Puente La Reina to Estella – 21.8km. A steady walk along dirt roads in an undulating landscape. That’s how we expect life to be. There will be some more difficult uphill walking and some summits to look out from. There will be some easier down hill walking and some hollows where it is difficult to […]
Category: Friends
Pamplona to Puente la Reina – 23.8km. A steady route up to and down from Alto de Perdon, at 790m. In medieval times there was both a Basilica with a pilgrim hospice and a hermitage there. Today there are forty windmills along the skyline generating electricity. There is also a metal sculpture of peregrinos on […]
In Sando’s copy of ‘John Brierley – A Pilgrim’s Gude to the Camino de Santiago’ there is a quick 5-point reference page. It lists the following points: Travel – a quick guide; Preparation – Outer; Language; Pilgrim Passport, Protocol & Prayer; Preparation – Inner. Under travel it refers to when and how long. Life questions […]
The Way After – Day #2
I hadn’t heard this Queen song for a long time until today. When it first was released it was so incredibly poignant and obviously reflected Freddie Mercury’s own life. When I was younger a friend’s elder sister was a massive Queen fan so I had heard about the rumours of his diagnosis with Aids long […]
Yo soy el camino, la verdad y la vida. Sando loved his languages, and foremost was Spanish. I was never sure whether the food and wine were the ‘bonus’ to his linguistic talent, or simply necessary to access the wine and the food! When he spoke Spanish he became more animated than usual. I would […]
The Way After
Sando and I talked about ‘the Way’ for many years. El Camino de Santiago. The Way of St. James. An 800km pilgrim route through northern Spain. I cannot remember how it first came up in conversation. He mentioned it. He was familiar with it. I was not. It was one of those great adventures we […]
The total time for the Maillot Jaune wearer of Julian Alaphilippe to complete ten stages of the Tour and reach the first rest day is 45h 27’ 15’’. So what do you do when you have a day off and are only halfway through the race? Get out on your bike of course! You go […]
Click the link for a video about a running group – hear me out – I promise I’m not going to make you run! Watch, then continue reading. Writers, artists, and musicians, used to do the same kind of thing. They would meet up and hang out. In coffee shops, and salons, and restaurants. They […]
So, this evening my youngest son and I sat down to watch the Liam Neeson movie Taken. When I say youngest, he’s almost twenty. And he is as incredulous as you now are that it took us this long to watch it together. I love movies like Taken; other personal favourites being The Equalizer and Man on Fire. […]
In my last post, Five Friends, I put a spin on the old saying that you are a reflection of your five closest friends. I asked you to consider who your five closest writers were. I thought it only fair to invite you into the circle of my five closest authors. Ray Bradbury – My […]