“I just set out a few hours ago and I can already feel massive blisters forming on both feet. The same doesn’t matter, of course, as A) acute discomforts, especially those arriving during the early phases of any undertaking, are to be seen as tests of resolve, and never signs to bail or change course, […]
Many have asked me how I found my way through Europe without the use of a phone or a map. As it turned out, doing so proved to be surprisingly easy … While I didn’t uncover hardly any helpful material online related to The Way before departing, I knew that a pilgrimage tributary of the […]
It was a long and painful second “1st day”, that much was true. And I found myself stumbling into the little town of Ihlingen at dusk — looking for and almost immediately finding the rumored pilgrim’s donativo hostel that would take me in for the night; finding that donativo already closed and dark and fully […]
I walked a sizable distance at the start of this day in the pre-dawn darkness, picking my way carefully & Care-fully along a dimly moonlit path through the woods that lies between Ihlingen (on the outskirts of Horb) and Dettlingen — making just as sure not to step on any four+-legged friends as I was […]
As the light dawned on my 2nd second day, a day of firsts ensued — my first “pointless” pause (I wasn’t tired, just calm) on a city bench*, the Walk’s first unsolicited sustenance offered by a kind stranger in the town of Dettingen, and later the first time I had ever experienced the wincing pain […]
Walk-limping into Alpirsbach, with heavily blistered feet loudly protesting every single step … “Courage isn’t having the strength to go on. It is going on regardless, especially when you don’t have the strength to do so. Courage isn’t maintaining the will to Love. It is actively caring for others regardless, especially when you don’t have […]
It is safe to say that large blisters (especially those that have freshly popped) are extremely persuasive when it comes to both the speed at and the manner in which one walks, what they also provide is an ever-present encouragement to jettison from one’s pack anything & everything that is in any way unnecessary. And […]
Some storms soak and freeze, and shelter therefrom comes in the form of a water-tight roof over our heads or a warm blanket around our bodies. Other storms rage differently — raging within; with thoughts of hopelessness or feelings of despair, and solace from their deluges comes in the form of gentleness given by friends […]
Here, a loving tribute to my primary source of sustenance during the 149 days of my Great Walk — water. People are indeed Kind, and so on some days I did receive an abundance of food. And yet people are also soaked in impregnated fear & indoctrinated distrust, so on many more days I simply […]
You have no choice but to admit that you are hobbling along verrrrrry slowly when an octogenarian who has recently had double knee-replacement surgery blows past you while walking up a slight hill … 😀 “There is nothing noble in feeling superior to your fellow man. True nobility is being superior to your former self.” […]
While the churches in the United States were disturbingly dismissive along The Walk’s way (with not a single one offering me lodging and only a handful offering even the most meager forms of sustenance during my 5+ week, 800+ mile stroll from Brooklyn to Chattanooga), the Catholic churches in Switzerland and France regularly proved to […]
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