Recent content by lbrown498

The Albergue in the first picture is the one in Roncesvalles. If you look closely you can see "Albergue de Roncesvalles" on the sign next to the door.

In the middle ages this used to be a thing. It's where the word sauntering comes from. It was a bit of a dodge. People would take to the road (or maybe the path) and whenever anyone they met asked where they were headed they would say they were on their way to the Holy Land (Saint Terre) and...

Yes, it is.

This is neither here nor there for anyone else, but I don't like hiking poles; I've never found them to be helpful. In St Jean, I found a store that sold staffs. I bought one for myself and offered to by one for my daughter. She turned her nose up and said she didn't want one. Then, the next...

Off grid in New Mexico...

In the bar/coffee shop in Espinal I heard a recording whose source I would really like to know. It was sort of a rhumba played on guitars and accordion. It sounded like a cousin of flamenco, but not exactly the same. I should have asked the woman tending the bar what it was, but I hadn't been...

I used to be a C programmer. I always count from zero.

I know this varies for each of us, but for me (even at 66) 10 km is not a long walk. I would define over 25 km as longish, over 30 as long, and over 50 as heroic.

Concensus reality is a consensus, an agreement to pretend that things are other than they are. It's an Emperor's new clothes sort of thing. What they are really saying is "we don't want to hear about it any more." Perhaps they are envious, or perhaps they are not interested. In a way, both...

I think that thinking in polar extremes -- selfish vs self-denying -- generally leads to nonsense. There's a reason the airline staff tell you in case of an emergency to put on your oxygen mask first. Allowing your employees to become too dependent on you may not be the best thing for their...

Smart Wool. That's the only sock I wear since my first Camino in 2012.

I forgot the graffiti on the walls of the underpasses...

Drifting from horizon to horizon like a cloud. Climbing off the path into the woods to take a leak and find my pilgrim's staff lying on the ground in front of me. Spanish bartenders - they're brilliant, taking multitasking to a completely new level. Walking through fields, villages...

There is a cafe in Espinal. Turned out to be one of my favorites, maybe because it was my first experience of a Spanish bar/cafe. The coffee was great, and the bartender was playing some great music.

Thanks, Margaret.