The last month has been a rewarding experience for me personally. Let me explain.

Writing here has always been fun but for the last number of years, I can see my posts aren’t reaching the pilgrims I hope to see them. And I don’t want to go around forcing people to read my posts. So I thought of another idea.

A podcast had always been floating around in my head, even pre-covid but I was reluctant to start it solo. Maybe one of my Camino buddies would join me and we would talk each week about tips and tricks etc? This was last Christmas. And then March hit and lockdown hit. It became apparent that my Camino in September would not be happening this year. So I was looking for something else to fill the gap. Something productive that would help my wellbeing. Hey, let’s get this podcast off the ground? I didn’t want to wait any longer. I bought the equipment and sent out a request for pilgrims who wanted to be share their story on the podcast. Fast forward to today, I have 5 episodes uploaded and I have a further 3 recorded.

I have been lucky to speak to pilgrims from Canada, Germany, Spain, Ireland and USA. I look forward to talk to pilgrims from the UK, and Australia. It’s amazing what you achieve when you put your heart into your passion. I’m really enjoying it but I started with zero experience. So I am still learning as the weeks progress. The last episode was uploaded last Wednesday. María Seco lives on the Camino Portugués while my next guest PJ Costello has a passion for the Camino matched by no other. His story can be heard on Wednesday.

So the month has been rewarding. I haven’t earned any money for what I do. I simply chat for 30 minutes or so and upload it to the internet. It helps me and I hope some new pilgrims gets some valuable information from it. Details about kit is subjective – there is no right or wrong answer, but I hope some of the podcasts can tell future pilgrims what is best to avoid or what is a must bring.

I think I have found my niche – I will write a few posts here and there and keep working on the podcasts until pilgrims prove difficult to come by. As for speaking in front of a crowd? I am going to avoid that for the time being.

I’d love to hear your feedback of the podcast. If you are unable to comment, you can send me an email to clearskiescamino@gmail.com. Many thanks.

In Astorga in 2017

Another weekend.

Another few days to catch up on sleep, but it’s not so bad. I’m just home from a very successful Spanish morning organised by Camino Society Ireland. I’ve left my knowledge of the Spanish language fall by the wayside a number of years ago. I have become fearful of making mistakes and to be honest, making mistakes is all part of learning any language. However, since the opportunity arose to dust down my skills and possibly improve them, I grabbed it with both hands.

I need to be taught in Spanish and that is exactly what our “profesora excelente” is doing. Hopefully, I will have less of the fear and more of the patience, to be speaking it before the lessons end. Who knows?

Next May is Camino #8, but who’s counting? Next I travel to Vigo and start walking a little further down in A Guarda on the Portuguese Coastal route. I should be in Santiago within 8-9 days as we are taking our time. I say “we”, as I am walking with my brother. I wonder if I will have the patience, and whether I will walk into Santiago with him. Keep an eye on this blog to find out, folks. He bought his backpack, a Lowe Alpine 35litre, and a few other essentials in the last few weeks, and our walks start soon. We are both constantly looking forward to the start date on May 6th and me being the “Camino expert” is being asked many a question. The real test will be taking the packs out for 2 consecutive days.

I walk into Santiago for the first time since June 2011. I’m not sure how to feel about this, and am hoping we get time to walk to the Coast. The Camino has been calling me big time since I returned from Astorga in September. I am getting more involved with the local Camino Society..and I enjoy it. For any other reason, I would be filled with trepidation.

I must return to my weekend now. More news later.

I’ve been looking for ways how to improve on my Spanish language. It’s nearly a year since I started taking the language seriously and going to classes. There are may tips and tricks on how to improve including this and this.

However, this guy has taken learning a language to a new level. He moved to Germany for a year without a word of German and came home fluent. Have a look at this short clip.

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/68707719]

More information can be found at fourththing.wordpress.com/the-lernen-to-talk-show

I’d love to do the same to aid my Spanish.

If you have read my previous post, you will know that I am learning Spanish; not just to use it in May, but to have it and improve on it going forward. The evening course I have been going to has been great but that is shortly coming to an end. Ten weeks has flown by and it is up to me now.

So if any of you want to converse via email (in Spanish of course), let me know. Or if you know of anyone who would be willing to do the same, I would appreciate it. Gracias!