Imagine a city covered in snow. It sits on ladders and lamp posts, railings and rooftops, car windscreens and tree branches: inches thick, untouched and pure white. The snow quietens the streets. Vehicles…
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“You always start with the senses.” I try my best to suffocate the sound of my growling stomach. There’s a Marks and Spencers sandwich hiding in my bag, but I don’t want…
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When I was eight years old, I got locked inside a toilet cubicle in a Japanese KFC. I’d been eating fried chicken with my parents mere minutes before; my fingers were…
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“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…
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If your life is anything like mine, November is an unexpectedly manic month. Maybe it’s because everyone’s preparing for the end of the year; maybe the worsening weather makes us simultaneously more lazy…
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Camino de Santiago Europe Language Solo Travel Spain Spanish Challenge The Camino
The Spanish Challenge: Walking the Camino with Spaniards
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…
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“I really want a garden.” Lelde steps carefully between the brambles and blueberry bushes, a red handled knife in her hand. She is looking for mushrooms. I don’t know the layout of…
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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…
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Table Mountain is a South African icon. This bizarrely flat plateau towers above the high-rises and hotels that jostle for space on the Cape Town skyline, is visible from every direction, and…
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Camino de Santiago Challenges Personal Solo Travel Spain Spanish Challenge
Confessions of a Camino Newbie
“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…