Hikking

From Maine to Spain (and back)

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Foncebadon to Ponferrada (34km/21mile/42,405steps) – the day started off with a quick 20 minute climb to the Cruz Ferro or Iron Cross which is the highest point on the Camino and where pilgrims for decades have placed a stone at the foot of the cross, symbolically relieving themselves of their sins and burdens. Tradition dictates that the stone is to brought from home and carried all this way. Hence I brought a small stone. The stone that I placed at the cross was one I had taken off the beach on Peaks Island, Maine, nowhere creates perfectly round stones like the Maine coast. Don’t worry though I picked a small granite stone up off the trail a few days ago to put on the beach on Peaks at the end of the summer. Seemed like a fair trade. And yes I am obsessed with the weight of my pack but I am carrying stone with me – oh tradition.

The day continued with what I believe may be the prettiest day of walking I have ever had. While the trail was quite challenging and we did get a few sprinkles the last few miles Mother Nature was really showing off her stuff today. I walked for 6ish hours through the mountains dropping into small valley hamlets and back up again. It was not only beautiful it was really fun.

One sad point was that I did obverse many folks walking in sandals because of hurting feet and I came across a young women who had tripped, fallen and cut her head open on the rock – she seemed in amazingly good spirits despite all the blood but her companions were taking good care of her and an ambulance was called.

As you walk the Camino not a day goes by that you do not see at least one memorial to either a person who died walking the Camino or a person for whom this trail meant a lot. Today I saw one with a saying I have never heard before but really like. I’ll end with the quote and some picks from what was a really good walk today.

Peace

The boat is safer anchored in the port; but that is not the point of boats

Actual Knights Templar Castle

Wheat and more wheat – can be kinda prayerfull

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The Meseta – Today was the beginning of 6 days walking through the Meseta (plateau). The Meseta is one long rolling path through endless wheat fields. It was a 32km (5 ½ hour) walk on a windy, sunny day in the high 40’s – perfect walking weather. Helped by the fact that for the first time the wind was at our backs – I’ll take any help I can get. The whole day was kinda boring in a pleasant kind of way. I will confess that I did catch myself talking to myself the last hour – out loud.

The day ended with a rather good communal meal of salad and paella. Not a lot to add past that – it was that kind of day.

Here are some pictures from the day, see if you can pick up on the theme. Peace

55 years old and 20 lbs overwieght (being generous) – sure why not walk across Spain (again)

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This was supposed to post a couple of days ago but I was having WiFi issues – still cant get it to download picture, hopefully soon.

This is my first post in a number of years (that number being 4). The reason for this resurrected blog (its an Easter thing – get it?) is that I am once again walking the Camino De Santiago, some 600+ miles from St-Jean-Pied-de- Port in France, over the Pyrenees (ugh) across Spain to Santiago de Compostela. The reason for this walk has not yet been completely revealed to me, but ever since I did this pilgrimage in 2014 I have wanted to return. Due to the graciousness and patience of Priscilla, my wife, and the generosity of the good people of St. James’s Episcopal Church in West Hartford, were I am rector, I am on sabbatical and find myself on this historic and grueling pilgrimage/walk again.

If you want to continue to fallow me as I cross Spain there are a few ground rules we have to set.

1: I am a terrible speller and even though I use spell check errors will happen.

2: My use of punctuation is often incorrect but works for me – so enjoy

3: I blame 1&2 on my dyslexia so to comment would be rude and really not to the point😁.

4: if these things bother you, I am sorry and suggest that you do not read on as they will be ever present without my resident proof readers.

5: I will only blog from time to time, with more frequencies at some points then others – sorry, I know that it is fascinating 😉.

6: Please enjoy what I do offer – this is understandably probably not very important to you – but it is to me.

7: My humor is an acquired taste so be generous – that should be a life rule for everyone.

8: Most importantly please keep me in your prayer as I walk and Priscilla in my absence (although I think secretly it is nice for her after 32 years of marriage to have a little quite.)and (what is that about absence, the heart and fondness)

On The Road Again

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Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. And he said to them, “What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?” They stood still, looking sad. Then one of them, whose name was Cleona’s, answered him, “Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?” He asked them, “What things?” They replied, “The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things took place. Moreover, some women of our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning, and when they did not find his body there, they came back and told us that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but they did not see him.” Then he said to them, “Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?” Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures.

                  As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. But they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.” So he went in to stay with them. When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight. They said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?”

Luke 24:13-32

Over the past year I have had the joy and privilege to go on two extraordinary walks. At this time last year I was in the middle of a 35 days walk of over 1000 km across the north of Spain, following the accent Camino de Santiago. As of this writing I have just returned from a much shorter (thank God) walk of 5 days, 79 km on the Salcantay Glacier Trek, up and down through the Andes in Peru to Machu Picchu. While both of these “walks” were in very different settings and very, very different terrains, they have many things in common. The key similarity being that they are both associated with a destination. The Camino ends at the Cathedral of Santiago or St. James in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. Santiago is the traditional burial site of the recovered bones of St. James the Apostle and has been a major pilgrimage site for over 1400 years. Machu Picchu is the famed “Lost City” of the Inca “discovered” by Yale archeologist and explorer Hiram Bingham in 1911 after being lost to the jungle during the Incan genocide perpetrated by the Spanish Conquistadors under the command of Francisco Pizarro in the 1530s.

While both these walks are to someplace, it is not the destinations but the journeys that I will never forget. Traveling on foot, sometimes with great difficulty, and breaking bread three times a day with once strangers, is possibly one of the fastest and most ordinary yet extraordinary ways to get to know others and yourself and to build community. Jesus understood and practiced this throughout his ministry. Whether it was on the road to Galilee or the road to Emmaus, Jesus spent time walking, talking and eating. These are three of the most human of activities, yet we tend to rush through them. We more often then not walk simply to get somewhere and eat in a hurry, frequently in silence, to get to our next task.

If I have learned anything in the past 51 years and in particular in walking and talking with strangers or my loved ones through life, it is that – it is not the destination that makes us who we are but the journey.

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The Salkantay Trail – the who, what and where of my time in Peru.

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Now that I am back home and have both reliable internet access and have had some time to reflect, I figured I would post a couple of blog entries over the next couple of days. This first post will be some facts (the who, what and where of it all) and a few images from my short time trekking in Peru. The next, will hopefully be a little more reflective, an opportunity for me to share a few thoughts on what this time away has meant to me.

When I first conceived of this idea of trekking/hiking to Machupicchu in the Peruvian Andes I had assumed that I would go by way of the “Classic Inca Trail.” After a little research I came to the conclusion that this route was far more crowded than I would enjoy. So, I did a little research and found that a few years ago a new trail was developed to take some of the pressure off of the Inca Trail. This sounded perfect, so I booked my guide and paid my money for what is called “The Salkantay Trail.” So called because of the fact that on the second day we hiked to the Salkantaypampa or Salkantay Glacier at the altitude of 15,200 feet (the highest point on the trek). Me being me, I had gotten so excited about this trip and the new route I had not thoroughly read the information on it. Yes, I had read all the “important” stuff like cost, date and what was included and not included, but I had not read the route description completely. As it turned out, the route I had chosen was much higher, steeper and longer (both in miles and days) than the Inca Trail. Once I discovered this, I have to say I was a little concerned. As a 51-year-old man who is not in bad shape but could use to lose a fare bit of weight, I thought this might not be the best of ideas – but that has never stopped me and hopefully never will. No guts no glory, no pain no gain – after all this was supposed to be an adventure, a personal, physical, spiritual and psychological challenge. AND IT WAS.

The Facts: 5 days & 4 nights, 78 km/50 miles (vs. 43km/27miles for the Inca Trail) and the most extended steep hiking I have ever done. At one point we climbed upwards for nearly 3 hours. Distance hiking has never been my problem – I did well over 1000km last summer in Spain on the Camino de Santiago. It is the steep grade of this hike that I found so grueling. And it was great.


The guide service I used was SAS, a locally owned and operated company. Because I was on my own a group of 10 of us were put together along with a guide, asst. guide, cook (food was very good and prepared under very difficult circumstances) and small support staff of a couple of porters and 2 others. The group put together was one of the best parts of the trip. As I said, I am 51 years old and the next oldest person in our group of 10 was 28 years old. At first I thought this might prove to be difficult and I might feel like an outsider, but it was really fun and they all proved to be great to hang out with and really pushed me physically. I was also the only American in the group – but since they were mostly European, they all spoke beautiful English. I joked that the only people on the trip who had trouble with the English language were the Australians and the American.

The Group: 2 Australian men, friends since high school, 1 a cardiac nurse (which I found morbidly reassuring) and the other a geologist with an offshore oil rig contractor. 2 women from Austria, long time friends and recent grad school grads, an Italian man who had attended grad school with the 2 Austrians, a German couple, she just having graduated from a masters program in psychology and having spent 4 months in Nicaragua working in a clinic and now traveling in South America with her boyfriend and 2 Koreans, a man and a woman, who had just graduated from Rice University in Houston. All were good athletes and many very strong climbers with years of experience traveling the world (Aussies) or climbing the Alps as weekend recreation.

While Machupicchu was amazing to see and experience, it was the trek and the group that was by far the best part. I pushed myself physically and was supported by everyone, as we supported each other. You know me – it is these little communities that we create or find ourselves in that make life the joy and the adventure that it is.