Lindsay Teychenné wasn't satisfied with his life, so he made a dramatic change. He left his home in Australia, traveled to Europe, and forged a new home on the Camino, spending the last year walking all across Spain and France. In this episode, he offers insights into the many different Caminos and Chemins he has now traversed, unpacks some of the complexities of a year of continuous pilgrimage, and reflects on the personal growth he has achieved. It's an amazing story that speaks to the power of the Camino, as well as Lindsay's courage and self-awareness.

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The Camino del Norte offers some of the most spectacular scenery of any pilgrimage, combining rugged coastal hills, sandy beaches, spectacular cities and small fishing villages. In this series, we will virtually walk the Norte together, bringing together experienced pilgrims and relevant experts in each episode. In this second episode, Susan Alcorn (www.backpack45.com), the author of Healing Miles: Gifts from the Caminos Norte and Primitivo, shares insights on the section of the Norte leading from Deba to Lezama. She is followed by Iratxe Momoitio Astorkia, the director of Gernika's Museo de la Paz (www.museodelapaz.org), who discusses the town's infamous bombing in the Spanish Civil War, its recovery, and the museum's ongoing efforts to promote peace and human rights today.

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For Camino veterans who are considering branching out, not just beyond Spain but beyond Europe entirely, Japan has emerged as the easy entry-point. The Kumano Kodo is super accessible, thanks to Kumano Travel and its compact route length. If you've got more time, though--probably in the six-week range--Shikoku is the most prominent pilgrimage route in Japan. And Ian Reader, author of Making Pilgrimages: Meaning and Practice in Shikoku and Pilgrims Until We Die: Unending Pilgrimage in Shikoku, is one of the foremost authorities writing in English about Japanese pilgrimage generally and Shikoku specifically. In this episode, we explore the religious underpinnings of Japanese pilgrimage, distinct practices along the Shikoku circuit, and the phenomenon of perpetual pilgrims around the island. 

Ian Reader's Amazon author page: https://tinyurl.com/ianreader

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When Victoria Preston reached a transitional point in her life, she decided to go on a pilgrimage. And then she paused and wondered: what was behind that impulse to go on pilgrimage? That set in motion a process that culminated in We Are Pilgrims: Journeys in Search of Ourselves, which explores the central importance of pilgrimage to humans across place and time, ranging from Stone Age Anatolia to her own walk on the Via Francigena. In this discussion, Victoria addresses the inclusive nature of pilgrimage, the power of following in the footsteps of centuries of other pilgrims, and the possibilities for finding solace and hope on pilgrimage.

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The Camino del Norte offers some of the most spectacular scenery of any pilgrimage, combining rugged coastal hills, sandy beaches, spectacular cities and small fishing villages. In this series, we will virtually walk the Norte together, bringing together experienced pilgrims and relevant experts in each episode. In this first episode, Dennis Garnhum, author of Toward Beauty: Reigniting a Creative Life on the Camino de Santiago, gets us started with reflections on the first three stages, between Irun and Deba. He is followed by Paul Fee, a geologist who helps explain what's happening in the remarkable flysch of Zumaia and the Basque Coast Geopark, along with Iberia as a whole.

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What does a pilgrim need from a guidebook in 2024? Does a pilgrim even need a guidebook? Tim Mathis (www.timmathiswrites.com) set out to answer those questions and the outcome was a different kind of guidebook, The Camino for the Rest of Us: A Comprehensive Guide to a Life-Changing Journey on the World's Most Approachable Pilgrimage. In this discussion, we explore his own experiences on the Caminos Francés and Portugués, unpack what kinds of advice and information are essential for today's pilgrims, and compare pilgrimage journeys with wilderness treks.

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The Camino magic struck Maryjane Dunn early in life, when she found herself in David Gitlitz's classroom, the foremost American scholar on the Camino de Santiago. She traveled with him on the Camino Francés as part of a student group in 1979, setting in motion a life's work that resulted in her being awarded the 2024 Aymeric Picaud International Prize for her contributions to the Camino. She is the translator of The Sermons and Liturgy of Saint James as well as The Miracles and Translatio of Saint James, which comprise the first three books of the Liber Sancti Jacobi. In this episode, we discuss her impressions of the Camino in those early days, her research on miracles and the Cruz de Ferro, and the origins of the American Pilgrims organization.

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By design, the Camino of the present is a remarkably inclusive pilgrimage. All are welcome. Encouraged even. For many, this is one of its most cherished qualities. Inclusion does, however, bring certain complications. While cultural appropriation is a phenomenon that is much discussed, religious appropriation receives far less consideration, and Liz Bucar (www.lizbucar.com) sought to attend to that in her book Stealing My Religion: Not Just Any Cultural Appropriation. How can non-Catholic pilgrims and walkers approach the Camino in a respectful, appreciative, and historically aware fashion? Note: this will be the last episode of the Camino Podcast for a few months, as Dave sets out to complete his coast-to-coast walk across the USA. Follow along at www.davewhitson.com, www.instagram.com/davexusa, and www.patreon.com/davewhitson

Well before the Camino Francés was considered safe to walk, there was the Camino Primitivo, linking Oviedo--the center of a small, Christian enclave that was holding out in the northwest corner of the Iberian peninsula--with Santiago de Compostela and the recently rediscovered relics of St. James. In this four-part series, we will virtually walk the Primitivo together, bringing together experienced pilgrims and relevant experts in each episode. This episode concludes the series, taking us from O Cádavo, through Lugo, and then on toward Santiago following two different options. The official Primitivo continues directly to the Camino Francés in Melide. Mel Trethowan (www.lifeonebigadventure.com) shares her impressions of that approach. Meanwhile, an alternative route, the Camino Verde, diverges from the Primitivo immediately after Lugo and eventually joins the Camino del Norte shortly before Sobrado dos Monxes. Susan Faillettaz & Angus Carrick (www.carrick.ch) offer insights into that much-less traveled option, where they experienced an uncanny series of coincidences. The episode concludes with a closer look at Lugo, one of the major highlights of the Primitivo. Dr. Rob Portass, of the University of Lincoln, offers insights into the city's Roman origins and the persistence of its magnificent walls.

Well before the Camino Francés was considered safe to walk, there was the Camino Primitivo, linking Oviedo--the center of a small, Christian enclave that was holding out in the northwest corner of the Iberian peninsula--with Santiago de Compostela and the recently rediscovered relics of St. James. In this four-part series, we will virtually walk the Primitivo together, bringing together experienced pilgrims and relevant experts in each episode. Part 3 picks up the Primitivo in Berducedo, descending sharply to the lovely Embalse de Salime, before climbing back up to the Alto del Acebo. At that point, the Primitivo enters Galicia, proceeding through the town of Fonsagrada before finishing this section in O Cádavo. Jeff Monroe (www.wanderingvirginia.com, www.hikingupward.com), a first-time pilgrim on the Primitivo, shares stories from a snowy climb in the offseason. Dr. Noelia Bueno Gómez, a professor of philosophy at the University of Oviedo, then discusses her research into the ‘Coplas del Comandante Moreno’--a ballad about a massacre that occurred along the Primitivo in the Spanish Civil War near the village of El Acebo.