Site administrator note – WiFi coverage was insufficient in the village of San Juan de Ortega to load photo files. The attached post is text only. This post for Sunday, April 22, will be updated with photos Monday evening, April 23rd. We hope to be better looking tomorrow. It was a rather challenging day …
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”. …
Even though the guidebook described it as a “tranquil walk” today, Sarah held us to a torrid pace today and we completed our 24K/15 mile hike by 2pm….our earliest finishing time to date. When we checked into our room at the “casa rural”, I was expecting I might get criticized for not keeping up, but …
We have received lots of questions regarding our journey. Here is an attempt to answer them… * What time do you start walking every day? Between 7:30-9am, and we are walking about 7-8hrs every day. We are learning that we prefer getting started early and arriving at the destination a bit before dinner, in order …
Today was a relatively short day for us – a gradual uphill all day, but only 24 kilometers or 15 miles. The weather continues to be perfect – sunny, temperatures in the high 60s, and a cool breeze at our backs pushing us along through postcard-worthy fields and vineyards. So it was a relatively easy …
The theme for our post today is wine…as today’s 30Km/18 mile walk was fully in the beautiful wine-making country of the Rioja region. On all sides of us we were surrounded by fields with vines waiting to bloom and we passed a few “bodegas”, large wine warehouses. (Not to be confused with a New York …
The Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela is named in honor of St. James the Greater, the taller of the two apostles named James. James worked as a fisherman alongside his brother, John, before becoming Disciples of Christ. Following the death & Resurrection of Jesus, the apostles began to spread the gospel. As part of his …
We completed the first 100 miles of our 500-mile expedition today. Just going to let that sentence sink in for awhile….for Sarah and me. Ok…we’re good. We left Arcos early this morning as we had a 29Km / 18 mile walk in front of us…our final day in the Navarra region before moving into the …
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. …