Clearskies Camino - My times on the Camino
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Home
Latest Posts
Route
    Camino Francés - May 2012
    Camino Francés - May 2013
    Camino Francés - September 2014
    Camino Francés – May 2015
    Camino Finisterre - 2016
    Camino Francés - 2017
    Camino Portugués - May 2018
    Camino Francés – September 2018
Preparation
    Useful Planning Links
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  • Home
  • Latest Posts
  • Route
    • Camino Francés – May 2012
    • Camino Francés – May 2013
    • Camino Francés – September 2014
    • Camino Francés – May 2015
    • Camino Finisterre – 2016
    • Camino Francés – 2017
    • Camino Portugués – May 2018
    • Camino Francés – September 2018
  • Preparation
    • Useful Planning Links
    • Weekend Watch
Clearskies Camino - My times on the Camino
camino de santiago, camino portugués, caminodesantiago

Two’s Camino company…

My previous post was looking forward to a re-arranged Camino in April 2021. With flights booked and nothing much else, I got back to the tasks at hand for the day. With no Camino to walk this year, what else had I to look forward to. A return to normality following the worst pandemic in 100 years? A democratically elected President in the United States? Let’s hope so. Nope, something else.

I dropped by my parents’ house on Sunday week for a socially-distant visit. It was great to see them as I hadn’t seen them since March. My brother was there too and he is no stranger of walking in Spain having walked to Santiago on two occasions. Imagine that, having two compostelas from two walks. But he is very much like me. He doesn’t mind where he walks, he just likes to get away. So he asked could he join me next April.

So we walk from Coimbra for two weeks next April. Until then we will walk in Ireland getting used to our packs and the distances. I hope you will follow us.

June 23, 2020by Clearskies Camino
camino de santiago, preparation & planning

Shamrocks and Shells – Do you have a Camino story to tell?

I have mentioned before that I edit a digital magazine for Camino Society Ireland, Shamrocks and Shells. It gives me great joy giving back to the Camino and it keeps me out trouble! It is published every quarter and the whole aim is to showcase the Society’s events throughout that quarter. We also look to publish pilgrim experiences, book and film reviews and practical information. Anything that a future pilgrim might find useful.

At present, we have the start of growing list of pilgrim stories dating back to 2018 but we are always looking for more. Every pilgrim has a story to tell, no matter where you have walked. If you do plan on writing, your submission will not be published on this blog but on Shamrocks and Shells. If interested, you might send me an email here. Looking forward to hearing from you and Buen Camino!

February 3, 2020by Clearskies Camino
camino de santiago, caminodesantiago

The future’s bright, the future’s clear…

So..the future..that space in front of us that no one can predict. Unless you can read people’s minds, that is. I can’t anyway and I don’t plan on starting!

The last few weeks I have been asking myself in what direction do I want to take ClearskiesCamino, if any. I have been plugging away, doing the same thing here since I started walking the Camino many years ago. I just want to take an extra step up the ladder.

So, I have set myself a number of well achievable goals for the next 6 to 9 months in order to make that next step. I’m a little excited to say the least but excitement is good. I’m not quite sure how it’s going to pan out but I’ll take each day as it comes.

1. Self hosted website – I have reached the end of the line with wordpress.com and I’ve done as much as I can with the resources they offer. The last 7 years have been great but now is the time to push on and locate a site to host my blog and take it from there. I have located a hosting site and it’s just a case of transfering the site across. Many thanks for all the tips I have received regarding this. I will get to keep the ClearskiesCamino name too. I hope to make the switch when my current plan expires in October.

2. I have two Caminos planned for 2019 – the Camino Ingles / Camino Finisterre in May and Camino Portuguese from Lisbon in September. Rather than posting from this blog, I will write my stories in the form of an ebook and publish them free. It’s another avenue I want to go down. And if that doesn’t work, I will keep plugging away at what I am good at. Of course I will continue to post snippets on Facebook and pictures on Instagram. I just want to promote my writing a bit more.

Anyway that’s the plan. Plans sometimes change, my hope is these work out. I will let you know how things go.

Arrows lead the way
  • New Podcast – Adam from England
  • Weekend Watch #79 – Irish pilgrim on the Camino Francés
  • This is worth waiting for…
  • Video: Camino Francés 2017 Part 1
  • Ideal viewing – Webinars for Planning your Camino!
March 16, 2019by Clearskies Camino
camino de santiago, camino inglés, camino portugués, caminodesantiago, highlights, santiago

6 Things I Did in 2018


6 Things I Did in 2018

Another year has passed. So much has happened in the past 12 months involving the Camino. It’s nice to have the last few weeks free to reflect on the past and think of the future. I’ve decided to do another post where I look back on 2018. 

  1. The end of the year saw the first ever Camino Society Ireland Photo Contest on the 16th of December 2017 at St. James Church in Dublin. A photo I took near Ledigos was included in that exhibition and also in an exhibition in the Cervantes Institute in Lincoln Place. I wrote about the first exhibition here and the second exhibition in March here. These same photos have travelled from Ireland to Spain and back again and are currently situated in the Information Centre in St. James Street. 
  2. Another way of being a pilgrim on the Camino is to Volunteer. I gladly “give back” to the Camino through Camino Society Ireland. As well as giving information in the centre in St. James Street in Dublin, I edit their quarterly newsletter “Shamrocks And Shells” and help with social media. The newsletter is now a little over a year old and 4 issues have been produced, with over 20 thousand views. Something I am quite proud of.
  3. The first Celtic Camino Festival in Westport was a success. I was there from the 13th to the 15th of April 2018 and it was marked with talks, a showing of the Camino Voyage, and a Celtic Camino walk. I wrote an article here.
  4. December 28th will mark my 1st year in Donabate. A great little town but with so much work planned for the future, I’m not sure if I am to call this home just yet. Over 700 homes have been approved, but without the right facilities and infrastructure, it will be chaos going to and from work. The Northern Commuter train line is fine but there are no bus services. 
  5. I walked the Camino Portuguese with my brother from A Guarda in May. We walked into Santiago in the rain. I loved every second of it.
  6. Immediately on returning, I booked flights to return to the Camino Frances. I walked from Puente la Reina to Burgos in September.
6 Photo Memories of 2018
June pointing the way to the heart on the way to Ledigos. June was one of the many amazing peregrinos I met in September 2017. This photo was chosen for the exhibition.
Starting out at A Guarda in May. The waves were rough that morning.
At Susi’s (@conchasdelcamino) stall before Arcade on the Portuguese Camino. A gem of a woman
Back on the Frances – a look of guilt! 
With Carsten – a Camino brother – walking to Santo Domingo on a very hot day
Reaching a goal – Burgos Cathedral

A List of What You Want to Change in the New Year

There are many things in my life I am happy with. I’m loving life in my new home, I have many good friends but I would be lying if I said I am 100% happy with my lot. I’m not. There are a few areas I want to better myself in and there is no time like the New Year to start. So here’s my list for 2018:

  • Focus on my blog. My blog has been slipping. I just need to allocate my time more evenly. I have upgraded the blog in the last few weeks so there is no excuse now for more content. With planned Caminos in May and September, I will hope to upload videos from my time in Spain.
  • Think of ways to walk a full 30+ day Camino, whilst still managing to pay a mortgage. 
  • Plan a trip to Canada to visit peregrino friends (for 2019 or beyond).
  • Improve my writing, maybe find a writing skills course.
  • Make more of an effort to meet new people and be more social.
  • Dig out my guitar again: it has been so long since I played a tune. I guess confidence comes into it. 
Your Resolutions?

And there we have it. Another summary of my year. How was your 2018?

December 16, 2018by Clearskies Camino
camino de santiago, caminodesantiago, celtic camino

Writing Elsewhere….and a piece of Camino History.

As I have mentioned in the past, I have been involved with Camino Society Ireland since April last. Until recently, I had been helping out in their information centre on St. James’s Street, on one Saturday per month. It is also open on Thursday and Friday! So I still do that and the centre re-opens for the new season at the start of March. I’m looking forward to getting back into the action again.

I’ve also lent my hand, so to speak, to writing articles for their website and I edit their quarterly ezine entitled Shamrocks and Shells for members. Much of my writing has been directly with the Camino Society rather than here, and that’s fine by me. If you want to get a taste of what I write about, why not drop over to their website on:

www.caminosociety.com/newsandevents

The last few months have been a hive of activity for the Camino Society. We have had a very successful photography contest, two very interesting events and a newly launched ezine. There is the first information day on February 17th in Dublin and the much anticipated Celtic Camino Festival in Westport, Co. Mayo in April (details on the website).

The Dublin Camino

One of the events that I have mentioned, and I have written about, that struck a chord for me was a talk given by Historian in Residence at Dublin City Council, Cathy Scuffil. The talk was about St. James, the Camino and the Dublin Connection. I’m going to post below what is on the Camino Society website.

To learn about this connection, we were told that we need to focus on one part of Dublin – from St. James’s Street to Trinity College. Not only is this part of Dublin popular for tourists, but if you look closely enough, you will see plenty of evidence of the Camino within this short distance. We were told that this route was taken by pilgrims as they assembled at St. James’s Gate, walked through the city, before embarking on their pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela.

Lazar’s Hill – St James’s Hospital

800 years ago, Henry de Loundres, Archbishop of Dublin, founded the Hospital of Saint James, a hostel for pilgrims and the poor of Dublin, on present day Townsend Street, then known as Lazar’s Hill or Lazy Hill. It stood roughly where Hawkins House stands today, right beside the All Hallows Monastery, which later became Trinity College.

In medieval times, pilgrim ships destined for Santiago apparently docked alongside this Hospital, then sailed directly to the coast of Galicia, at Ferrol or A Coruña, from where the pilgrims made their way to Santiago overland. By the mid-13th century, some of these ships were carrying people with leprosy who were desperate for a miraculous cure.

A rather more downtrodden colony is said to have existed in what is today, Misery Hill. Sufferers lived in these monastic-type establishments not simply for the good of their health, but also as a form of perpetual quarantine. The only acceptable way to check out of the hospice was to perish. Another word for these quarantine stations was ‘Lazaretto’ (linked to Saint Lazarus) and it is from this that Townsend Street took its former name of Lazar Hill, sometimes shortened to ‘Lazy Hill’.

Dubline

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dublin_in_1610_-_reprint_of_1896.jpg

The scallop shell and water

The two things you associate with St James are the scallop shell and water, so even in the current tradition, those two things are replicated in ways that seem to commemorate the pilgrim.

For example, have you seen the street fountain on Lord Edward Street? It was installed in the 19th century and if you look closely, you will see the scallop shell motif at the top. Another example of something similar – the two holy water founts at the front of St Audoen’s Church on High Street. Both founts are large shell-like features and were brought back from South America in the 19th century.

Other examples include

– A baptismal font in St Audoen’s Church of Ireland church which contains the scallop shell on each side of its font.

– The Tailor’s Hall, Merchant Quay – Its fireplace contains no ornamentation except for a single shell.

– Hawkins House, Poolbeg Street – The Department for Health is located on the exact spot where the original St. James’s Hospital was located.

– The Fountain at James’s Street – It was a custom that funeral processions passing the fountain would circle it three times before carrying on to the cemetery at St James’s Church where Pearse Lyons Distillery is now. There are also two scallop shells on the Fountain, but we are not sure if the water is for drinking!

– St. James’s Gate – Perhaps, for many people, visiting St. James’s Gate is like a pilgrimage. With over 1.7 million people visiting in 2017, it is a great attraction and adds to the area.

– Pearse Lyons Distillery – The newest visitors’ attraction in the area which was the original Church of St. James.

– St. James’s Hospital – The Hospital’s logo contains a scallop shell.

These are all areas along our route that have an image of the scallop shell included.

Cathy has requested that if anyone sees an image of a scallop shell, whether it be on the end of a church pew, on an altar, in the Dublin area, particularly in the Liberties area, could you please contact her. You can contact Cathy on Twitter @DubHistorians or by email commemorations@dublicity.ie.

 

February 10, 2018by Clearskies Camino
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About me

Hello, my name is David. I am a peregrino living in Dublin, Ireland. I have visited Spain and Portugal and walked its many roads to Santiago since 2011. On this site, you will find my stories, photos, and observations from my Caminos and my planning for future Caminos. Feel free to get in touch with me here

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