Category: Travel

Coming Soon: Camino Route Report – Camino del Norte 2019

Posted by on December 6, 2019 in Activities, Adventure, Advice, Destinations, Travel

Grandpa’s Latest Camino de Santiago

During the month of October 2019, Grandpa completed his third Camino de Santiago in Spain. He trekked for thirty-one days on the Camino del Norte, along the north coast, from Irun at the French border to Santiago de Compostela in Galicia. Daily accounts of that journey to find inspiration and meet new friends will be available on the blog site in the coming weeks. Follow along as the trail days are posted or select Camino de Santiago here, or from the blog’s main menu.

Camino del Norte (Coastal Way)

The length of the Camino del Norte, also known as the Camino de la Costa (Coastal Way), is over 800 kilometers (more than 500 miles). Depending on where you find your information, this distance varies. I used a Village to Village Map Guide by Harms, Dintman, and Landis for my trek and will use their measurements for consistency throughout the report. One of the difficulties in measurements for the Norte is the number of variations on your path to Santiago, variations you don’t find much of while walking the Camino Francés. The Camino del Norte is 833 kilometers from Irún, at the French border, traveling through the cities of San Sebastián, Bilbao, Santander, and Gijón to Santiago de Compostela. An option popular with pilgrims hiking the Norte is to leave the traditional route and follow the Primitivo route over the mountains, meeting the Camino Francés at Melide. I followed the Norte to Arzúa, where this trail intersects with the Francés.

About the Route Report

Each day in the route report will list start and endpoints, the distance walked (in kilometers), the time it took to walk that distance, notes about the route, a log of that day’s adventures, people I met and fun we had, and some indication of costs, weather, and trail conditions.

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Planning Season

Posted by on April 16, 2018 in Activities, Adventure, Advice, Destinations, Travel

Eckhart Tolle tells us—when thinking of the future—that we plan in the now, in the present moment. He has been an inspiration in my life, and I do my best to embody this concept of planning, here and now. My 2018 planning season is mostly complete.

Planning season has its moments.

 

Much of these past winter months I have stolen moments to plan for future travels. I know, right? If you’ve read my blogs before you’d get the sense that I never go anywhere—NOT! And as is my usual wont, I’ve planned a lot. Much of it in succession.

The first flurry: A hands-on work project in Mexico with Grandma’s Rotary club, which happens to butt up against a section hike on the Pacific Crest Trail. Fly to Mexico, work, hang out on the beach, work some more, fly to San Diego, then start hiking. I’m meeting a couple of my buddies there and hiking from the Mexican border for 342 miles to the north. That’s the plan.

Rotary led high school refurbishment project, Las Varas, Nayarit, Mexico. 2015

Rotary led high school refurbishment project, Las Varas, Nayarit, Mexico. 2015

Rotary led high school refurbishment project, Las Varas, Nayarit, Mexico. 2015

That takes a lot of groundwork. Permits, buying supplies, figuring out resupply plans. Packing. Thank goodness that I live with my travel agent. She booked flights for me to get from Point A to B then C and on to D—where she has me appearing on stage at a Rotary convention following our Polio’s Last Mile campaign. (Recognition is a wonderful thing—but the day after getting of the trail? Really?)

Backpack and resupply boxes ready for the Pacific Crest Trail.

Oh well. It was all planned in the present moment.

Then there’s a trip to Europe this summer touring with our granddaughter and visiting with friends in Provence. Grandma made all those plans. From there—what the heck—add on a trek around Mont Blanc with a good friend (Karla, in my book Su Camino). Karla has done a masterful job of planning that one. I’m so looking forward to these adventures.

The next time I get to sit and plan, in the now, I’ll be looking into a Grand Canyon hike, with a twist. I want to get to Northern AZ (from my Nor Cal home) by bus and train—only. That’s nothing unusual in Europe, but in the States, especially out west, it’s not easy.

One other thing: During these past months, I jumped into writing fiction, for fun. It was more of an experiment into creativity. I discovered “the flow.” With no practical training or specific education in the art, I just went for it—making it up as I went along. I’ll try to get it finished up in the next couple of months (while trekking around) and uploaded to Amazon. It’s called, Three Red Sedans: A Mild-Mannered Mystery/Thriller.

 

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Finishing Is The Reward

Posted by on December 23, 2017 in Activities, Adventure, Destinations, Travel

Last month, I reported on my then-upcoming adventure at the Marathon Des Sables Peru in a post called Crunch Time. If you were unable to follow along with the race, I’m happy to report that I did complete the 155-mile, six-stage event, ranked in the top 100 competitors—which was my stated goal in an even earlier post, All About The Goal—and as the top ranked American in the field. Finishing this footrace was no easy accomplishment, but always with the end in mind, I did manage to work through challenges during the race and come away happy with my results. (more…)

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The Via De La Plata – Revisited

Posted by on November 20, 2017 in Activities, Adventure, Advice, Destinations, Travel

Introduction:

I was recently asked to present my 2016 Via de la Plata trek in Spain, and I thought I would share my speech and slides in this post. I was one of seven presenters speaking on routes other than the most commonly walked, Camino Francés. My friend Laurie Ferris over at thecaminoprovides.com was one of the organizers of the event and had this to say about the event when she posted the slideshows on her website:

“Our NorCal chapter of American Pilgrims on the Camino had its annual Welcome Home celebration event on November 11th, 2017 in Oakland. This year we had presentations on Camino routes “beyond the Francés.” It was a fun way to learn about less popular routes that are off the beaten path. It also gave the opportunity for first-time pilgrims and veterans to share some highlights at a gathering. We did the presentations in 10×10 format, which is ten slides in ten minutes. We had seven routes represented, and I presented on the Camino Inglés. It was challenging for all of us to select photos to include, and to speak for only ten minutes, because we are all very passionate about our experiences!”

This was a very fun experience for me and it brought back many of my wonderful experiences while making that fabulous journey, last fall. Hope you enjoy! (more…)

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Out And About In Seattle

Posted by on July 16, 2017 in Activities, Advice, Destinations, Food, Getting There and Away, Lodging, Travel

Big cities don’t thrill me, but Seattle, Washington, has many fun and out-of-the-ordinary things to do, beautiful scenery, friendly people, good food . . . I could go on.

During a recent trip, we spent a few days in Seattle, sightseeing and catching up with an old friend. Though it was typical weather for the US Northwest—with gray skies, occasional mist, and one day of actual rain—we made the most of our time there. And once again, we arrived back at our hotel one evening wondering why we thought we could pack so much into a day—at our ages. (more…)

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Just Off The Beaten Path: Santa Rosalía, BCS, Mexico

Posted by on April 18, 2017 in Advice, Destinations, Travel

The American at the border crossing in Tijuana said of Santa Rosalía, “That’s a dirty little town.” Since that was our stated destination, the man’s assertion seemed quite rude. But we handled his affront well enough. And, yes, one might think so, if you are—as most do—driving straight through Santa Rosalía en route to somewhere else, somewhere better known to the average tourist who spends his or her time elsewhere in southern Baja.

Santa Rosalia from Las Casitas, to the south

Treasures Abound in Southern Baja (more…)

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Lessons Learned in Rome

Posted by on April 2, 2017 in Activities, Advice, Destinations, Travel

Vatican City

This is the third, and final, post in our When in Rome series.

Early access is best. Make reservations online ahead of time if you can. Go for the “no line” opinion. We have been to several World Heritage sites and other places frequented by the masses. And we don’t like crowds or missing out on what we came to see because of those crowds. Therefore, we usually seek out passes with the early access option (Chichen Itza, for example). They don’t cost more. You just have to be willing to get up and to leave early in the morning, sometimes as early as 5:30 a.m. (more…)

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Out and About in Rome

Posted by on March 27, 2017 in Activities, Advice, Destinations, Travel

Vittorio Emanuele II Monument

This is the second post in our When in Rome series.

Our first full day in Rome, we loosely followed the Heart of Rome walking tour suggested by Rick Steves, visiting the Trevi Fountain, Piazza Pietra, the Pantheon, Piazza Navona, and the Bruno Statue in Campo de’ Fiori. Steves is the travel expert on Europe seen on PBS. We found a copy of his travel book for Rome in our apartment, and off we went. (more…)

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A Roman Holiday

Posted by on March 22, 2017 in Activities, Advice, Destinations, Travel

To write a series of posts about a holiday in Italy and specifically about Rome is folly. A folly it shall be then. I’ll euphemistically call this series of posts “When in Rome, Do as the Romans Do,” a very familiar saying, one my wife and I and our friends lived in earnest. Wherever we went in Rome, we piled onto buses or boarded the metro rail (more…)

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