I woke from a fine sleep and enjoyed some lively banter at the breakfast table with several fellow pilgrims before offering up the standard bevy of heartfelt farewells and heading back out onto The Road. And yet St. Jean Pied du Port wasn’t too keen on letting us flow onward that easily, as Jean Marc […]
It was somehow blessedly appropriate that I had this extra nugget of sedentary solitude before commencing the portion of the Path that I had already tread once before – almost as if The Way was giving me an extra chance to sit & soak it all in before setting forth once more; almost as if […]
Jean Marc returns, this time with proper footwear having been donned, and we set out together into this new day’s station. It is a lovely, misty morning, and I soon affirm a the truth that had been gnawing on my conscience for several days prior – namely, that it is often a greater gift to […]
“Often in less modern times, we focused a great deal of thought & effort upon rituals of return to the human condition. Seeking enlightenment or the Promised Land or the way home, a man would go or be forced to go into the wilderness, measure himself against the Creation, recognize finally his true place within […]
There is an odd mix of cool temperatures and higher humidity as we pilgrims flow-amble our way up the Pyrenees into its cozy blanket of thick fog; easily feeling enveloped & at One with everyone & indeed everything around me. And, in one of the many times I was to be called to reflect back […]
Tempo is a funny thing: the deeper one immerses into where one is in any moment, the less one’s velocity becomes recognizable. One no longer walks slowly or quickly, or smoothly or ploddingly. One simply downshifts into the moment and easily harmonizes the movement of one’s body with its surroundings. In these times the pilgrim […]
“One’s options in this world are as vast as its ever-shifting horizon, which is technically an orb and thus infinitely extensive. And yet we must remember to choose each step we take with devout attention, for the footprints we leave behind are much more important than the path we choose to follow.” ~ via Lori […]
I easily arrived at Orisson, the same hostel where I had spent my first night on my first Camino back in 2008, and the spirits are high for most if not all my fellow pilgrims there. For those who have not done much long-distance walking, the relatively steep, 5-mile trek up the Pyrenees from St. […]
“We are like waves in every ocean, each with a unique character and quality on the surface, and yet deep down all eternally connected to one another and to the ocean as a whole. And so it is that if you practice looking beyond the surface of appearances, you will begin to see the True […]
“I am a pilgrim, yes, and yet my pilgrimage has been at times wandering and often unmarked. Indeed, no single decision I have ever made has led in a straight line to where I now find myself. There were time when I peeked down some roads and took but a few steps before turning back. […]
Upward and onward I walked into the fog-shrouded mountains; at times walking in peaceful solitude, at times immersed in rediscovering a long-awaited Soulmate in the fellow pilgrims I repeatedly met along The Way … “We would do well to remember that we are each like islands in the sea; separate on the surface while connected […]
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