Spiritual and Walking Guides: Three volumes customized for your pilgrimage

What about pilgrimage helps you let go of fears and find peace that passes understanding? How can you be still and hear God’s voice as you trek the ancient pilgrimage route? How will you prepare your heart for a closer walk with God on Camino de Santiago? Find answers to these and other questions in this series of Spiritual and Walking Guides.

Click on the links above to buy on Amazon – paperback or Kindle – or scroll down to read more…

Give the Gift of Camino

Stumped for the perfect holiday gift? Here’s the perfect present for the Camino pilgrim on your list: Spiritual & Walking Guide: Leon to Santiago. A book for the future pilgrim, the seasoned pilgrim or the armchair pilgrim.

This book  — a Camino devotional — is written for those who want a deeper spiritual experience as they walk the Camino de Santiago in northern Spain. This thoughtful companion includes:

  • Meditations
  • Scripture readings chosen for the Camino
  • Questions for contemplation and self assessment
  • Space to journal
  • Recommendations for places to stay and distances walked per day
  • Insider tips

Available on Amazon with gift wrapping! Buy now at http://bit.ly/CaminoBook

The Velvety Mirror

Glassy lakeThat morning as I walked to the historic fishing lodge for my last breakfast, I was mesmerized by the stillness of the lake. The winds from the evening before had calmed and I was overcome with regret that I had not gotten up an hour earlier to take out the kayak on the beautiful waters.

Unfortunately, I had missed some fabulous morning meditation. Instead of getting up early, I had awaken with enough time to eat breakfast and meet the 7:45 a.m. pontoon boat ride back to civilization.

FireThe night before we had stayed up late around the campfire roasting marshmallows and telling stories, and so I had set my alarm a little later than usual this morning. Alas, I missed my last paddle on that velvety mirror.

Lake

Psalm 143:5 … I meditate on all your works and consider what your hands have done. (NIV)

Do you have regrets about a recent travel experience? Would you mind sharing them in the comments? We’d love to listen…

These thoughts were written while I was at a remote float-in/fly-in fishing lodge in Quebec. Although #QuebecOriginal and Pourvoirie Seigneurie du Triton were my hosts, all my opinions are my own.

Seigneurie Du Triton – Outfitter

1893 Triton Road, Lac-Édouard, QC G0X 3N0, Canada | 877-393-0557 | www.seigneuriedutriton.comwww.seigneuriedutriton.com

 

Sentier Notre-Dame, Kapatakan pilgrimage trail

Sentier Notre-Dame, Kapatakan

The Sentier Notre-Dame, Kapatakan pilgrimage trail is located in the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region of Quebec.

When friends inquired about the destination of my upcoming trip to Quebec, I replied, “The name of the place is so French that I don’t even want to TRY to pronounce it.” It seemed somehow glamorous to be headed to a place so exotic that I feared slaughtering the pronunciation of “Saguenay Lac Saint Jean” with my meager French, which I admit “c’est une catastrophe” (is a disaster.) The pronunciation of Lac Saint Jean is “pas de problem” since I mastered the pronunciation of Saint-Jean-Pied-du-Port after numerous Caminos that brought me through that French village near the foot of a pass “pied du port” in the Pyrenees Mountains. But the “Saguenay” had me tongue tied.

After I arrived at the Bagotville airport in north central Quebec, my new friend and local expert, Nancy Donnelly, pronounced it for me: “Say-gan-eh.” Not so difficult after all. The word is not French, but derived from a Native American word Saki-nip, which means “water that comes out” or “source of water.” [1]

I was visiting Quebec to research the food and culture, but because of my Camino experiences, I was particularly interested in learning more about Sentier Notre-Dame, Kapatakan called the “Petit Compostelle du Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean” or the “Small Camino de Santiago de Compostela of Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean.” Kapatakan, I learned, is a Native American word for “path.”

The 215 km (133.5 mile) pilgrimage trail weaves its way through spectacular north central Quebec from the Parc national du Fjord-du-Saguenay (Saguenay Fjord National Park) to L’Ermitage Saint-Antoine de Lac-Bouchette in lake country. In this fairly short distance, pilgrims find a variety of stunning landscapes. First passing over high granite cliff walls along the magnificent Saguenay Fjord and later following waterways to manicured urban river walks, hikers complete their journey in lush boreal forests that fringe serene lakes.

Notre-Dame-du-Saguenay

Statue of Notre-Dame-du-Saguenay on Cape Trinidad

The Statue Trail led me up and over granite cliffs to Notre-Dame-du-Saguenay, a nine-meter (30-foot) tall statue of the Virgin Mary that overlooks the Saguenay Fjord. The fjord’s sheer size makes it the only navigable fjord in North America. I hiked up stone steps, cedar staircases and glacier-polished bedrock to overlooks above the vertical cliffs to view the shimmering water below.

Spiritual adventurer Stacey Wittig on Statue Trail, Saguenay Fjord National Park

The enchanted pathway was lined with dark green spruce and white-barked birch, and I relished the quiet punctuated by the chirp of a woodpecker. The calming green environment on the first day of the pilgrimage is perfect for meditating and peeling off the cloak of stressful city life.

Sentier Notre-Dame, Kapatakan

Notre-Dame-du-Saguenay and the Statue Trail, where you start the pilgrimage is located in Saguenay Fjord National Park. In the nearby town of Rivière-Éternité, 17 km away, pilgrims can find accommodation in the dormitory or private rooms at Auberge du Presbytère at Rivière-Éternité, a municipal albergue in a renovated rectory. Here you may purchase a Pilgrim Guide that includes the Pilgrim Credential. Other accommodations, including camping, are available and listed on the website.  Tip: Procure your guide and credential at Auberge du Presbytère at Rivière-Éternité before you head off to the park, 1.5 km away, so you can get your credential stamped at the park’s information center.

La Baie, Quebec

Depending on your itinerary, the town of La Baie is probably where you will sleep on your third night. This picturesque town is a port for cruise ships coming from NYC or Boston. Because this area has so much to offer, passengers must choose from a wide variety of shore excursions including a walk in the National Park from which you’ve just come, ‘La Fabuleuse,’   an exhilarating, live cultural stage show, or a visit of the Fjord Museum, a fascinating, experiential attraction. [2] Of course, you don’t have to be a cruise passenger to see these delights. You might want to take the day off from walking to take in some of the local culture and natural splendors. Tip: I ate at La Grange aux Hiboux for a satisfying taste of the local French Canadian cuisine. Try the chomeur, a true Quebecoise staple of moist white cake laced with maple syrup. The proprietors also rent rooms with views of the bay.

L’Ermitage Saint-Antoine de Lac-Bouchette

L’Ermitage Saint-Antoine de Lac-Bouchette on Lake Ouiatchouan

L’Ermitage Saint-Antoine de Lac-Bouchette (St Anton Hermitage and Shrine) is a retreat center founded and managed by the Capuchin Franciscan religious order. The Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes is located on the sprawling campus and is the end point of the Sentier Notre-Dame, Kapatakan pilgrimage route. The Grotto of Lourdes and a scaled replica the Lourdes Massabielle Chapel enhance the wooded setting, truly an oasis of peace and calm.

Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes at L’Ermitage Saint-Antoine in Quebec

The natural environment is part of Franciscan spirituality, and so programming at the retreat center links spirituality to nature. Pilgrims can walk the footpaths surrounding the hermitage where words from St Francis’s The Canticle of the Creatures are posted to encourage private meditation on our Christian’s connection to nature. Tip: Reserve one or two extra nights at L’Ermitage Saint-Antoine de Lac-Bouchette which offers chalets (cabins,) private guest rooms and camping. You’ll be able to take part in the nature programs facilitated by Capuchin Brother Sylvain Richer, daily masses and other traditions that will help you process your pilgrimage.

The retreat center has its own bakery, restaurant where you can eat a communal dinner in a fraternal atmosphere and museum of the 110-year-old hermitage.

Tourtière (pie) of Lac-Saint-Jean

REFERENCES

[1] https://web.archive.org/web/20071025125908/http://www.histoirequebec.qc.ca/publicat/vol5num1/v5n1_6ri.htm

[2] Visit Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean https://www.saguenaylacsaintjean.ca/en/

Stacey Wittig is a spiritual adventurer and Camino author who blogs from her home near Flagstaff, Arizona. The Arizona travel writer was hosted on this trip to Quebec and although all her opinions are her own, she believes in full disclosure. Thank you #QuebecOriginal and Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean #saglac.

Camino Book Review: One Woman’s Camino

Cover-One-Womans-CaminoTracy Pawelski, author

Book Review by Stacey Wittig

My heart raced a bit as I tore open the package that contained this book and a ‘Welcome Home’ note from author Tracy Pawelski when I returned from my latest Camino. While I walked Camino del Norte this month, Tracy released her book, One Woman’s Camino.

Earlier this year, I was honored to preview Tracy’s manuscript and write a pre-publication review of this inspiring Camino book. I found her writing style to be engaging and that her story was similar to mine: successful business woman steps back from her all-encompassing career to find more on the Camino de Santiago.

After opening the package and admiring the cover, I turned the book over to see if the publisher had used a quote from my review on the outside back cover. Sure enough, there it was.

My full review is printed in the preface of the book:

This engaging narrative is not simply a mother-daughter story set on Camino de Santiago, but goes deep to reveal how that sometimes-complicated relationship can lead to transformation and mid-life self-discovery. One Woman’s Camino is an insightful, true story about a modern, corporate woman overcoming obstacles on the ancient pilgrimage route.
— Stacey Wittig, author Spiritual and Walking Guide: León to Santiago.

 

Trading high heels for hiking boots

Tracy trades her high heels for hiking boots and sets out for a Camino Frances adventure. Although she plans for a mother-daughter experience, the Camino author soon learns that this journey will be a “One-Woman” Camino that is all about self-discovery and self-actualization. Tracy’s authenticity is sure to inspire you to walk the ancient path.

The first step can be the hardest

Whether your next step is

  • Rewiring your priorities,
  • Resetting your course, or
  • Reconnecting with your faith,

the first step can be the hardest, says Tracy on her author website. Yet in Tracy’s story, you’ll find the inspiration to “make each step a new beginning in this uncertain but glorious journey we call life.” You can see why Tracy Pawelski is one of the Camino authors that I enjoy reading.

Order the book now on Amazon at https://amzn.to/2JMN6oO

 

Kindness of Strangers on Camino Primitivo

While walking along cow pastures and woody stands, I had not seen a soul for the past three hours. But I was accompanied by huge thunderclouds, hanging heavy with the rain that seemed destined to come. The low clouds refused to release, and I silently prayed for the showers that would dampen the oppressing heat and humidity that had been building all afternoon.

Combing the countryside on Camino Primitivo

I was walking the Camino Primitivo, an ancient pilgrimage path that connects Oviedo in Asturias to Santiago de Compostela in northern Spain. While trekking, I was also editing and updating a guide book for the route for a London publisher. I was not surprised how much the lists of restaurants and accommodations had changed since the last edition in 2011. With the growth of interest in walking the various Caminos that spider web through Europe, there was sure to be many changes and additions. But I was surprised by the amount of construction in the backwoods of northern Spain that was changing the actual route.

Course changes meant that I needed to document those route deviations in the guide book. I needed to stop, make notes and maybe retrace my steps to ensure accuracy. The frustrating search for San Salvador de Soutomerille, a small 9th C church, had me back-tracking through hot, farm fields. I finally decided that the ancient chapel must be on the alternative route that, although I was sure I had taken, I must not have followed. My 23-pound pack seemed twice as heavy as it did that morning when I left O Cadavo. I spent two extra hours and retraced three miles combing the remote countryside.

Alone in Northern Spain

That was the reason that by 4 pm I was walking alone. My pilgrim friends would have checked into Albergue Casa da Chanca, the place where we’d agreed to rest for the night, hours ago. I still slugged along under the sweaty heat of the pregnant clouds. I was climbing towards Lugo, which lies on a hill surrounded by three rivers. As I climbed, I got nearer and nearer to the clouds that were turning black. My prayers were about to be answered.

I set my pack down under the sheltering arms of an oak, opened my pack and as I reached to put on my raincoat, the skies opened. Hunching down, I fit my rainfly around my backpack as the rain pelted down. I was getting hammered and as I stood up to survey my situation in the thunderstorm, I knew I’d have to stay in place under the tree on this lonely farm road for a while. I could see a barn at the intersection ahead of me, but it looked deserted and locked. I thought of my friends sheltering in the albergue. I was looking forward to reconnecting with them for dinner; this surely put a kibosh on that.

For some reason, I looked back up the tree-lined road where I’d just come. Maybe I heard something that caused me to look. But there, up the lane, were two Spanish people walking their dog. The country couple huddled under a big umbrella, which maybe seemed so large because they were so short of stature. The man held the umbrella in one hand and his wife’s shoulder in the other. As the rain pelted sideways from the wind, he pointed the umbrella towards the gusts and steered his wife to another oak on my side of the road. Their Golden Retriever crouched at their ankles.

Appeared out of nowhere

After an afternoon without seeing anyone, they seemed like angels to me. They appeared out of nowhere, and I thought, “They’re old folks, walking their dog. Their home MUST be close by.” I waved a hand of welcome, and the woman waved back. We stood under our prospective trees for what seemed like 20 minutes. I had no idea how far I was from Lugo, but it was already after 5 pm, and I was giving up hope on meeting my fellow pilgrims for dinner. I felt sad that after such a frustrating day, I would miss the compassionate companionship of fellow walkers.

When the storm finally let up, the villagers began walking. I waited, and we trod through the light rain together. We only smiled and laughed since none of us had a handle on the other’s verbal language. After about a mile, and the third country intersection, the wife pointed to the right and said, “Camino.”

Through the twilight drizzle

I said, “No, yo voy a su casa. You quiero un taxi.” “No, I go to your house. I want a taxi.” They both smiled and motioned onward. And we kept walking and walking. So much for my theory that old people take short dog walks. Another twenty minutes, I could see a line of row houses through the twilight drizzle. We must be reaching the outskirts of Lugo. “Esta es la casa de mi amigo,” she smiled. “Llamará un taxi para ti.” “This is my friend’s house; she’ll call a taxi for you.”

“Muchas gracias,” I cried. The door opened, and the wife explained in rapid Spanish as I slid, dripping, into the entryway. I was happy to have the introduction because the friend spoke no English and I couldn’t understand her Spanish. She left me standing on the linoleum at the door to go upstairs to get her millennial son to call a cab.

Rescued by Camino Angels

She returned to ask me a question, which I couldn’t understand. After repeating it three times, she gave up and went back upstairs to retrieve a huge, thick cotton towel. Toalla! Towel! That’s the word I didn’t recognize. Then she asked me if I needed a shirt – I could understand the word camisa. No, the towel would do, I somehow explained. I felt bad about all the water on the floor that was dripping off of me, my raincoat and my pack. But I helped her mop it up. The kindly mother made her son come down to explain that the taxi would be here soon. His English was about as good as my Spanish.

The taxi arrived and whisked me to Albergue Casa da Chanca. The ride was only five minutes long, and I realized how close I was to town when the thunderstorm had broken loose. Rodrigo and Ximena, my pilgrim family from Mexico, welcomed me warmly. They laughed at my stories of misfortune and Camino angels, and I had fifteen minutes to unpack and dry off before we went back out into the rain for a late dinner. There, over octopus and white wine, I repeated my story of the kindness of strangers to Lazlo and Peter, our Hungarian friends.

Stacey “Vagabonding Lulu” Wittig, an Arizona travel writer based in Flagstaff, has written three books about the Camino de Santiago. To learn more, go to Amazon at http://bit.ly/CaminoBook

Camino Book Review: Inspired Journeys

Bouldrey-Inspired-Journeys-cInspired Journeys: Travel Writers in Search of the Muse

Brian Bouldrey, Editor

Book Review by Stacey Wittig

Inspired Journeys is a diverse collection of essays by real travelers who move the reader through both time and place. Much of travel writing is simply about place or what to do once you arrive. But as we pilgrims know, often the real stories lie within the journey rather than the destination. Editor Brian Bouldrey, a Santiago pilgrim himself, understands this well and has compiled seventeen stories of pilgrimage to places as divergent as Varanasi, India; Ross Island, Antarctica; El Centro, California, and Santiago, Spain. These tales are told by American writers and mirror both their inward and outward journeys, a theme that the editor describes as “telling the way within.”

The name Brian Bouldrey may be familiar to many American Pilgrims on Camino (APOC) members as he was the lauded keynote speaker at the APOC 2016 conference. The 2016 annual gathering was themed “Telling the Way Within,” and included a pre-conference travel writing workshop presented by the editor/writer who teaches creative writing at Northwestern University.

Bouldrey admits that he casts a wide net around his definition of pilgrimage by including stories of both spiritual and secular pilgrimages. While introducing us to the stories he explains that each author addresses what pilgrimage is and that he orders the anthology to give the definitions “encouragement, space and incrementally growing meaning.”

While some writers share journeys to religious shrines as in Sharman Apt Russell’s “Buen Camino” and Russell Scott Valentino’s “An Accidental Pilgrimage,” others move along Laura Ingalls Wilder’s prairie (Kimberly Meyer) or the Grimms’ fairy-tale road (Raphael Kadushin.) Though some stories read like raw, black-and-white documentary film footage of the writer’s experiences, others like my favorite essay “The Terriblest Poet” (Brian Bouldrey), and Kadushin’s “Driving the Fairy Tale Road” feel like they were shot for the big screen in panoramic Technicolor.

After reading these essays that are not just about place, but also about the inward journey and outward movement of getting to that place, you’re sure to find several that will move you as well. The engaging, 280-page book is available on Amazon at www.amazon.com .

Brian Bouldrey has written eight books, including Honorable Bandit: A Walk Across Corsica, and edited six anthologies, including Traveling Souls: Contemporary Pilgrimage Stories.

Stacey Wittig is author of three books including Spiritual and Walking Guide: Lourdes to San Jean Pied de Port, a guide for both the inward and outward journey.

This review originally appeared in La Concha, the quarterly publication of American Pilgrims on the Camino.

Spiritual Guide on the Camino in 2018

Albergue Santa María de Carbajal-Benedictinas CarbajalasHappy New Year! I’m looking forward to walking and writing about the Camino de Santiago in 2018. I was honored to see my Camino book, Spiritual and Walking Guide: León to Santiago in the book showcase at Albergue Santa María de Carbajal “Benedictinas Carbajalas” during their New Years dinner in León, Spain.

On Facebook, the Sisters posted “Cena de Nochevieja que nuestros Hospitales prepararon para los peregrinos que ayer pasaron el día y la noche en el Albergue del Monasterio.”

In English: “New Year’s Eve dinner that our Hospitaleros prepared for the pilgrims who yesterday spent the day and night in the Monastery Hostel.”

The Christian daily devotional is available for sale at the Benedictine monastery’s albergue in León, Spain. And on Amazon.com  Happy New Year!

Stacey Wittig is an Arizona travel writer based in Flagstaff, AZ. She writes about pilgrimage and Camino de Santiago.

Camino Book Review: The Great Westward Walk

The-Great-Walk-Westward-coverAntxon Gonzalez Gabarain, author

Book review by Stacey Wittig

I was propped up in bed next to my husband. Me with book in hand, he with computer games blinking on his tablet. I took a sharp breath in, a reaction to the sentence that I was reading.

“What? What?” he asked. I always hate it when he interrupts my reading with, “What are you reading?” or in this case, “What? What?” But this time I wanted to share what I read.

“Do you mind if I read a bit of this to you? Can you listen while you play Auralux?” I asked trying to sell him on allowing me to read the words that, to me, described the Camino pilgrimage experience so well. I had just cracked open the recently-released English version of The Great Westward Walk: From the Front Door to the End of the Earth by Antxon Gonzalez Gabarain. I was only in the introduction and already mesmerized.

‘The Great Westward Walk’ is a true story.

My husband listened while I read from the beginning of the introduction and ended at the sentence that had caused me to gasp in recognition:

“The Walk to the End of the World” is a true story. It celebrates the fundamentally irrational nature of pilgrimage, as it plays out against the banal rationality of our times.

Yes, the dichotomy of pilgrimage in these times when rationalism is often valued over spirituality struck a chord with me. I finished reading out loud the introduction, written by Izaskun Gonzalez Gabarain, and then resumed my silent reading. Another gasp. Another “What? What?” and I began reading the Prologue written by another of the author’s friends to my husband. This time without hubby’s permission.

He told me he was dying.

He was finishing the book using a special computerized device that allowed him to type by tracing the movement and blinking of his eyes. A terrible, consuming disease had taken away use of his hands, arms and legs…Antxon was running out of time.

Finishing this book was his final desire, he said, his last wish.

Three days after completing the manuscript, the writer died

The writer completed the manuscript, a captivating memoir of his Camino journey from the doorstep of his home in Zumaia, in the Basque Country, to Santiago, three days before ALS took his life at age 41.

Gabarain lives on in this Camino book

Yet Gabarain lives on in this book that gives me insight into his Basque ponderings and connections with his countrymen that I, as a foreigner, could never have. His words, almost poetic at times, roll back the curtain on slices of Spanish life that I would not otherwise have known. His insight and description are probably reasons that the Spanish version is a best-seller in Spain.

Three cheers to Rebekah Scott, American Pilgrims on Camino (APOC) member and speaker at the 2017 APOC gathering in Atlanta, for her fine work of translating this amazing Camino narrative.

Available on Amazon in print or Kindle at http://amzn.to/2twub8R

This review originally appeared in the September 2017 edition of La Concha, the quarterly publication of American Pilgrims on the Camino.

‘You’ll love this yarn – it’s honest and it’s revealing’ says Australian Talk Show Host

DAn Mullins head shot‘You’ll love this yarn – it’s honest and it’s revealing’ says Dan Mullins, Australian Talk Show Host about the interview he conducted with me last week. “Stacey and I talk about her journey, both spiritually and physically – in our hearts and on our feet.”

Click here to listen in on the conversation: https://player.whooshkaa.com/episode/?id=106114

MyCamino-ThePodcastDan Mullins, a Sydney radio broadcaster, producer, and host of ‘My Camino – The Podcast,’ asks probing questions that have me revealing my innermost thoughts on pilgrimage and on my own spiritual experiences. He asks:

  • Why do people walk? What is it about walking?
  • You mentioned earlier the immense history of the Camino. When you walk, how conscious are you of Christ’s involvement and the Christian involvement in that history?
  • You talk in the guide about pilgrims carrying too much in their packs, and you say, ‘Generally we as humans carry too much stuff.’ How can a faith-based life ease that load?
  • So you are inviting pilgrims, Stacey, to explore themselves, to learn more about themselves and to find themselves. Is that a fair assessment?
  • You write about forgiveness and you say the Camino provides an opportunity for forgiveness. Can I ask you to elaborate on that just a little bit?

Click here to listen in on the conversation: https://player.whooshkaa.com/episode/?id=106114

Dan-Mullens-Sound-booth-crop

Dan Mullins, “My Camino-The Podcast” Talk Show Host

Camino books, Spiritual Camino, Camino guide, Camino devotional

 

Lourdes guide book ‘inviting and comforting’ declares GoodReads review

goodreads

In a recent GoodReads book review of Spiritual and Walking Guides: Lourdes to St Jean Pied de Port, Adrienne Morrison wrote, “I found the daily guidance and sacred quotations both inviting and comforting.”

“I was moved to go further; set fears aside; reach higher. Whether we plan a Pilgrimage on our own two feet, or take those steps within our hearts, we will find guidance here,” Morrison continued. The Lourdes guide book directs Camino pilgrims along the physical terrain from Lourdes to St Jean Pied de Port, France, helps them reflect on their inner journey, and supplies tools to heighten their spiritual journey.

The spiritual guide that contains daily devotions for the Camino pilgrim is available on Amazon at http://bit.ly/LourdesCamino

Read the full book review by Adrienne Morrison below, or link to the GoodReads review by clicking here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1922841478?book_show_action=true&from_review_page=1

When I started reading Stacey Wittig’s Spiritual and Walking Guide I had no idea what was about to unfold. Soon, I became gracefully swept along a path of Pilgrimage. I have never contemplated, nor ever imagined such a journey. Do people today really do this today? Indeed. I wasn’t even sure where this journey takes place, or why one would consider going there. But, now I understand. And, I learned you can go with grace, knowing, and beautiful guidance from one who has actually walked the pathways from “Lourdes to St Jean Pied de Port.”

Stacey Wittig shares herself in these pages. She helped me see that, once we set our modern life aside long enough to seek another path, our lives can change. Once we go outdoors and walk, hike, or even sit quietly to read—once we consider the spiritual meditations offered in this guide—we can find new understanding. And, to those who literally make this journey, I know you will appreciate having a trusted friend like Stacey along to guide your steps and your thoughts.

Yes, this guide is meant for the actual Pilgrim, with specific recommendations for food, shelter, and camaraderie along your way, but it also leads the reader to a greater closeness to God. The passages and scripture create an opening for us to experience God’s wisdom and love more deeply. I found the daily guidance and sacred quotations both inviting and comforting. I was moved to go further; set fears aside; reach higher. Whether we plan a Pilgrimage on our own two feet, or take those steps within our hearts, we will find guidance here—an invitation and pages upon which we can journal our progress along life’s path.

Put the book on your Amazon “Wish List” or purchase it now in paperback or Kindle at http://bit.ly/LourdesCamino