Blisters and Blessings

Even if you harbor the belief that God wouldn't have countenanced the invention of the wheel should the deity have intended folk to walk a step further than the recliner, you will wince at the Blisters and applaud the Blessings described in this ancient tale writ new of a couple of middle aged misadventurers walking with the pilgrims of yesteryear to the spuming censer swung at the great Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. Jean Goulden invites you to join her as she hikes the French route of the Camino de Santiago de Compostela, the ancient 500 mile pilgrimage route to venerate the bones of St James. With every step, you feel that you are walking with the Medieval pilgrims and her contemporary companions. Lyrically written, this exquisite tale intertwines humor and compassion.

Blisters and Blessings traces the most popular French route of the Camino de Santiago de Compostela from the Basque French town of St Jean, Pied de Port to the great Spanish cathedral at Compostela. As it does, we learn of folk from hundreds of millennia who have walked these paths, particularly the Medieval pilgrims for whom this route was surpassed only by the pilgrimages to Jerusalem and Rome. Along the way we encounter the glories of the Spanish countryside ranging from the Pyrenees to the ocean , we savor the delights of the local cuisine sampling street paella, octopus and barnacles. We learn of the magnificent gothic and baroque cathedrals and wonder at the artistic and engineering achievements of our forbears. This is a book of discovery, the outward journey to the "end of the world" and the inward journey of the soul. Beautifully written, it captivates and inspires us to venture on.

Jean Goulden's passions involve anything outdoors and writing about the outdoors. She has hiked up, down and across England, the Inca Trail to Macchu Picchu, climbed Mt Kilimanjaro, and white-water rafted down the Grand Canyon. Raised in the UK, she now divides her time between Florida and Colorado, where she practices mediation and yoga — outdoors!