Amawalker

Biltong, borewors, braaivleis and bunny-chow

2012-02-13T17:01:00.000+02:00

A young Basque pilgrim I served with as a volunteer hospitalera in an albergue in Galicia in 2009 accepted my invitation to come to South Africa for a holiday. Isa is 41 years old (24 years younger than me) but when we worked together in the San Roque albergue in Corcubion we really clicked. She couldn't speak any English and my Spanish was rudimentary to say the least but somehow we managed to

WEIGHT WATCHERS - FOR BACKPACKS

2012-02-09T09:22:00.000+02:00

Travel light ......don’t take too much stuff.........your backpack should not weigh more than 10 – 15% of your bodyweight……. a too heavy backpack will spoil your pilgrimage ..... Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! We all hear this, over and over again, at workshops, on Forums, in Guidebooks and from experienced pilgrims. But it just doesn’t sink in and we end up with stuff hanging outside the backpack.How on

Walking in Winter

2012-01-09T21:46:00.000+02:00

2011/2012: December and January http://www.moldaviteman.blogspot.com/ 2011: Walking in December and January http://elcaminoayearlater.wordpress.com/2011/11/ 2011: Walking the Camino in reverse, from Samtiago, in February .. brrrrrrrrr...... 2011: Startin in St Jean on 11 March. http://mbaperegrino.wordpress.com/category/1st-day-st-jean-to-roncesalles/ http://photoblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news

URBAN LEGENDS

2011-11-13T16:36:00.000+02:00

There are many legends about James the Greater, and urban-legends (those that developed after the discovery of the saint's tomb in the 9th century). Most of them show that the story about the Jew, Yakhov Ben-Zebedee having evangelised in Spain, being buried in Compostela, and being seen at a battle fighting the Moors, are just that - medieval stories. However, there is a saying that 'the path

PILGRIM FOOTPRINTS

2011-11-03T08:59:00.001+02:00

Lives of great men all remind us We can make our lives sublime, And, departing, leave behind us Footprints on the sand of time. I have a confession to make! I've written another book - about the Camino. I keep asking people not to write about their Camino - unless it has a fresh or unique angle, perhaps about a different route (there are dozens of books written about the Camino Frances), or

YOUR CAMINO - available as a print book, ebook and Kindle

2011-10-08T11:11:00.000+02:00

YOUR CAMINO on foot, bicycle or horsebackin France and Spain (Illustrations in the book by Sandi Beukes) The Lightfoot Guide - YOUR CAMINO on foot, bicycle or horseback in France and Spain is available online from: Pilgrimage Publications €17.99 (The publishers of the book) Amazon.com $22.99 - Kindle €11.99 Amazon.co.uk £15.99 - Kindle - £8 Amazon.de €20.99 - Kindle

YOUR CAMINO gets good reviews

2011-10-03T20:43:00.000+02:00

YAY!!! My book, "YOUR CAMINO on foot, bicycle or horseback in France and Spain" is getting good reviews on the forums and online book stores. This review on Amazon.co.uk: YOUR CAMINO - a Lightfoot Guide to Practical Preparation for a Pilgrimage (Paperback) Preparing for a Camino and the thought of the challenge ahead can be a daunting task. This guide is akin to a reassuring, extremely

Com-pan-eros on el Camino

2011-08-30T08:56:00.000+02:00

A pilgrim walking alone will meet lots of other pregrinos on the trail - one never needs to feel alone. Walking with a friend or in a group adds a new dimension to walking a long distance trail and I love it! I first walked with a group of 10 women in 2001 on the Coast to Coast walk across England. We were free to linger longer in small villages it we wanted to or stay with the group. Mostly

amaWalkers on the trail again!

2011-08-28T13:13:00.000+02:00

This will be the second amaWalkers Camino trek this year. The first amaWalkers Camino walk was in June when I lead 13 people on three sections of the Camino Frances. It was a wonderful walk, with wonderful people and I am looking forward to leading this next group from St Jean Pied de Port to Santiago. Just 3 more sleeps and we will be in Pamplona. There I will meet up with Judith (Canada

The bad days of today will be the Good Old Days of yesterday

2011-08-17T21:34:00.000+02:00

(This was first posted more or less as is on the amawalkerscamino2011 blog last month) As I lay in the bunk at Ribadiso do Baixo in June, I remembered a poem from my youth. Tarantella by Hilair Belloc. "Do you remember an Inn, Miranda, do you remember an inn?" I especially chose the albergue at Ribadiso as the only 'traditional' albergue for our group to experience on their three week walk

Codex Calixtinus manuscript stolen from Santiago's cathedral

2011-07-10T10:10:00.000+02:00

The Guardian and other World News reported this week on the shocking theft of the 12th century manuscript known as the Codex Calixtinus - stolen from a safe in the Cathedral. The Santiago Cathedral Archive describes the The Codex Calixtinus–or Liber Sancti Jacobi / Book of Saint James as a jewel in medieval bibliography, one of the richest medieval sources for historians, geographers,

New Adventure - new blog

2011-06-21T14:52:00.000+02:00

I decided to start a joint blog for our amaWalkers group of 15 people who will start walking from Roncesvalles on Monday 30th May. If you would like to follow us on this asventure, you will find it here: http://www.amawalkerscamino2011.blogspot.com/ An Ode to the amaWalkers Group We had two married couples who got on really well and who were a great delight. Our senior citizen was Roy, a

The Rise, the fall and the Revival of the pilgrimage to Saint James …… and the Rise of 'The Camino'

2011-03-29T22:15:00.000+02:00

Pilgrimages to the different Christian shrines in Europe today are perceived differently - although I'm sure this was not the case originally. In the early middle-ages the three most important pilgrimage destinations were Jerusalem, Rome and Santiago de Compostela. Only the latter has had any great success at reviving it as a 'walking/riding' pilgrimage trail although work is being done to find

YOUR CAMINO

2011-03-26T14:32:00.000+02:00

Your Camino – on foot, bicycle, or horseback – in France and Spain. After years of answering frequently asked questions on Camino forums, the Internet, Camino workshops and on this blog, I have written a book with the answers to thousands of FAQs in a book called ‘Your Camino – on foot, bicycle or horseback, in France and Spain’. Besides providing information and maps on the many different

Looking forward to being a 'touro-grino"!!

2011-01-24T20:08:00.000+02:00

Having walked long Camino routes in 2002 , 2004, 2007 and 2009, I think I've earned my stripes as a 'real' pilgrim. I've had horrible blisters, black toe nails, aching back, bursitis, worn out shoes, gypo tummy and a funny summer tan. And, I've tried to encourage hundreds of others to have the same experience! I've organised Regional St James Feast Days since 2003, annual practical pilgrim

A Spiritual Experience on the Camino

2011-01-07T17:07:00.000+02:00

Many pilgrims, most with no religion, recount having had a ‘spiritual’ experience whilst walking the Camino even though the majority find it difficult to describe the experience. As a non-theist, I too have found it difficult to explain the spirituality of walking the Camino, leaving aside the history, the religion, the traditions, and the folk-lore. It’s more than all of that. If we look at the

1999 - 2010 : REFLECTING ON 10 YEARS OF WALKING THE TALK

2011-01-03T13:02:00.000+02:00

In 1994 I started walking for leisure and fitness. In 1996 I did my first long walk, a two-day 90km charity walk on the famous Comrades Marathon route from Pietermaritzburg to Durban. Things progressed from there and I was soon looking for other long walks to do but I never, in a million dreams, saw myself walking multi-day half marathons in different countries!Its amazing how becoming a Camino

NOTES FROM THE UNIVERSE

2010-11-08T12:45:00.000+02:00

For the past year, I have subscribed to receive 'Notes from the Universe'. Every day I receive a special message - some just a few words, others a few lines, but always meaningful, always positive and they always make me smile. Some even seem to have been written just for me! Today's note was: Don't be afraid to go where you've never gone and do what you've never done, Silvia, because both

EVERY ONE IS SPECIAL

2010-11-06T16:23:00.000+02:00

I think we have our final group of people for the May/June amaWalkers Camino walk. As I typed out the list of names to file in my amaWalkers Camino folder, I thought about them all, about how special every one of these people are. They are not just names of people who want to walk the camino, and who don't want to walk it alone, they are people who feel called to walk a camino (one for a second

Patron Saint of pilgrims and guides

2010-10-29T11:07:00.000+02:00

Bona of Pisa (c. 1156 – 1207) Info and Photo WikiWhen I was planning the amaWalkers guided walk to Santiago, I thought it would be nice to have a patron saint for our group. I did a search on the internet and came up with Saint Bona of Pisa, a 12th c saint who led 10 groups of pilgrims to Santiago de Compostela. At a young age she saw a vision of Jesus, the Virgin Mary and three saints,

AMAWALKERS ON THE CAMINO

2010-10-01T11:17:00.000+02:00

BOOKED OUT - WAITING LIST ONLY Over the years people have asked me if I would organise and guide a group of people on the camino but I've resisted the temptation - until now. I've organised and planned countless camino walks for other people - telling them exactly how to reach their starting point, planning their daily walking stages, giving them links to bus and train schedules, and finding

PILGRIMS WITH DISABILITIES

2010-08-25T19:43:00.000+02:00

Almost anyone can walk, ride or cycle a camino. You’ll find babies in carriers, little children, octarians well into their 80s, blind people, amputees and people in wheelchairs on the camino trails. Even healthy, able-bodied people are anxious about walking hundreds of kilometres across a foreign landscape. Many of the camino trails consist of rocks, gravel, shale, mud, dirt and some asphalt or

SANTIAGO TO ROME

2010-08-06T21:49:00.000+02:00

Ever since a French pilgrim walked from Bordeaux to Jerusalem and back in 333AD, ordinary people with an extraordinary wanderlust have trekked long distances to sacred places. The Anonymous Bordeaux Pilgrim http://www.scribd.com/doc/26855737/The-Anonymous-Pilgrim-of-Bordeaux-333-a-d My good friend "Little John" is one of those extraordinary pilgrims who is planning on walking from Santiago to

ULTRALIGHT BACKPACKS

2010-07-27T20:30:00.000+02:00

This post is all about ultra-light backpacks. (Don't you just love this picture? I couldn't resist posting it here!) There are many backpacking websites that use the words ‘ultra light’ and ‘ultra lite’ when describing backpacks but, to qualify as an ultra-light backpack for this post, I am only including those that weigh 1kg / 2.2lbs and under. To my mind, anything over 1kg /2.2lbs is not

SLEEPING BAGS ON THE CAMINO

2010-06-13T21:54:00.000+02:00

One of the most frequently asked questions about equipment for the camino is, “Do I need a sleeping bag on the camino?” The answer is YES. Even though you will be sleeping indoors in a bed or bunkbed, if you are planning on staying in the pilgrim shelters you will need either a sleeping bag or a sleeping bag liner. Most pilgrim hostal owners insist that you have a 'sack' of some description.