What makes the perfect Camino packing list? On September 12th 2015, I started walking through the city of Leon in northern Spain. For the next twenty days I walked to Santiago de…
Arriving in Santiago de Compostela didn’t feel the way I expected. The Spaniards I had been walking with for the last seven days had tears in their eyes as we walked through…
They say the Camino brings out the best in people. I didn’t believe them at first, but it’s true. Becoming a pilgrim means talking to, befriending and helping out others just for…
“I follow the arrows, and when my feet hurt, I stop. What more do I need?” Our group of pilgrims sits at a circular table made of stainless steel in a nameless…
NB: Long-term readers may remember that during my travels through South America, I wrote a series of articles about my Spanish learning progress called ‘The Spanish Challenge’. It’s been a while…
A lot of people don’t understand the Camino. When you tell them you’re voluntarily walking four hundred kilometres through Spain with all your possessions on your back, they don’t believe you at…
“Is my little toe supposed to feel numb?” I’m walking through the forests of Sigulda with Janis, my Latvian guide. I’m wearing newly purchased hiking boots with equally new insoles which the shrewd…
This week, I flicked back through my diary and realised that it’s almost been a full year since I arrived home in London after eighteen months spent travelling through my favourite continent. One year since…
Walking in a city is an interesting occupation. At every step there are groups of people to squeeze between, smears of dog mess to hopscotch around and stretched-out wads of dirty…
Over Christmas, my friend announced that she’s planning to run the London marathon in April. She’s running for a cause important to both of us: her mum passed away from breast cancer…