Stones from home

One of the pilgrim traditions along the Camino is to throw a stone, brought from the place of origin of the pilgrim, onto the pile of stones at the Cruz de Ferro (Iron Cross) at the top of MounteLæs mere
Newark airport ✈️

Dinner at the Belgian Beer Cafe before we board our red eye to London. We'll arrive tomorrow around 10AM local time for a 3 hour lay over. The second leg of our flight puts us in Paris at about 3:40pmLæs mere
Heathrow layover

We had a very jet lagged breakfast at Pret a Manger in the airport. I watched two movies (Passenger and Bob the Cat) while Tom slept during the flight. This was intentional as by skipping sleep forLæs mere
Charles De Gaulle - Paris

After ~20 hours of travel, we landed just outside of Paris, pioneer of the most popular places to fly in to begin the Camino if you are traveling from over seas. One particularly persistent taxiLæs mere
Premiere Classe Roissy

Now that I'm learning to speak Spanish, when I speak French I realize that I actually have a fairly good grasp of French. Tom and I spent some time speaking mostly just French to each other as ILæs mere
TGV train to Bayonne

Rather than fly to the south of France, we took the advice of many Camino veterans who recommended we take the high-speed TGV train network, which interconnects throughout Europe.
Bayonne

This is the last stop on the TGV, from here we'll take a bus to SJPP. This is our first stop in Basque country and we're looking up pronunciations for simple phrases. Kaixo (hello) is "kay-show".
WeLæs mere
St Jean Pied de Port

We've arrived to the first stop, our launching point to begin a thousand year old pilgrimage route. Our first stop was to the pilgrims office where we picked up our pilgrim passport, Compostela, andLæs mere
The Napoleon Route

Our first night on the Camino was a relative success. We stayed at the Auberge du Pèlerin in the heart of St Jean Pied de Port.According to my fit bit, I slept from 10pm to 3am (my longest night timeLæs mere
Rufugio de Peregrinos de Roncesvalles

We're in Spain! Recieved our second Compostela stamp at the Rufugio de Peregrinos de Roncesvalles. It is 12 euro / night plus 10 euro for dinner (@ 7pm) and 5 euro for breakfast. It has 183 beds, TomLæs mere
Roncesvalles to Zubiri

After a jet lagged 3:30AM wake up, we decided to skip breakfast at the municipal (which wouldn't be served until 7am) and get on the Camino. We were the only ones on the Camino at a starless, pitchLæs mere
Zubiri

We're staying in a fully booked 4 bunk room at the Suseia, which means "and further upward" and needs a bit of historical context to make sense. In medieval times, when people crossed paths on theLæs mere
Zubiri to Pamplona

We slept in to the late hour of 6am, it was luxurious. We had a yummy breakfast of cereal and yogurt at the albergue then set off for Pamplona, ~14 miles away. Along with many other Peregrinos, weLæs mere
Pamplona

We arrived to a party in Pamplona. May 1 is Labor Day / May Day in Spain. This public holiday is associated with the start of spring as well as the celebration of workers. Apparently, the locals enjoyLæs mere
Pamplona to Puente La Reina

I woke up around 3AM and spent the morning researching for a fictional piece I'm writing and meditating. We began walking at 7:30am. Every day I wake up healthy enough to walk, I am grateful. Today'sLæs mere
Puente La Reina

Puente La Reina or Bridge of the Queen. 👸🏻Neat Templar influenced cathedral. 🛐 At the albergue (our second pick, the first was full) chatted with a neat gal from Australia who made it toLæs mere
Puente La Reina to Estella

A chorus of snores woke us up throughout the night, but we still managed to get an early start, leaving around 7:30AM. We stopped at a bar (it had been open since 7am, a rarity! We haven't foundLæs mere
Estella

14 miles of not so gentle rolling ups and downs brought us to "Estella la Bella" with a Roman bridge and roads. We opted to stay in the municipal for 6 euro, it has 96 beds and was full by 3:30pm. TomLæs mere
Los Arcos

Another 14 mile day with a bit of rain but warmer temps (~60 degrees) brought us to Los Arcos. On the way, we visitrd the infamous Irache wine fountain. After arriving, we checked in la casa de laLæs mere
Viana

We gifted ourselves a short day of walking only 12 miles. We checked in to Albergue Izar then wandered around the town, exploring historical remains and lunching on strawberry and cream, tortilla andLæs mere
Viana to Navarrette

Thinking we had a short walking day, we got a late start, leaving albergue Izar at around 8am. We were surprised to find we'd messed up the math somehow as we walked 14.5 miles rather than the 11Læs mere
Rioja

Relatively flat 10 miles of walking made for an easy day. We've come 120 miles total and I would feel more of a sense of accomplishment if I weren't sitting in a waiting room, practicing how to sayLæs mere
Santo Domingo

A 14 mile trek brought us to Santo Domingo, around whom there persists a very silly mythos. I won't get into it here but it has led to the many centuries old tradition of keeping chickens in the localLæs mere
Tosantos

On the way to the tiny, 53 person, town of Tosantos, we passed into the autonomous region of Castilla y León and saw some neat, medieval relics. When there weren't cool things to look at, I readLæs mere
Agés

A windy, winding trail with a moderate amount of elevation through a pine forest brought us to the town Agés. Along the way, we stopped in a Villafranca Montes de Orca, which was once a Roman city,Læs mere