(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 …
“The Nightingale” is a book about a young French lady during WWII. She became part of the Resistance and assisted downed Allied pilots to escape Nazi-occupied France across the Pyrenees’s Mountains into Spain. This historical fiction book was published in 2015 and is based on true events. There is movie set to be released in …
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. …
The most iconic symbol of the Camino is the Scallop Shell. It appears along the way, to guide pilgrims to the correct path. It is painted on poles, trees, sidewalks, etc, and also attached to backpacks or worn by pilgrims as identification. In Medieval times, the scallop shell, found on the coast of Galicia, Spain, …
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 …
Like other marathons, the Rome Marathon now leverages chip technology to provide runners with a lot of feedback and perspective on their performance…maybe too much “perspective”. As I was basking in the accomplishment of completing the run…and enjoying the admiration and attentive care of my spouse (Sarah handed me 4 Advil and a glass of …
A highlight of our trip was participating in the Rome Marathon on Sunday, April 8th. (If you are reading e-mail notification…Go to thewalkingsmiths.com site for more photos.). Dave ran with our good friends made while living in Tokyo – Peter Frost, Maiko Lankau and Weigandt Christian. We have previously run together in several marathons – …
Prior to starting the Camino this week, we visited Rome for the first time to meet up with our good friends, see the city…and for Dave to run the Rome Marathon (or the “Maratona di Roma” as Dave insisted on calling it, using a very irritating attempt at an Italian accent). Key highlights for us… …