A bit of background to this week’s offering. I’ve long been fascinated by “El Camino de Santiago”, or the pilgrimage undertaken along Spain’s Santiago de Compostela. The cathedral at which it culminates in Galincia in northwestern Spain, the burial spot of Saint James the Great (reportedly) renders me speechless via photos alone.

Pope Alexander VI declared it one of the ‘three great pilgrimage of Christendom’ in 1492, though the remains of Saint James the Apostle had been discovered there and followers had been making pilgrimages via its route for five centuries already.

Enter Shawn Herron, author and former Green Beret.

Raised in Pennsylvania, he joined the Army after college and became a Green Beret. After a career at the Department of Homeland Security in D.C., he discovered that he had a passion for writing and embarked on a journey backpacking around the world, including a journey along Camino de Santiago. This journey moved him to pen this book: A Thousand Miles to Santiago.

I enjoyed this book thoroughly, as the one word that i find applicable to it throughout is ‘colorful’. While his personal reasons for undertaking the pilgrimage are not delved into (understandably) at length, the route and the book’s narrative are told vividly.

Nearly a biopic in words, real-life tales of culture and language adjustments dance among stories of the hardships Mr.Herron encountered physically while undertaking such a journey. Adding to the stories of El Cid and the Reconquista, the medieval links to history, and iterations of his own struggles with the fulfillment of his dream, he continues on to commit himself to the attainment of finding his purpose along the way.

An excellent read, especially as we enter this new year, I highly recommend A Thousand Miles to Santiago by Shawn Herron.