Yesterday morning, I ran over a butterfly on my bike. This was a difficult moment, mostly for the butterfly, but also for me too. It reminded me of just how careful I'd been on earlier mornings in stepping over industrious ants and in retrieving stranded worms and snails from the middle of the path. Now, …
Author: johnelsewhere1968
Thoughtful wanderer in search of virtual meaning
Weather With You
Many days ago, I was gifted a new nickname by my Brazilian friend Vilmar - Johnnie Walker. I was delighted and surprised by it in equal measure, as in my previous iteration, walking anywhere at all wasn't very high up on my list of things to do. After nearly two weeks of days that had …
Burgos and Bikes
Along with León and Pamplona, Burgos was one of the few places on the Camino that I'd actually heard of before, so I was delighted that there were only 12km to walk to reach it, allowing lots of time to see the Cathedral and wander its streets. Gythlian and Elizabeth had already departed by the …
From Villafranca Montes de Oca to Cardeñuela Riopico
This morning's post was a feeble attempt to try to encapsulate about three days of the Camino in one stream of consciousness, written at 6am in the least comfortable of all the albergues I've stayed in so far. The weight of all the moments that have passed since the incident with Martin at the Spanish …
Continue reading From Villafranca Montes de Oca to Cardeñuela Riopico
Conjunctions And Orbits
Like many other Peregrinos, my first images of the Camino came from "The Way", the thoroughly gorgeous Martin Sheen film that turned the standard "road trip" movie into a "very long walk" movie, with four disparate characters coming together in unlikely fashion to walk to Santiago in unison. Much as I loved the film (it's …
Keep Your Head Up
The significance of this experience is beginning to challenge my ability to keep up with it - physically, spiritually and literarily. This morning's post covered the events of a memorable Saturday afternoon and evening in Grañón, which in turn led to a positively euphoric Sunday morning and a surprising newfound ability to walk much further …
The Biography Of Silence
If you know me, you'll know that I generally use a lot of words, when fewer might do just as well. If you know me well, you'll know that when in company, I cannot allow a silence to develop for too long before saying something to move the conversation along. It's been pointed out before, …
Pay It Forward
As I left the albergue at Azofra this morning, I noticed an old man walking just ahead of me. He was slightly hunched over and limping a little, and I had thoughts of saying "hello" and hopefully listening to him for a while. But it wasn't to be. He outpaced me right from the outset …
Phone On Silent
This morning, the twelve occupants of Room 3 on the second floor of Casa del Peregrinos in Navarrete were awoken a little earlier than expected when a mobile phone alarm sounded at 0530, for two very long minutes. The announcement of a new day by means of an excruciating electronic tone in the morning is, …
The Other Half
On leaving Logroño this morning, I saw for the first time an official representation of the female experience of walking the Camino, in the form of a dramatic statue by the city gates. This was well-timed, as I found myself repeatedly bumping into two different Heidis during the course of the day's stretch from Viana …
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