The tale of Italy’s greatest scoundrel always ends with a brief reference to his obscure death in a skirmish, somewhere in Spain. That’s all you get. Well, he died near Viana, defending the Navarrese against those bloody Castilians, though more for something to do than for any ideals. His unwanted remains, after some back-and-forth due [...]
Archive for the ‘L. WEST FROM PAMPLONA’ Category
FROM CAESAR TO NOTHING
Posted in L. WEST FROM PAMPLONA, Uncategorized on May 6, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
“I KNOW A BANK WHERE THE WILD THYME GROWS…”
Posted in L. WEST FROM PAMPLONA, Uncategorized on May 5, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
…and rosemary, and juniper berries, and bay leaves! In this rough, scrawny country on the track to Viana you’ll find all the flavourings for a good braise or pot roast. And to sweeten up a long cooked oxtail alla romana…there are even free raisins strewn on the ground! Don’t pick the grapes still attached to [...]
TO LOS ARCOS: A COLD COMING
Posted in L. WEST FROM PAMPLONA, Uncategorized on May 5, 2011 | 3 Comments »
Leaving Estella at eight on a winter’s morning, you’d need to check your watch to believe the time. And you’d need to watch every step on the film of ice. This would be the weather’s day, unfortunately. Some of the best country of the Camino was cloaked in rain and cloud, and it was hard [...]
ESTELLA: ALMOST A CAPITAL
Posted in L. WEST FROM PAMPLONA, Uncategorized on May 5, 2011 | 8 Comments »
Overnight in Lorca I had access to a television. There are numerous Spanish channels, and just about everything is dubbed into Spanish, or even the regional language. (Later I was to watch The Magnificent Seven in Galician.) This is very bad for Spain’s evolution to a modern and global “brand”, and explains why, as one [...]
BACK TO A DAWDLE
Posted in L. WEST FROM PAMPLONA, Uncategorized on May 4, 2011 | 4 Comments »
I’d covered much ground on that first day, and now had aspirations to a more vigorous Camino. Just like a proper pilgrim. So over that bridge… Through the winter campos… …and crumbly pueblos. On the approach to Cirauqui, a rocky outcrop whose name means “nest of vipers”, a strolling grandmother was so delighted with her [...]
AN EMPTY CONVEYOR BELT…
Posted in L. WEST FROM PAMPLONA, Uncategorized on May 4, 2011 | 1 Comment »
That was the Camino west from Pamplona in January. On the first day of my promised continuation – and for the first time ever – I was not overtaken by a single pilgrim. Because there were no other pilgrims. Isolation, good and bad, would be the constant theme of my Spanish Way. Though there were [...]
