The Best Way: El Camino de Santiago - Softcover

Walker, Bill

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1467960225 ISBN 13: 9781467960229

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2011

Synopsis

Since the times of Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin, Americans have headed off to Europe on odysseys of self-improvement. But until recently, Americans have not chosen 'the best way'—El Camino de Santiago. Bill Walker ("Skywalker") decided to undertake this 500 mile pilgrimage, stretching from the Pyrenees in southern France to the mystical Galician province in Northwest Spain. Better yet, he did it in the ‘Holy Year’ of 2010. Fully 200,000 pilgrims were struggling on foot to make it to the Great Gothic Cathedral in Santiago de Compostela. The Camino is supposed to be a religious-spiritual pilgrimage. But some European pilgrims told Walker it was really the “The European Divorcee Trail.” At Walker's side was his 18 year-old nephew, Gavin, who thrives with his special brand of Fonzie-like charm. The towel-snapping banter between the two of them is reminiscent of the frat-boy dialogue between Bill Bryson and Katz. Better yet, the two of them learn just how delightful the French really can be (except, of course, when they’re being impossible), why the Germans are almost all model pilgrims, and the tragi-glorious roots of the Spanish national character.

About this title

From the Back Cover

EXCERPTS

"I'm American to the core. So please forgive me if I say some foolish things when I'm overseas. It's my birthright."

"In spite of their Gallic annoyances, it's hard to escape the conclusion that the French are a little bit special."

"I didn't have a martyr's complex. Bleeding myself, or otherwise inducing suffering, was not for this particular pilgrim. Vomiting would have to do as my Camino sacrifice."

"This woman's humiliating putdown of my adolescent humor was to be the source of my greatest epiphany of the pilgrimage. El Camino de Santiago is not the European Divorcee Trail, after all."

"The great irony--the profoundly happy fact--is that a difficult journey on foot narrows our options greatly, yet somehow enlarges us at the same time. Perhaps it even holds out the possibility of bringing us just a little bit closer to God."

About the Author

Bill Walker was a Commodities Broker at the Chicago Board of Trade and London International Financial Futures Exchange for fourteen years. He is the author of Skywalker--Close Encounters on the Appalachian Trail (2008)and Skywalker--Highs and Lows on the Pacific Crest Trail (2010) He walked the Camino in both 2010 and 2011. In fact, he walks just about anywhere he possibly can. Walker, who is 6'11", is now working on a whimsical book on the subject of height.

About this edition

• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 1467960225
• ISBN 13: 9781467960229
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 328