Today’s #CaminoTuesday theme* over on Twitter is “Camino After Dark.” That struck me as a trick question at first, because Camino pilgrims rarely stay awake long enough to do much after dark. (Travel tip: Pilgrimage is not the way to experience European nightlife.) But then I remembered a night in Conques, just 10 days intoContinue reading “Conques After Dark (#CaminoTuesday)”
Category Archives: Camino Le Puy (Chemin du Puy)
First Light on the Camino
“We need to be reminded sometimes that a sunrise lasts but a few minutes. But its beauty can burn in our hearts eternally.” – R. A. Salvatore Anyone who’s met me knows I am not a morning person. I don’t often see the sun rise, nor do I want to. (A more accurate quoteContinue reading “First Light on the Camino”
Beautiful Bridges of the Camino de Santiago
Last week, on New Years Eve, the Twitter world had a #CaminoTuesday theme of “The Old and The New.” I didn’t have time to write up a whole blog post, but I did share this: Here are the photos bigger, in case you’re curious: And that got me thinking about bridges, and how importantContinue reading “Beautiful Bridges of the Camino de Santiago”
The Day I Almost Quit the Camino (#CaminoTuesday)
“The hilltop hour would not be half so wonderful if there were no dark valleys to traverse.” – Hellen Keller Walking through L’Aubrac was like walking through the legends and stories Eric read as a kid. Five days after leaving Le Puy, we reached the true highlands of the Massif Central, irregular rolling hills of open,Continue reading “The Day I Almost Quit the Camino (#CaminoTuesday)”
The Importance of Rest Days
When we first set out to walk the Way of St James from Le Puy, France, all the way to Santiago and then on to Finisterre, I knew in theory we would need rest days along the way. I understood that a person can’t—well, shouldn’t—walk a thousand miles without stopping to re-fuel now and then.Continue reading “The Importance of Rest Days”
The Chemin du Puy: My Talk at the American Pilgrims on the Camino National Gathering
“A group needs only two things to be a tribe: a shared interest and a way to communicate.” – Seth Godin, Tribes This week, almost 300 members of my own special tribe gathered at the YMCA Camp in Black Mountain, NC. We are the American Pilgrims on the Camino, pilgrims and future pilgrims from acrossContinue reading “The Chemin du Puy: My Talk at the American Pilgrims on the Camino National Gathering”
Making Reservations on the Chemin du Puy (the Le Puy Camino)
I started to suspect that I’d been misinformed before we even started walking. At the Pilgrim’s Welcome Gathering in Le Puy-en-Velay, Eric and I struck up a conversation with a friendly French woman who asked how far we would walk the next day. I told her the name of the town where we thought weContinue reading “Making Reservations on the Chemin du Puy (the Le Puy Camino)”
A Day on the Chemin du Puy: Saint-Côme d’Olt
What is it like to walk the Via Podiensis, the Le Puy Camino? I’m starting to gather my thoughts and my notes for a talk I’ll give at the American Pilgrims on the Camino Gathering of Pilgrims next month in Asheville, and I keep coming back to the story of this day, which happened onContinue reading “A Day on the Chemin du Puy: Saint-Côme d’Olt”
A Camino Moment: The Deer
It was a cool morning in mid-April, and we set out across the French countryside through a thick mist that was almost rain. Eric walked ahead with the Brothers Grim, peppering them with questions and practicing his French. They loved him. I lagged behind as we crossed a field of brilliant springtime green, so IContinue reading “A Camino Moment: The Deer”
Le Puy-En-Velay
On the Monday after Easter three years ago, Eric and I arrived in Paris after an overnight flight. We took a train to Lyon, and then another one to Le Puy-en-Velay, one of the oldest starting points of the Way of Saint James, according to the twelfth-century guide for pilgrims—considered one of the earliest travelContinue reading “Le Puy-En-Velay”
camino times two 