Although it was the author’s experience, I didn't feel the 'adventure'. He wrote mostly on the little villages he stopped at for rest and on the people he met along the way and the food he ate along the way, which wasn't bad, but wasn't what I was expecting. So, this was just an average read for me.

But, what he did inform about in his memoir was a really unique hiking trail called the El Camino del Santiago, that runs for 1000 miles from France to Spain, which I had never heard of before. This is evidently a very popular and legendary trail. One of Christ’s disciples, St. James, supposedly traveled to Spain to spread the gospel with little to no success, so he started back to Jerusalem. But, on his journey back, the Virgin Mary appeared to him and told him to return to Spain and try again; she would help. This time he was received and was instrumental in spreading the Word of God throughout. When he returned to Jerusalem, King Herod took a dislike to him and had him beheaded in AD 44. It is believed that the other disciples returned his body to Spain, where they buried him in a tomb on an empty hillside where centuries later a farmer discovered his burial. Along the route is St. James Cathdral where they claim to have a piece of the original wood that Jesus Christ was hung. It is only brought out to the public a couple of times a year. Anyway, this is the “legend” around the trail. It is still a big deal with adventure seekers around the world. Over 200,000 adventure seekers hike to the Camino de Santiago.

You, now known as a “pilgrim”, begin the trek at Le Puy en Velay in France, where you register and receive a certificate, called a créanciale, that gets stamped along the way as you enter the villages that are peppered along the trail. It’s not a totally isolated trek. Some of the villages provide room and board, internet, cable TV, breakfast, esspresso coffees, and lunch or dinner. France accommodations seemed to be better than Spains, according to this author. The 1000-mile trek takes around 3-4 months to complete, and once you reach El Camino Del Santiago, you line up to kiss the feet of the giant statue of St. James, if desired, and then enter the church for the last stamp on your créanciale and have it signed and certified in Latin.

NOTE: Google the word “créanciale”, and images of this certificate will pop up. Google “El Camino del Santiago hiking trail” and you will see that there are many starting points with varying lengths to get to this destination. You don’t have to take the full 1000 mile trek from inside France.

MOVIE: A great documentary on Netflix called "Footprints: The Path of Your Life" (2016) is a must see. It follows the journey of 12 Catholic men, which includes one priest. Through their suffering, they find God's true path for their lives on this trail. ( )