A Camino Adventure

Camino #1, oil 12x16

My good friend Dale talked me into walking parts of the Camino de Santiago de Compostela with her this summer. The Camino is a network of Pilgrimage routes to the city of Santiago de Compostela ("St. James of the Field of Stars"), located in the northwest corner of Spain. According to tradition, St. James the Apostle was sent to bring Christ's message "to the ends of the earth," which was then perceived as what we now know as western Spain. After James returned to the Holy Land and was martyred there, his followers brought his remains back to the area where he preached. Religious Pilgrims have been travelling to the site since the 10th Century when the remains were discovered.

Every year, thousands of travelers follow one of the many routes to Santiago, some for religious reasons, some for adventure, some to challenge themselves, and some, like me, to experience the atmosphere, food and drink. Dale and I started our trip on June 1st, flying into Pamplona, near the France-Spain border, to meet up with 12 other walkers and our guides, Nancy Frey, an American anthropologist, her Galician husband, Jose Placer, and their son, Sam. Their adventures are known as On Foot in Spain (www.onfootinspain.com). The route we followed started in Roncesvalles, just west of the Pyrenees.

 Because we walked 6 to 12 miles a day (a lightweight schedule compared to the endeavors of many walkers), I knew I wouldn't have time to stop and paint along the way, so I'm relying on my memory and photos to record some of my impressions of this experience.

The initial route we followed, near the Basque mountains, was lush and green. We walked from village to village through vineyards and wheat and barley fields in the mornings - in a heat wave, 20 degrees F. higher than normal.

West of Estella, June 5