hiking | One Footestep at a Time

I left my hotel at 7:00 and started walking. Yes, I was one of those irritating people using their poles on the pavement. I found the Camino shells in the street and slowly headed out of old town, through the shiny apartment area, green parks, University of Navarra, and new suburbs. I was once again in the river of pilgrims. Everyone said Buen Camino as they passed.

My first stop was at Cizur Menor, a village turned suburb, up the first hill, for a much needed cafe con leche and a slice of tortilla. I shared a table with a delightful mother and daughter from the Midwest. Then it was as time to walk again, and we entered the countryside. The sun warmed as the trail steepened. Up, up, up we went toward the Alto de Perdón at the top of the ridge with its spine of windmills.

Mud. There were sections of the trail underwater from the recent rains, and some low points were just muddy. That’s where poles are so valuable. But it’s tricky sometimes to keep your footing. In one spot pilgrims had walked on tufts of grass way off to the side of a muddy spot, and I followed their lead but it was jelly like underneath. The boots got a good coating of mud.

The next stop was Zariquigui, a village perched on the hillside, with an exquisite little church dedicated to San Andres. I stopped in to see it and enjoy the coolness inside.

After a banana and more water, it was time to get going. The trail went straight up the hill. It was tough, I had to stop a lot, but kept going, navigating through muddy patches. I made a point of looking back to see how far I’d come; Pamplona was getting smaller and smaller.

My poles were good for more than mud. On the last steep bit I found landed them to help pull me up the path.

Finally, the famous cut-out sculpture, with silhouettes of medieval pilgrims, came into view. About 25-30 pilgrims were resting and taking pictures of themselves with the sculpture. I took off my boots and socks and had a chat with an Australian couple. It felt great to be at the top, but I knew there wad demanding terrain going down. It felt good to take a minute and savor it.

My remarks and blessing at the annual Shell Ceremony, March 1, 2025:

Being a pilgrim on the Camino means we go on pilgrimage. Pilgrimage can mean different things to different people: it can be the traditional religious pilgrimage to Santiago to visit the relics of St. James; it can be a spiritual journey where we challenge ourselves and live in the moment; it can be an adventure we feel called to take on. It can be a physical challenge. There’s usually some kind of challenge involved.

Being a pilgrim means that we’ve felt a call to go out of our comfort zone and explore something beyond ourselves, and usually to explore inwardly as well.

The author Phil Costaneau writes in “The Art of Pilgrimage” that pilgrimage is about making travel sacred. Those of you who are walking this year, I encourage you to ask yourself, “Why am I walking?” and let that question live in your heart and listen to what comes up for you as you walk.

The most recent issue of La Concha, the magazine of American Pilgrims on the Camino, has reflections on “Keeping Time,” by pilgrims who share their experience of being on pilgrimage as a way to mark transitions or other significant events in their lives. That was true for me.

I walked the Camino Frances for the first time in 2013 after I left my position at a church in Menlo Park. I was turning 55 and I saw an opening of time to walk the Camino. I wanted to discern what was next. Our kids were almost done with college. I was also ready for a grand adventure.

In June of 2013 Hale and I took a driving vacation in France that ended in SJPP. It was like being dropped off at college. We said goodbye at the Puerto de España, on the Camino just outside of St. Jean Pied de Port, and he drove off to Bordeaux and flew home.

Suddenly, I was traveling alone. For about a few uphill hours, I felt on my own…because I stopped at Orisson for the night and found a community of pilgrims. I remain friends with several pilgrims I met at that first dinner. We just met up with Monika in Vienna last October.

When you step onto the Camino you enter the stream of pilgrims. You’ve entered a community, and, like in life, you also walk your own journey.

The Camino taught me the hard way that we each have our own pace.

My ankle said “enough” in San Juan de Ortega after too many days of walking too far, too fast. I had to cut my Camino short and go home hobbling.

But I was fortunate to return in October and make it to Santiago. I had a new sense of purpose, to walk my own Camino. I discovered a “flow state” within myself, of being alive in body, mind and spirit.

As a person of faith, I felt the presence of God along the Camino in many ways: in my fellow pilgrims, in the beauty of Spain, and the Spanish people; the history, the art, the culture, the food; the feeling that we are walking the path that pilgrims like us have walked for over 1,000 years.

There is a definite sense of spiritual energy along the Way, I hope you feel it, too. The Camino invites us to BE ALIVE and BE THANKFUL for life.

I’m excited to be returning to walk a portion of the Camino Frances in May, from Pamplona to Burgos. This time around I want to give thanks for becoming a grandmother. I want to give thanks for the lives of my parents who lived long lives and died five years ago. I’ve been studying Spanish and I’m looking forward to speaking Spanish with the wonderful people of Spain hosting us along the Camino.

I look forward to that rhythm of walking poles and footsteps that becomes a walking prayer. People have asked me to pray for our country. I will pray for our country, and the world in which our grandchildren and all our children are growing up in.

These days you can find me preparing to walk the Camino. I’m walking the streets of Alameda, around Lafayette Reservoir, Lake Merritt, and in Joaquin Miller park.

And I hope to see some of you fellow pilgrims on the Camino.

Blessing of the Shells

We gather today from all across Northern California

To share a meal, share our stories, our hopes and dreams

To build a community of pilgrims

To support our fellow pilgrims as they prepare to walk

The many routes to Santiago.

Now, let us gather all the love from this group,

the love of the spirit of the Camino

And the thread of love that connects all humanity

To bless these shells,

symbols and talismans of the pilgrimage.

May these shells identify each of you as a pilgrim on the Way

May they protect you and keep you safe

May they always remind you

That you are walking the ancient way of St. James.

Buen Camino and Amen.

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