I was reminded by an unnamed traveling companion that I owed the blog a “Basque highlights recap” that I mentioned on Day 7. So here goes the top pieces of learning… – Talking about “the Basque Country” is a bit complicated. Of the 17 autonomous regions of Spain, there is a defined geographical “Basque Country”. …
I spoke with my sister Linda this afternoon. Among other things, we talked about the weather (we Smiths are famous conversationalists) and she informed me that Chicago has had horrible weather lately with only 2 days in April with temperatures over 50 degrees Fahrenheit…even for Chicago, unusually cool. (For our friends in Europe and Asia, …
Our guidebook for today’s walk referred to it as a “a see-saw day with more climbs than downhills”. My Garmin watch logged 86 floors up and 69 down, confirming that the elevation that we gained against gravity was essentially given back…as we make our way through the final couple days of the mountainous Navarra region. …
(Web co-administrator alert: This site experienced technical difficulties related to user content production and a temporary outage of power to the main grid requiring routine maintenance. In other words, Dave fell asleep last night with the iPad on his chest. Sorry for the delayed posting. Sarah) On Sunday we left the beautiful walled city of Pamplona …
Greetings from Pamplona…home of the famed San Fermin Festival…and the running of the bulls. We arrived this afternoon after our first full day of no rain and sunshine since we left Rome on Tuesday. It was a welcome change…and the additional Vitamin D powered us through another 24 kilometers (15 miles) of walking up and …
It was pointed out to me by someone that adding pictures of cute animals (puppies, kittens, koalas) is a surefire way to increase traffic to your website. So we lead tonight with a photo of a young foal we saw next to the path today as as we descended from Roncesvalles further into Spain. So …
Dear all…we have successfully completed our first day of walking The Camino Frances! 3o kilometers (or 18 miles) and 3500 feet of effective elevation gain in the rain, muddy valleys and slick hilltops of the Pyrenees. Thank you for your well wishes. Enjoy the photo from the summit/mountain pass (above). We are going to sleep. …
Today we arrived in Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, the starting point of the most traditional route (the Camino Frances) of the Camino de Santiago from southwest France to northwest Spain. Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port literally means “St. John at the Foot of the Pass”. (Although some biblical scholars claim the more pure translation of “Saint John of the Many Hyphens”.) We …