4800 feet) and then down to Roncesvalles in Spain at 1000 meters elevation, 3300 feet. […]
Friday, May 27, 2016 The journey home begins, Finisterre to Santiago by Taxi My original plan was to take a bus from Finisterre to Santiago. When I heard that the bus takes 3 and 1/2 hours, I was hoping there would be an alternative. Ben from Taiwan said that he had heard that there were always people wanting to share a taxi from Finisterre to Santiago to avoid the long bus ride. With that in […]
Thursday, May 26, 2016 Cee to Finisterre, the “end of the earth” Walking Day #35, the last. I have completed my 800 kilometer walk on the Camino Frances from Saint Jean Pied de Port in France to Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, Spain, followed by 88 kilometers on the Camino Finisterre from Santiago de Compostela to Finisterre. No more 6-7 hours (or more) of walking each day. It is a routine I have adapted […]
Wednesday, May 25, 2016 Olveiroa to Cee, 22 kilometers in rain then sunshine Walking Day #34 Today it rained in the morning. The hotel in which Ben (from Taiwan) and I stayed last night was off the Camino, and they picked us up from the Camino in Olveiroa and this morning they dropped us back at the same place. We started walking from Olveiroa at about 8:30 AM and it was already raining, so […]
Tuesday, May 24, 2016 Negreira to Olveiroa, Raining for much of 33 kilometers Walking Day #33 Today it rained. When I awoke, I heard birds chirping, and that almost always means that it is not raining. And it was not. After breakfast, I met Ben from Taiwan at the front lobby of the hotel, and he said it was raining, and a look outside confirmed that between the time I went upstairs to get […]
Monday May 23, 2016 Walking out of Santiago to Negreira Walking day #32 I have very poor internet access here, so I will up load the pictures and write the text tomorrow. Walking out of Santiago was interesting, because there are very few pilgrims walking to Finisterre, so it is much like the Camino was nearer to where I began in France. I did make it to Negreira, and will walk three more days […]
Sunday, May 22, 2016 A very nice to walk to Santiago de Compostela Walking Day #31 Today I walked from Amenal near the Santiago airport to Santiago de Compostela, the target of our pilgrimage. I walked early with my new friends from Singapore, and I like their walking style, their pace, sometimes talking, sometimes walking quietly; they are welcoming and I feel part of the group. We left the hotel at 6:30 AM walking […]
Saturday, May 21, 2016 Arzúa to Amenal 24 km before the rain Walking Day #30 This day was another really nice day on the Camino de Santiago. The weather threatened rain all day, but the rain did not come until about 3:30 or 4:00 PM, well after I was in my hotel in Amenal. Tomorrow morning should be clear or light drizzle. I’ll publish this, and update the text tomorrow.I am starting very early […]
Friday, May 20, 2016 A sunny day from Palas de Rei to Arzúa Walking day #29 Today was a beautiful day, but just a little warm for a long walk, especially uphill (the last 3 kilometers were uphill, sometimes steeply). This was a long day at over 28 kilometers (18 miles). And, at about 26-27 degrees C (78-80 degrees Fahrenheit), it was the warmest day in Spain since I started walking the Camino on April […]
James the Intrepid Pilgrim 