Category: celtic camino

Just a few last things to do..

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The bag is packed, I’m ready to go………ok! enough of the singing! The neighbours will start to complain.

But I am pretty much ready. I bought a new Samsung phone charger cable, walking trousers and a few items to restock my first aid kit during the week. So I am set. And forgive me if Europe is down with Brexit-flu, I’m a little bit high at the moment. I guess that’s what a Camino does to you. Even if it’s a short Camino. I have even bought a EU patch from Amazon to attach to my backpack.

Breoghan & the Tower of Hercules in A Coruna

I will be walking from Maynooth College on April 13th to Dublin along the Royal Canal Greenway. If you have an instagram account, why don’t you check out my photographs on that day and follow me. This should serve as good practice before I head back out to Spain. And if you live in the Dublin region, you are more than welcome to join me.

There are so many people I want to meet / see again in Spain when I return. Santiago is a vibrant city full of pilgrims and people that help pilgrims and even though I won’t be there for a full day, I plan to make the most of it before I walk to Finisterre.

2020

I have also been thinking ahead to 2020 and potential Camino plans. St. Jean popped into my mind for some reason last week and I began watching many various videos on YouTube of the town. I was there last in 2014 and loved my stay there. I want to go back, so maybe next year,

Clearskies Camino

This website will be going through some changes shortly, but I promise to make things as unnoticeable as possible. Please stay in your seats. 😉

I’ll be back before I go. Keep the kettle on!

8 weeks and counting

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So the 7th of May can’t come quick enough. I’ve been secretly counting down since I came home from Burgos, but let’s keep that between us.

We are not yet into Camino season but already, the number receiving the Compostela in Santiago is rising. I wonder what May will be like. But this time I will walking a relatively quieter route. Just like last year.

This May will be a coast to coast Camino. I start my Camino in northern city of Ferrol on the eastern arm of the Camino Ingles. Two day of walking later, I travel to A Coruña from Betanzos. Both are known for their links to Ireland through the Camino de Santiago. From A Coruña, we (myself and my brother) walk to Finisterre via Santiago. This whole thing will probably be the hardest walk I’ve done in 3 or 4 years as I have been sticking to the well-worn ground of the Camino Frances for quite a while. So these 8 weeks are perfect to get in gear.

Aerial view of the Hercules´Tower in the coast of Coruña, Galicia, Spain.

I hope to be in A Coruña as early as I can, which leaves me with a little time to see the city and explore. And there are a few sites that I want to see. For example:

  • Torre de Hércules & the statue of Breogán
  • Paseo Marítimo
  • María Píta Square
  • Museo Domus
  • Castillo de San Antón
  • Manolo Paz’s Menhirs


After all that, I should have enough time to wash my clothes, pack my bag and get ready for the next day’s walking.

Since Friday..

On By clearskiescaminoIn apostaday, camino, camino de santiago, camino ingles, caminodesantiago2019, celtic camino, irelandLeave a comment

Let me apologise! The intention was to keep you updated a little bit more than this but I was busy over the weekend. Here goes…

The Camino Society held their first monthly walk of 2019 in Glencullen. There are tonnes of trails there and the Dublin Mountains Way runs through it. I won’t go into it in too much detail as I wrote a piece about it on their newsletter here. Go check it out, the photos are excellent.

Anyway, the day started well with the sun shining in Donabate. I had a good feeling about the day. I brought the rain gear ‘just in case’. However the further south I went, the darker the sky got and the first drops could be felt at Johnnie Fox’s pub, our meeting point. Not to worry. We marched on regardless.

With a full pack and thirty-something other pilgrims, it was close enough to being on Camino. It was just what I needed with my May Camino quickly approaching. After the walk, we returned to base (Johnnie Fox’s) for some food and music.

Kilmashogue megalithic wedge tomb – 4000 years old

The following day, Sunday, marked 100 days before my brother and I travel to Ferrol to start our Camino Ingles / Celtic Camino. From now on, it’s all double-digits and even though I have done this many times before, it feels new this time. Maybe because it is a new route? May 7th we leave for Ferrol and we hope to be in Santiago by May 14th. We have flights booked for May 19th which gives us room to decide to walk to Finisterre or stay in Santiago.

May 2019: Walking in Medieval Pilgrims footsteps

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I attended a talk given by Dr. Bernadette Cunningham last night at Lismullen Conference Centre, near Tara. It was such an appropriate place to hold the talk as the area is steeped in history..the hill of Tara, and not too far from Newgrange. The talk was on medieval pilgrimage from Ireland to Santiago de Compostela. Bernadette is due to have her book published shortly on the same subject, one that she has been researching since 2014.

 The book launch will be on December 6th in Kevin Street Library in Dublin and there is great excitement leading up to it. 

The book, along with the release of the Camino Voyage documentary in Irish cinemas today, highlights the evidence of how Irish pilgrims made their way to Santiago during the 14th and 15th centuries. I guess we will know more when the book comes out. 

I will be attending the cinema release of the Camino Voyage this evening (my third viewing). It’s been great watching it grow to what it is now. In 2019, it is hoped that it will be released on DVD worldwide.

And back to my plans and the Camino. I have booked flights for the 7th of May to Santiago de Compostela. I travel with my brother, not on a merchant ship but on Aer Lingus economy class. I then travel to Ferrol and walk for a few days to Betanzos. From there, we will catch a bus to A Coruna and walk to Santiago. If there is time, we will walk to the coast and watch the sunset at Finisterre. It will be magic!

A New Camino, and a return to Galicia

On By clearskiescaminoIn camino, camino ingles, caminodesantiago2019, camino_de_santiago, celtic caminoLeave a comment

I thoroughly enjoyed my ramble through Navarra and La Rioja in September. The weather was fine, many people were met but the days spent there trickled away all too quickly. I hope to keep in touch with my new found friends electronically, and maybe we will meet in the months and years to come. On arriving in Burgos, I sat in the municipal albergue and had a few moments to myself. I thought about the next one, the next footstep to Santiago, or even if there was to be one!

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The majority of my Caminos since 2011 have been on the French Way, and I don’t see that changing as my main Camino in the near future. My feet are safe there. I will dip in and out and walk a week here and there. I’ve grown to like the people of La Rioja and Castilla y Leon and made friends in Burgos and Belorado. I get great joy from meeting people, staying in different villages, wandering through the meseta especially. But I have unfinished business.

On the 18th of June 2017, I walked from Bray to St. James Church (32km), the first part of the Celtic Camino and on the 19th of May this year,  I walked St Kevin’s way to Glendalough. So I have a Celtic Camino Compostela for the short distance walked in Ireland. The next stage is to walk the remainder (75km) to Santiago from A Coruña – hopefully, May 2019. This should take 3-4 days. This is a little too short for my liking so I will extend it by walking to Finisterre, another 3-4 days.

I hope I can bring my brother with me. It would mean a lot if he is available for the trip. He has the Celtic Camino Compostela also, having walked from Bray to St. James Church on two occasions.

For more information about the Celtic Camino and the Camino Ingles in general, check out the below links:

Information on the Celtic Camino on Camino Society Ireland
Guidebook to the Celtic Camino
Camino Ingles on Eroski

La-Coruña-arriba-Izqda-Galicia
Breogán and the Tower of Hercules / Source: Wikipedia

An Exciting Few Months…

On By clearskiescaminoIn camino, camino de santiago, caminodesantiago2018, camino_de_santiago, celtic camino2 Comments

It may as well be April. The clocks have gone forward and already the first sign of summer is in the air. Friends have reached Santiago already (Buen Camino L!) which only increases my urgency to return to Spain and search for the yellow arrows. But the next few months are busy. You could say I have started my Camino…but I have not yet left my home.

As mentioned previously, the first annual Celtic Camino Festival kicks off in Westport in Co. Mayo from April 13th. I will be attending for the weekend. I have the train booked, the hotel arranged and all events booked. April 13th sees the screening of excellent “The Camino Voyage” directed by Donal O Ceallachair – A crew including a Writer, two Musicians, an Artist and a Stonemason embark on the Camino not on land, but by sea, in a traditional boat that they built themselves on an inspiring, and often time’s dangerous, 2,500 km modern-day Celtic Odyssey. April 14th will see presentations, discussions & workshops by internationally renowned Camino experts. A Gala Dinner will follow with Spanish music and dance. And April 15th, there will be a Celtic Camino Pilgrim Walk of up to 25km along the Croagh Patrick Heritage Trail & Tochar Padraig, including Mass in Ballintubber Abbey. It promises to be a fantastic weekend and we hope to see you there!

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If this interests you and you wish to attend, Camino Society Ireland along with Irish Rail are offering you the chance to win free travel and tickets to all events for two. Just go to this link to enter http://www.irishrail.ie/fare-and-tickets/camino-festival.

Following the weekend, it is just a matter of weeks until I set off to A Guarda in Southern Galicia on the Portuguese Camino. From there I walk to Santiago with my brother and it will be his first time on any Camino. What a trip for him?! Don’t forget to subscribe to this blog if you want to be kept updated while I am on my Camino in Spain as I will be updating the blog.

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