Early this morning the clocks sprang forward one hour, symbolically reflecting this time of change and our forward movement into Spring. I hear birdsong all around me (all the more audible for the lack of vehicle hum and city noise that usually fills the streets here). I frequently see storks overhead, making their way to the… Continue reading Home thoughts from abroad…
I’ve written a number of blog posts during the last week, since stopping the Camino de Santiago and going into ‘lock-down’ isolation with 3 fellow pilgrims here in Northern Spain. But my silent inner voice has shaken its head and rejected them all. I don’t know why, which is not unusual, but I know enough to… Continue reading The Clearing…
I bought a new pair of walking boots yesterday. The perfect pair to fit my growing feet. Feet that seem to keep growing, with each long walk that I do. I start my next Camino de Santiago (an old friend, a Camino I've walked three times before) in less than a week. And it's currently… Continue reading New Boots…
In 2018 I did something back-to-front, I walked the pilgrimage path of the Camino de Santiago backwards. Starting from Spain's most Westerly coastal town of Muxia, I crossed the country from West to East, via Santiago de Compostela, and into France through the Pyreneean mountain range, which acts as a border between the two countries… Continue reading The Way of the Rose & the Alchemist’s house
The paths to peace take many forms and, sometimes, meditation, contemplation, silent reflection or prayer are not actually the key ingredients that nourish us whilst we meander along our own particular way. Sometimes a dream or a passion burns so fiercely inside us that the only way to find inner peace is to give that… Continue reading When spirits take flight…
I've been told in the past that I have 'a way with words'. Sometimes someone says it when I write something that appeals to them. Sometimes it's when I've listened to what someone has said, responded with the underlying message that I've heard, and been told "That's exactly what I was trying to say but… Continue reading Just trying…
For as long as I can remember, whenever I’ve tried to find an answer to the question ‘What is my purpose?’ or ‘What is my destiny?’ the infuriatingly simple and equally mystifying answer that invariably popped up was “You’re here for people like you”. Over the years I’ve tried decoding that to mean “Listening to… Continue reading Blessed be the Navel-Gazers…
There are few things that engage the human psyche more completely than a good story, well told. Whether it's the story we tell about ourselves or about others; the one about our relationships or our past; our internal story about the world and how magical or doomed we believe it is; or the multiple and… Continue reading The Never-Ending Story
I’m living for a few weeks in the northern part of Fuerteventura, close to the large and developed tourist centre of Corralejo, but nearer, geographically, to its lesser-developed and more charming coastal cousin, El Cotillo. Where Corralejo boasts a nature reserve, miles of sand-dune beaches, frequent English signage and a touristy ‘main drag’, El Cotillo… Continue reading Surfing the Waves of Experience….
The Endless Beaches of Costa Calma This week I visited the South of the island and took a walk along its linked and seemingly-endless stretch of golden, sandy beaches. I set off with the intention of exploring a little, walking to a ‘Spit’ of land I could see in the distance and then returning to… Continue reading Castles in the sand…
La Casa de Paz 