Shortcuts are the fast route to missing life. By definition they cut something short in the name of efficiency. That’s why I’m notorious in our family for “beauty cuts.” When I announce, “I think this will be a better route – trust me!” the family groans (which I generously interpret as endorsement) and knows their…

Before the invention of ATM’s, trekking the long isolated Camino with everything you needed to survive was a dangerous game, and the Knights Templar were created to provide protection.  At sunrise we’ve reached Ponferrada, home to the Game-of-Thrones-worthy Castle of the Knights Templar – a church-created army designed in 1119 to safeguard pilgrims to Jerusalem…

At the start of the Camino, Sarah told me to pick up a rock that I would later lay down at the famous Cruz de Ferro. Choosing (as always) to walk in ignorance, this is the first of only three things I knew to look forward to on the entire 800 km pilgrimage (the others…

One of our favourite couples on the Camino isn’t a couple at all. Zois & Gemma met nine years ago and found they had similar walking paces and life outlooks. They enjoyed walking the rest of that journey so much that they agreed to meet up on another camino in the future. And unlike most…

Pack – walk – eat – walk – eat – walk – nap – eat – sleep.  Repeat (times 38). The Camino is that simple. No wondering what we should do tomorrow. Each day will unfold with its own wonders and blunders. Landscapes softly transition from field to forest, hill to plain, green to brown…

At the end of a long day of 27 km and 39,000 steps, we stumble into Casa Susi in Trabadelo. As the owner glides down the stairs, I preemptively answer the question they always ask, which is, “Do you have a reservation?” As I rush into this un-greeting, he doesn’t even answer, he just smiles…

Foggy pre-dawn starts up a final hill and officially onto the Mesita – the flat table-top plains that some find boring and is supposed to challenge us mentally for the next ten days or so. A time to ponder big questions, and for these first few days it seems that the How and Why of…

This 2-day walk from Belorado to Burgos is one of great contrasts – in landscape, emotions, history, geography. We leave yesterday’s windy open hillsides and plunge uphill into beautiful forest land.  So many branches and trees down, thankfully no-one was hurt in yesterday’s gale force winds.  In hindsight, we maybe should have taken a safety/rest…

Today’s test was wind.  Constant 35-50+  mph headwinds had us bent over, pushing hard on poles, and sometimes doing a quick about-face to withstand the strongest gusts.  It never let up for more than a few seconds for an entire 6 hours of trekking, sometimes pushing us a few feet to the side, making us…

Slipping out of a 12-bunk-bed dorm room at 6am without a light is a fine art, but with minimal rustling we can be on the road under the stars for an hour before the gentle blue awakening in the east behind us starts to chase the stars away.  Slowly the shaggy world shakes itself from…