It’s February and as I settle back to my new home (long story!), I begin to look ahead on the next few months. 2019 brought a record number of pilgrims to Santiago and the expectation is that this year, the numbers of visitors to Santiago will be higher. But I am here to write about my own walks and how I enjoy them. And I do enjoy them. The fact that I return each year shows you that I get great love from my time in Spain or Portugal. If I could spend longer, I would, but that’s for another blog post. I will make do with two weeks and a few days in Santiago once I arrive there.

I suppose I have an affinity with the coast. I was born and bred along the coast. I have lived with the sea breeze. Walking the Portuguese Coastal Route is somewhat special to me. It may not be the “true” Camino but having walked from A Guarda in 2018, I knew I would be back again. Am I even going as far as saying that the Portuguese Camino is more enjoyable than the Camino Frances? I will leave that for you to decide but it can have it’s benefits. The French Way will always have much more infrastructure – because more people walk it. On the Portuguese Camino, especially in September/ October when I do walk it, there will be less pilgrims but some albergues will be open.

I’m still conflicted, however, as the French Way has a small place in my heart. All those years on the meseta have had an effect on me!

My packing list has been reviewed and I suppose the only item I need to buy is a few pairs of socks. I might do that tomorrow. Everything else is ready for the Kerry Camino in May.

Speaking of tomorrow, I will help with our local Camino association at their annual information event in Dublin. I think this is the 3rd one I have attended in St James Church and each one has been packed! It just shows that each year interest in the Camino is growing and people are always curious looking for the right information. I will be there on deck helping future pilgrims. We seem to get a great response each year. I will post some photos in my next post. Talk to you later.

I assume most of you reading this blog have experienced the Camino de Santiago in some shape or form. I have been lucky enough to have walked a number of Caminos since my first steps in 2011. I still have fond memories of that week’s walk from Sarria. Besides the blisters, no one forgets seeing the Cathedral for the first time. That said, I don’t claim to be the most knowledgable person on the Camino nor do I have time to walk all the Caminos available. But, I’m always happy to find myself on the road to Santiago and forever grateful to the people I meet.

Volunteering with Camino Society Ireland

Over the five or so years, I discovered the Camino Society of Ireland. I don’t know the exact date but it was at an information event. I became a member and I was quite happy with that. I had been keeping this blog for quite some time. On returning from a 2-week walk along the Camino Frances, I decided to volunteer in their information centre in Dublin. That was 2017. Two years have flown by. Now I am involved in Social media and edit the society’s quarterly magazine.

Shamrocks and Shells – a digital magazine

At the end of April 2020, Shamrocks and Shells will be 2 years old. All back issues are stored online. I have just finished the latest issue here and I’d really appreciate it if you could check it out.

Hello there. Just dropping in to say hi. While I don’t blame you if you don’t recognise me, my posts may be a bit more frequent now.

I haven’t been writing as often as I would like. The week goes by and before you know it, it is the weekend and I usually have plans most weekends. I long for sleep in! I might have to wait until my Camino before that, however.

I have just finished working on my side project Shamrocks and Shells for Camino Society Ireland. Let’s just say that I’m glad that it’s a quarterly ezine and not a monthly one. It takes a lot of work, but it is worth it. You can view it here.

Now to concentrate on my new Canon EOS camera, taking a few walks and me!…yes, me! Everyone needs time for themselves, don’t they?

My next walk will be on the 23rd of March when I walk from the Pro Cathedral in Dublin to Maynooth. It has recently been recognised as one of the suggested walks on the Celtic Camino, provided you can locate sellos. The Pro Cathedral and Maynooth College give them. It’s a fab walk along the Royal Canal and while you can bike it, I like to walk it. I will let you know how I get on.

9 weeks left!

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.

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.