Welcome

Welcome to my new blog to complement my Rosa's Journey Facebook page. I'd love for you to follow me as I prepare for this new journey in October and Novemeber 2018.

This upcoming one month journey will incorporate several of my Camino passions: volunteering as an hospitalera, or host, at pilgrims in hostels in Italy and Spain; walking a segment of a pilgrimage route; and volunteering in Spain at the end of the Camino to Santiago de Compostela pilgrimage route welcoming arriving pilgrims to the Cathedral in Santiago.

I'll begin by flying to Italy to attend a weekend reunion of fellow Italian hospitalero volunteers at the Valpromaro hostel in northern Tuscany, on the Via Francigena, near Lucca. Over the past 3 years I have volunteered here and at Vercelli, working alongside lovely people who I now call friends.

Welcome to Valpromaro.

Serving soup in Valpromaro

Then, I'm going to Spain to walk along the Camino Sanabres, one of the traditional camino routes from Ourense to Santiago de Compostela. I've already arrived walking into Santiago  from various other routes, but this one is all new to me. I've spent days studying the terrain, distances, elevations, architecture, and religious and cultural aspects of this historic 100km route.

All the Various Camino routes yet to walk

Upcoming walk from Ourwnse to Santiago

Lastly, I will stay 2 weeks in Santiago, volunteering at the Pilgrim's Office welcoming those arriving and issuing their Compostela, or certificate of completion of their journey. I have done this before, and just love living in this city that is so filled with the Camino pilgrimage spirit. A treat this year is the completion of the restoration of the exterior of the Cathedral and the Portico artwork.

At the Pilgrim Office in 2016 issuing Compostela

My first arrival in Santiago June 2014

Buen Camino!