Dad Tracker

My Dad, who is not religious but has just retired and likes walking, is currently on the Cammino de Santiago. He is walking from St. Jean Pied-de-Port, in France, across the Pyrenees and the whole north of Spain to Santiago de Compostela near the Atlantic coast.

This is an ancient pilgrims' route, and is the subject of the twelfth-century Liber Peregrinationis, considered to be the first known tourist guide. There's a Flash map here of the entire route. Once you're past the intro you can use the little arrows or click on the map to see some information about each stage of the route. Among other things it shows you a graph of the altitude, and lists the local delicacies of each town.

He arrived in St. Jean on the 20th and is sending me a text message from every stop. He split the first leg, crossing the mountains, in two, and reported "scenery amazing buzzards and kites" on the 21st. On the 22nd he was in Roncesvalles, Spain, and the scenery was still amazing. On the 23rd he covered 23 kilometres and requested my postcode for postcard-writing purposes. On the 24th he was in Pamplona. Yesterday the continued rain made steep paths into waterfalls or mudslides, difficult terrain.

Today he is in Puente La Reina, which is asleep, and reports that there are storks nesting on the church.