Tonya,
Thanks for sharing all this. Both scuba diving and bike touring are
things I like.
I haven't done any long distance walking, but a friend of mine keeps
going to Spain for the El Camino walks. There are hundreds of miles
of it in Spain. It's a sort of a pilgrimage, and there is more
than one El Camino. The common name for all of them is
El Camino
de Santiago. Anyway, she keeps going back year after year for
more of it.
And maybe it's more of a penance than a pilgrimage. I haven't been
on the El Camino myself, but I have spent a month in Madrid one
summer, and boy is it hot and dry in Spain during the summer!
Oh, and I just found out that Santiago is the Spanish name for
St.
James (one of the apostles). Who knew? The two names sound
so different. The apostle James was apparently buried in Spain, in
the town of Santiago de Compostela, where all the pilgrimage routes
end.
Emilio