Flickr photoset

It seems like the easiest way to keep updating photos is through Flickr. So here is my photo set of the camino del norte. I hope you like them, I'm having to be selective, but hope to add at least one for each day when I am able to upload.

Hiking training

Though not easy, recently I stopped triathlon training to undertake more hiking-specific training. A significant assistance has been the book Conditioning for outdoor fitness: functional exercise and nutrition for every body (2nd ed) by David Musnick and Mark Pierce.

My training program now involves a better range of activities but isn't yet complete, however blogging doesn't count as physical training, so straight out the door I go...

Prayer/oraciones

As I walk the camino – and as I prepare to – I'll be keeping my own, simple times of prayer. Set-hour prayer is something relatively unfamiliar to me; my own tradition values extempore prayer. While this can easily, and often does, become little more than 'making it up as you go along,' ignoring the vast riches of the church's history of prayer, it can also be an occasion for virtuosic – even inspired – improvisation.

But, the choice between heartfelt, impromptu prayer and thoughtful, learned prayer represents a false dichotomy. Alongside improv, many musicians train on scales and also know the classics by heart. Tomorrow I'll be posting four 'standards' from the scriptures that I hope to learn by heart in English and in Spanish as I journey. Perhaps, whether in either language, or both, this is a part of my journey that you will be able to share with me?

Credencial

I got my University Jacobean Credential today!

The document functions like a pilgrim's passport, granting me entry torefugios and albergues along the path. It's just a large piece of paper with many places for stamps from universities and other places along my camino, with a map of the universities and a small amount of information. Unfortunately it seems that this credencial can only be used to gain either the student's certificate or the religious compostela, not both.

Amusingly, I was almost about to email the University of Navarre because they had indicated it had been sent some time ago, but I hadn't received it. Then, when sorting through some mail this morning I found a final reminder notice from Australia Post to come pick up a registered international package. Funny, how something I'm so eagerly awaiting can still get lost, but not bills or other less desirable correspondence.