Meeting Up & Beginning The Pilgrimmage

And here's the motley crew.   A couple were doing the pilgrimage for religious (Catholic) reasons, but most of us were doing it for either spiritual or cultural reasons.   Didn't matter; the group was very congenial, supportive of each other, and we all had a terrific time:

So off we go on our first day's hike...and soon Tom is already far ahead of me.  :<(((

But soon enough I catch up (he waited for me), although it becomes clear that this is NOT the Rice University hiking path on which we trained.   'Phew!   Tough climb!

 

Leon!

We took the train to Leon where we arrived tired but excited:

Tom was eager to help the locals with their English; I was content to wander and take in the fun-filled street scenes:

That evening we explored Leon's local cathedral.  Terrific stained glass designs!

Soon, though, it was time to meet our fellow pelligrinos and begin the 120-mile hike...

We traveled to Madrid where we spent a couple of days in that terrific city before taking the train north to Leon to meet our fellow pilgrims ("pelegrinos").   A photos from our hotel room on the Plaza del Sol, and then a few street scenes:

Tom Robinson and I decide to travel to Spain and hike the last 120 miles of the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage.  We begin our training by hiking around the Rice University campus.  3 miles, then 6 miles.  Occasionally 9 miles.   Five or six nights a week.  Will that be enough training in flat Houston to prepare us for the rugged and daunting mountains of northwest Spain?   We're going to find out!