Camino del Norte

You want us to do what?  What’s involved? Where does this start?  How long is it? And how do we do it? On Bikes??? 510 miles, maybe more with our side trips! Why??? And why is this route through Spain called a pilgrimage?   Well legend tells that St James, one of the apostles of Jesus, was martyred in Jerusalem and his remains made their way to Spain and rest in Santiago de Compostela. Santiago for St. James and Compostela meaning “field of the star.” Here’s a short version of the  legend of the star  tied to the name  Compostela : ⸻ 🌟   The Legend of the Field of the Star In the early 9th century, a  hermit named Pelayo  was living in the hills of Galicia, in northwest Spain. One night, he saw  a brilliant star  (or a shower of stars) shining over a remote, wooded area. He saw it again on the following nights and took it as a divine sign. He reported it to the local bishop,  Theodemir of Iria Flavia , who led a group to inves...

  Countdowns always seem to signal something big is going to happen.  The ball drop on New Years Eve, the rocket launch at Cape Canaveral (yeah, I'm dated), the long walk across the graduation stage, the even longer walk down the aisle...  For our Camino trip, the countdown actually started before Covid back in January of 2020.  We planned the bucket list trip and even booked tickets but then C-19 kicked our bucket ( and a lot of other peoples buckets) over.  Yet the vision remained and here we are, more than five years later, looking forward to actualizing the ambition of the pilgrimage.  Old bones come to life, like the spirit of St. James.  So we are busy preparing and planning, packing, unpacking and repacking; making decisions on what to do and when.  But there is one preparation that cycles through the eternity of time and will not be finalized until the last day.  That is, of course, the preparation of the soul.  This plan isn't a...

Every year around this time I receive a special blessing from two visitors to my home. They greet me every morning outside my bedroom window. A mating pair of Arizona Cardinals that tweet their sweet love songs from dawn to dusk everyday.  “ThweetThweetThweet’ the rhythmic call of the bright red male lifts into the coolness  of the Arizona May morning. Seconds later she echoes his call with a softer series of thweets but, as females sometimes do, she adds her two cents worth and finishes with “TooTooow” in descending tone. I have learned much through the years observing my feathered friends. Here are some lessons I will take from them on my Camino journey: I don’t know if birds can love but when I see them sharing a branch or building a nest or rubbing their beaks together in what appears to be an avian kiss, I am reminded that if God’s lesser creatures can show such harmony, cooperation and apparent joy with their mate and surroundings, then so can I.  I am awakened to t...

  We’re packing for a 500-700 mile long bike pilgrimage from San Sebastián to Santiago Spain, better known as The Camino del Norte.  We will be traveling over a variety of conditions including dirt roads and mountainous terrain.  We must keep our packs under 20 lbs. This means we need to make some decisions on what to take and what to leave behind. We have narrowed it down to this cut list, so I ask you; if it was you, which three items would you take and which three would you leave behind? 1.  A portable battery recharger (that would need to be recharged occasionally itself) 2.  A book (something between War and Peace and The Prophet) 3.  Long pants (it will be June in Spain but we will be along the coast at times) 4.  iPad (finding internet connection will be tricky but then we could ditch the book - damned Americans!  They can’t go anywhere without technology) 5.  Rain jacket (it will be June in Spain but it could rain at times) 6.  P...