Camino 2016, Day 6

Better day today for reasons I don’t have time now to explain. Have lost my power adapter and am powering up with a borrowed one.  

Here’s the one pic I took at the town I’m on tonight,  Vianna. It won’t do it, I’ll try later tonight or sometime after that. 

Edit: I got two adapters and that’s great. I’m doing much better having seen the wisdom of slowing down.  Turns out that there is what I like to cap. ..

The Camino Coverup!

Turns out the miliage figures in the guide books areally as the crow flies.  So that makes realistic planning very hard.  We thought we were only going 13 kilometers when in reality we had probably done at least twice that,  as an example. 

So the maps are bad and leave out lots of topographical info and the milage figures are bad. 

So we are taking it easy and trying to take thinges one stepisode at a time.

Camino 2016 Day 5

It is said that all ttue pilgramages must be,at least in part,  painful.  If that’s true then this one is proceeding right on schedule. 

My legs were weak today and my feet continted to hurt only more than yesterday. 

It was a tough day.  Walked right by something I really wanted to see in the dark around 7 AM.

Today was an endless succession of hills, hills,  hills. Since the Spanish don’t seem to know what a switchback is,  you go straight up and straight down.  Most of them very step. 

We made it to one town with no place to stay. Next town didn’t either,  so another mile,  mostly uphill,  and we found a stop for tonight. 

Given my fatigue I didn’t use the phone much, but here you go. 

Here’s the famous free wine fountain, I didn’t drink the wine but some Aquarius  I bought from a vending machine you can’t see. It won’t upload, try again larer.

Camino 2016, Day 4

This afternoon we arrived in Manueru and stopped. Saw the windmills, and famous pilgrim statues this morning.  Spent about 8 hours walking.  Not making the time I’d like too.  But an ex-Marine joined with Al and I today and should speed us up.

My legs are feeling good, but both my little toes are sore and beat up.  No blisters.  Pray my body holds up and my spirits stay high as some one can be very negative and it wears on me. 

Here’s some pics, my battery was low so had to use my camera most the time. So I only took pics on the windmill hill where it was very wind and cold. 

Camino 2016 Day 3

Just finished another long one.  Through hills, forests, more hills and the city of Pamplona. Cooler but still hot today. 

Feet are getting sore and feeling beat up but no blisters.  Here’s a few pictures. 

Camino 2016 Day 2

Today we walk a little less far than I had planned.  BUT as sore as my legs are that’s ok. 

The walk was basicly several hills with fairly steep uphill and very steep down hill sections.  Hotter today than yesterday and that didn’t help either. We walked for about 8 hours.

Here’s a few pictures. 

Camino 2016 Day 1

I’m a day behind on my posts so I’ll try and catch up. Here’s a group shot of the people I stayed with the night begore. The ladies were going to start later so Al and I pressef on together.

We got started late out of St.Jean. very step for the first 8 kilometers inbuilt we reached Orrison. After a brief stop we started towards the top.

The weather was pretty warm,  in the mid to upper 90s and humid. It wasn’t as steep as before bit long.  Finally we reached the statue of the Virgin, which symbolizes the top but isn’t.  

We went on and one and after some rough up hill stretches finally started down. By that time both Al and I were pretty low on water and pretty warm as well. 

We found the Fountain of Roland at the border with Spain.  What a blessing to relax and drink our fill of the cool water. 

We refilled and started down. Finally arriving at our Alburge at 6 PM.

Whata day.  Nit as  tough as the Grand Canyon, but tough that’s for sure. 

A few more pics.

Tales From the Scrypt!

I cut the first promo today for a new short form radio show that I’ve been asked to do on our local station KLPZ, 1380 AM. Here’s a bit about it:

In the Arabian Nights Tahir Shah said, “Stories are a communal currency of humanity,” and he was right of course.  In “Tales From the Scrypt.” starting on September 22nd I’ll be sharing stories taken directly from the Bible, the source of the greatest true stories ever told, every week. They’ll be dramatized yet remain true to the Scriptures so you’ll be drawn into these stories that illustrate the truth about life, humanity and eternity itself. You’ll hear stories from both Testaments, stories that Jesus, the Master Teacher told, and maybe some stories that you didn’t know were in there.  So please join me every Thursday morning on KLPZ at 9:30 AM for Tales From the Scrypt, “Stories You Can Believe In.”

You can listen online if you’d like too at www.klpz1380.com at 9:30 AM Arizona time. Just remember Arizona Time is like unto God in one way – it doesn’t change. No jumping forward or falling back around here!

I’d like to thank my friend Meredith for the title and my friend Keith for an idea that helped me come up with the tag line. These will be short (& hopefully sweet) little bits of truth and wisdom from the Scriptures, hopefully everyone will benefit from them.

So, what are you favorite Bible Stories? Do you have some that you’d like to hear adapted and presented on Tale From the Scrypt? If so let me know ok?

God bless and I’ll see you on the radio soon!

 

 

 

Camino Countdown #5

This is the strange story about, of all things, a wallet. Now I’m not a big wallet kind of guy as you might imagine. In fact many of the wallets I’ve owned have darned near died of starvation!

But this wallet has a pretty amazing story behind it and I wanted to share it with you, because believe it or not it does connect to the Camino. The wallet in question is below:

In 2006 I had the chance of a lifetime and I took it. My sister Monica, her husband Scott and my two nephews Josh and John were going to Spain. She told me I could go if I could pay for the plane ticket. I could only stay for a week, and went for it!

On Thursday of that week we went to Granada and visited Alhambra. Among many things we saw the famous Court of the Lions. It was amazing and inspired me to, among other things buy the wallet. Here’s one of the pictures I took of the courtyard.

Court of Lions

As you can see the wallet has the lions and the fountain on it. So, like many tourists and especially inexperienced ones, I bought something pretty that I had exactly and precisely no use for. The beautiful yet sad wallet has sat in one box or another for a decade since then, never used.

But now our story changes. For my current wallet is falling apart and I don’t need to take everything I carry here with me. So I needed another wallet, a smaller one. And then I remembered the forgotten wallet. It’s some kind of miracle that I managed to find it, and am now using it as I prepare to go on the Camino.

So I bought the wallet in Spain as a tourist and now it’s going back to Spain with me, only this time I’ll be a Pilgrim not a tourist.

Who would have ever thought it?

Buen Camimo!

 

Camino Countdown #4

So what will I take and will it fit into my backpack? Come to think of it, which of the two backpacks I own will I take? Some is explained below, and as things develop I’ll update this post. Enjoy!

Camino Countdown #3

For those of you who don’t know much about the Camino I’m embedding below all the episodes of Beyond the Way currently on YouTube. Andrew’s point of view and beliefs are far different from mine, but he’s a great film maker and you’ll find a lot of different stories from people on the Camino.

I’m also adding a video he put out recently about funding a second season of Beyond the Way. Later I might do another post of his Don’t Stop Walking which is a guide to help you prepare to walk the Camino, which I’ve watched many times and is both funny and excellent.

If you haven’t seen these, please take the time to watch, enjoy , learn and be touched along the way.