As I walked into the city from the train station in Marseille, the Muslim call to midday prayer was echoing through the streets. This was a particularly powerful change in environment, in the pilgrimage experience. It always feels quite jarring to enter a city after weeks in the forest, this time especially so. Marseille is…

Morning mass, hitchhiking, the power of speaking wishes aloud, the beginning of the end and then the end

Dirk’s pilgrim motto has always been: Go with the flow.

In which Dirk and Lauren are reunited

The walk from Saint-Lizier to Le Mas d’Azil was 30km of deep thought. My body pushed beyond exhaustion at yesterday’s 40km, the walking is now pure autopilot and my mind can really stretch. I’m getting that crystalline clarity of thought that comes when you move beyond physical endurance. I awoke in the sad little church…

I had been feeling compelled to combine what is a typical 2-day camino itinerary into one 40km day. I first thought of it when making my initial plans, and the idea really took root. It was never a good idea: 40km is 25 miles. I’ve done it in a day, I’ve done more and including…

Five more days, I’ve made my way from Saint Bertrand des Commingues on to Le Mas d’Azil. I climbed over the highest mountain on my trail. I’ve gone more than 100km since the last post. Quick practicalities: there are no markets, no restaurants, no hotels, no wifi. Anything I had seen on a map, a…

I awoke from some really wild camping outside of Montserrie and gave thanks for passing a safe night. Cold, damp, full of spooky sounds, and so disagreeable that I decided to go to sleep without dinner… but safe. As I packed up my tent in the cold morning, two pilgrims walked by, one French and…

If this all seemed just so idyllic, skipping along through the soft mountains, it was. For a minute. I even thought I was stronger and more experienced than I am. Well, Camino specializes in reality checks and ego adjustments. It’s day 4 of walking, and I’m grumpy. All my stuff has a cold humid dampness…

This is my favorite secret thrill of pilgrimage: private access to very, very old churches.