highlights

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The Best of 2016 – Instagram

instagram-v051916_200Instagram is officially defined as an online mobile photo-sharing, video-sharing, and social networking service that enables its users to take pictures and videos, and share them either publicly or privately on the app. It is increasingly being used to share photos from everywhere around the world and about a whole host of subjects, including the Camino de Santiago. There are many people who use the service to share photos with friends and family while walking the Camino. However, with the growing popularity of the routes in Spain, more are using Instagram to gather information or fill the gap before they return on another Camino.

At the end of last year, I wrote about my favourite accounts but I suppose now I want to update and expand a bit on those favourites. You should click on the below links and have a browse some of their photos. Instagram is a completely free site and I suppose the only downside is you may want to buy some airline tickets to Spain once you have finished.

In no particular order:

Robb Mac – An Australian who says that the Camino is her beautiful obsession

Andrew Suzuki – Andrew is a filmmaker, photographer, philosophiser and pilgrim. Most of all he is the creator of the Beyond the Way documentary.

followingthearrows  – Kat Davis is a serial walker, pilgrim, thru-hiker, adventure-seeker & blogger.

followtheyellowarrow – Micah walked the Camino Frances in June 2016 and recently created a dedicated Instagram account about the Camino. He has already built up a large following.

paulwalshpilgrim – Paul has uploaded a large number of photos depicting my walk across France and Spain.You can find out more information of his photo project on www.paulwalshphotography.co.uk

setmeravelles – I know Pablo through this blog. While his Instagram is not dedicated to the Camino, all his photos are taken in Spain. He has also recently walked a portion of the Camino Norte. His blog is at www.setmeravelles.com.

donalomahony – Donal is a fellow Irishman and loves the Camino, just like myself. He has taken many photos of his times on the Camino from 2013 to 2016.

caminomyway – This was actually the first account I followed way back in 2012. Randall is author of Camino De Santiago In 20 Days. He uses his Instagram to share photos of his country Canada as well as of his time in Spain.

caminodesantiagopage – Run by pilgrim Jess Bowenn, this account has a massive 22,000 followers. It is a veritable “Best of” from the Camino. Jess offers users to message her with a photo and it will be displayed on this page.

walktosantiago –  I know little of this man’s Camino, but he has a large following. He has taken some special photos, with great use of colour.

wisepilgrimguides – The creator of the Wise Pilgrim mobile guide, however, he uses his account to take black and white portrait pictures for pilgrims on their final day into Santiago.

everystepcounts2016 – Viktor walked from Sweden to Spain (over 3000km) for a number of charities. Overall, close on €10,000 was raised after arriving in Finisterre in September. You can follow his trip here.

iperegrinos – Another account showing the best of the Way of St. James.

throughthearrows – Photos of a Spanish couple walking the Camino Norte in the middle of 2016.

Ivar Rekve – Owner of www.caminodesantiago.me and resident of Santiago. His photostream makes me want to pack my bags and move to Santiago.

pilgrimhousesdc – And finally, photos from Terra Nova Pilgrim House in Santiago. Pop in if you are around. Their website is www.pilgrimhousesantiago.com/blog.

And don’t forget you can view my photos at www.instagram.com/clearskiescamino.

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The Best of 2016

Hi folks! An apology is in order for the lack of posts here. A certain wrist is making that a little difficult, but I hope to be on the mend this side of Christmas. I am able to type with the cast on however, but I hope you don’t mention that to my doctor. The words “cast” “rest” and “upright position” were mentioned by him to me when I last visited him on the 28th. I return to him on the 19th of December to hopefully have the cast removed and physio can begin after Christmas. I write this with a positive tone however. I’d love to be able to eat Christmas dinner with both hands!

However, I have been keeping myself occupied over the last month and I have a number of things in the pipeline. I plan on writing a number of articles on “the best of 2016” Camino sites. I realise that it is impossible to give a top 5 or a top 10 as everyone’s opinion is different and there will be a number of websites I will leave out. However, it’s just my opinion. I hope to cover blogs (including forums), twitter, instagram, and youtube accounts. So I have a number of weeks to work on this which is plenty of time. However, I need your opinions, and I’m sure you have plenty! If there is a website / twitter account / instagram account that you feel does a great job promoting the Camino, please comment below.

I have mentioned also in the past of Andrew Suzuki’s project “Beyond The Way“. He has created 10 amazing videos after his time on the Camino in 2014. There isn’t a day that passes that I return to his website and watch one of his videos. Everything is independently produced which is pretty impressive. However, it’s not a series that discusses the sights and cities. Andrew talks to pilgrims and we hear their personal stories. It’s not often you get that in a Camino video. Anyway, after the last episode was released (so to speak), he put a call out that he was to make a second series. An Indiegogo campaign was started with a promise of goodies once a certain amount was contributed. To cut a long story short, Andrew completed the Camino Portuguese a number of weeks ago and I received a package of goodies via email and post. It certainly picked me up while in healing mode. I’d encourage you to “like” Beyond The Way’s page on Facebook as Andrew is in the process of creating a 2nd series for his most recent Camino.

 

And finally, the gears are well and truly in motion for a return to Spain in 2017. More news on that in the future!

 

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The Irish and the Camino..

Hi everyone, just some news that happened over the last week.

  • I went along to a talk given by Turlough of Donnell of the Irish Camino Society entitled “The Irish and the Camino de Santiago: 800 Years of History” as part of the Dublin History Festival. During the hour or so, Turlough talked about how Irish pilgrims made their way to Santiago through the ages, whether it be by horse or foot and more recently boat. There is also evidence of an old refugio used by medieval pilgrims in Dublin which is all news to me! I was motivated to look for more information online but I can’t seem to find it so far. I have emailed the Irish Camino Society for information on a book published by Leuvan University about the Irish and the Camino. I’d be really interested to read it. Turlough was interviewed by local radio station Near.fm about the talk on the 3rd of October. You can listen to this podcast here.
  • While looking for more information about the Camino and the Irish, I found this great article published by HistoryIreland.com from 1998 entitled “The Irish Medieval Pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela“. You can read that in full here. It’s very interesting from an Irish point of view.
  • Who remembers writing a thesis in college? It’s one of those things we all have to do and it accounts for a large amount of your final score in your final year. I certainly remember mine..I’d rather forget it actually :). I have found a thesis on the subject of the Camino published online. The full title is “In Defence of the Realm : Mobility, Modernity and Community on the Camino de Santiago” and it’s fairly detailed. Have a read when you get some time. It was published in 2007 but may not as up to date as today.
  • And finally, I am taking my new rucksack out on her maiden voyage. Hopefully I will get to climb one of the many hills in Wicklow, depending on the weather that is. The more climbs I get before my Camino Ingles, the better.

 

 

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7 Things I Learned On Camino De Santiago | Tarek Riman

I spotted this article online written by a journalist after he had completed the Camino Frances. Yes, but there are hundreds of these articles, I hear you say….! However, the points he has made have hit the nail on the head about what the Camino is, in my opinion.

Recently, I packed 2 small bags, boxed up my bike and hopped a plane to Paris. Lugging a massive bike box through Paris, I then took a train to Bayonne in southern France, assembled my bike and rode 3 hours to a town in the Pyrenees mountains called Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port where my journey on the Camino began.

Source: 7 Things I Learned On Camino De Santiago | Tarek Riman

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2015..You’ve been a funny year!

As 2015 slowly draws to a close, I can’t think of a better time to look back on the year that was. Some readers may be glad to see the back of it, while some had some good times…personally, it was one of my better years.

Over the course of the next week, I will be writing about some of my highlights of the year, the blog posts that interested you (the reader) the most, and some of the things that I will be doing in 2016.

Stay tuned!