Tomorrow is the first day of out “Be the Ripple – Spread Positivity Challenge”. I’m very excited that we will be joining together to create our waves of positivity. I have heard from a lot of people who are joining us and encouraging others to join as well. People throughout the US, the UK and […]

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Be the Ripple – Spread Positivity Challenge. Let’s create a huge wave of positive energy together! It’s been a while since I wrote a blog entry and it feels great to begin again. I feel motivated and excited to share what I am working on now. Some of you are aware that I have recently […]

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Don’t get the wrong idea from this title! I am not interested in being sedentary, avoiding adventure or giving up my wanderlust. Being grounded, to me, is more about being present and mindful. It is about creating optimal space so I can explore what is important to me and find peace, serenity and inspiration as […]

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Tortuga – Spanish word for turtle. When we first started our Camino adventure Colin lovingly, yet sarcastically, called me “Tortuga”. Of course this was in relation to my slow walking. Initially I was quite offended by this “pet name” and Colin quickly got that message. Perhaps it was the evil look I gave him or […]

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Sunday May 13th. It is hard to believe that this is the end of our trip with only two nights left; both revolving around traveling home to Colorado. It has been a wonderful experience and adventure. I haven’t update this blog since we completed our walk from St Jean Pied de Port to Santiago. It’s […]

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Wow. Colin and I arrived in Santiago Friday. Over the past 35 days we have walked together and with so many wonderful people, young and old, from around the globe. We have walked very close to 500 miles, worn out our shoes, outlasted some of our clothing, ate at least 30 pilgrim meals, slept in […]

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We are so close now and nothing is going to get in our way. We are getting there by hook or by crook. In case you have never heard that term, it is an old English expression meaning that you will reach your goal no matter what. https://www.google.com/amp/s/dictionary.cambridge.org/amp/english/by-hook-or-by-crook 5/1. Walk to Palas de Re – […]

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Sunday 4/29. On our way from Tricastella to Sarria . It was raining lightly but we still chose the slightly longer route on the hillside rather than taking the road. This way goes to the town of Samos where there is a beautiful old monastery. The winding trail was beautiful and very quiet. All we […]

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For those of you who are reading my blog for the first time I would encourage you to start with the archived blogs beginning in March. If you go to the menu on the website and click on “blogs” you will find them all and can start at the beginning and read them in order […]

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This photo is of a bridge into Astorga – an unwelcome sight for a tired pilgrim. It is Sunday 4-22: Today we walked 24 km to Astorga. The weather was perfect and overcast and a welcome improvement from our earlier days. I did well with my walk today. My blisters are healing and some minor […]

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This photo was taken by a very nice woman from South Africa who was walking behind us. Now that is the Camino spirit! We are approximately 295 KM away from Santiago. That feels so close now. So, you may be wondering how we are doing as a couple on the Camino. We have met so […]

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I am writing this on our 19th day of walking. It seems we are 356 km from Santiago. I think the total distance from St Jean de Pied to Santiago is about 780 KM. Wow! We are really far along on this journey. Interestingly, as we meet people over the last couple of days, the […]

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Sat. April 14th -(day 15 of walking) Castrojeriz to Fromista – 25 km today (15.5 miles) Beautiful weather today and the walk began with a very nice hill. It felt like a great way to start the day. The entire walk after that was flat and fairly easy. As usual, the last 4 km were […]

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The ear worm of yesterday was John Denver’s song, Sunshine on My Shoulders”. Day 13 – Burgos to Hornillos. Finally nice weather. Overcast and chilly but dry for the first eight miles and warmer with a sliver of sun for the last five. Walking thirteen miles with the fifteen pound backpack in nice weather seems […]

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Day 12. I finally know that it is Wednesday I woke up refreshed after my very cold and wet day yesterday. I slept virtually from 7:00 PM to 6:00 AM. Walking has become easier and the mileage today did not seem difficult so neither of us questioned our ability to get to our destination today. […]

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These two days were so wet I couldn’t take any photos without fear of ruining my phone. It has been a bit rough. Day 10 Morning started great. I woke up early, felt great and got out at a crazy 7am for coffee and a chocolate croissant. It was cool but dry and perfect for […]

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As I am typing this we are actually into our 12th day on the Camino and have just finished a great meal with two bottles of inexpensive Spanish wine. You can read about day 12 shortly but I am just mentioning his in case the wine contributes to some incoherent writing. You have been fore-warned. […]

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Day 6. Another long day. Approx 16 miles and the last 5 km were the killers. Very pooped after that walk today. For those of you who know me well you probably wonder about the title of this blog. I generally never curse and I don’t like it very much when people do. But freedom […]

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Today was the first day that I felt like singing and of course I have a certain song stuck in my head. My mother had this song in her head for a month before we left so now you can all as well. A funny story about the Proclaimers is that Colin and I saw […]

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Everyone says “the Camino is not a race”. I guess I am realizing that this is a perfect metaphor for life. I’ll start this blog from the notes I took beginning with the night after day two, but as I post it we are settling into our Albergue after a tiring day 7. Will catch […]

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Believe it or not, after the 23 mile haul of day one, I woke up feeling great. The self-provided foot massage and reiki session worked like magic. I continued to feel pretty good for the first 9 or 10 miles but after that I walked very slowly. It was a hard slog for the rest […]

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We started our Camino two days ago- or was it a century. Hard to tell. Until my last day of work at RMCC I hadn’t thought much about what the Camino would mean on any level other than the spiritual awakening I hoped to experience. But as I was leaving work that last day it […]

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Quote of the week: “Did you ever think of walking faster Mari?” — Colin Stenhouse Imagine this said in a very calm voice with the undertones of an exasperated Scottish accent. I can picture those of you who know us laughing heartily as you read this and those who don’t thinking, “how will they ever […]

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So happy to see the family. First the London crew: Chris, Jon, Adam and Louis. Jon picked us up at Gatwick after our really easy flight on Norwegian Air- a non stop on a clean new plane. Arriving on Friday meant that we had time to be lazy with the the family for a couple […]

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Yay, It is finally travel day! I just woke up at my usual 6AM but with the kind of smile that I would like to be wearing every day. These first feelings reminding me of how I may have felt waking up as a child on my 5th birthday – old enough to know what […]

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Packing and repacking- physically lightening and eliminating things I can do without. That’s the first step and I am working on it. I am truly excited for the emotional, spiritual and mental lightening to come as Colin and I walk the many miles of this amazing journey together. The feelings of joyful anticipation have been […]

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Have you ever had goals that you thought were a little outrageous but you knew that someday you had to accomplish them? For me one of those goals was to write a book. I’m not sure why I always had this in my mind. Perhaps one reason was because my father had always talked about […]

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