The bright stars indicated there would be plenty to see today as we slowly drifted in to our spartan breakfast of bread and coffee. Our focus however was on the day ahead The path reached out ahead of us, snaking its way ever upward around bare green hillsides across narrow plateaus and circling narrow cliff roads with rolling hills and sharp snow capped peaks in the distance. It was also an interactive morning as familiar [...]
St Jean Pied de Port to Orisson Walking down the steep meandering ancient street of the medieval town of St Jean Pied de Port (at the foot of the pass) I was imagining what tales the cobblestones had to tell of the hidden secrets and adventures untold behind the myriad of doors peering out to pilgrims with their different thoughts and feelings, also meandering their way towards the mighty Pyrenees Weaving our way through the [...]
We're leaving this peaceful town with its stunning architecture and colours, where the magnificent river Ardour slices it in two, while the pretty Nive caresses its side as they then together sweep on to the Bay of Biscay close to the wild and magnificent Northern Camino I'll leave you with some photos of the Nive and the ancient buildings that hug its side and another sonnet: Silent Bayonne - a sonnet The silent square awaits [...]
Well it's not really the beginning of the walk, but Bayonne has long been a staging post where many walkers have a reflective start to the camino, contemplating what lies ahead This is a perfect place to ponder in what I describe as 'the 'silent city', before the nervous, tangible energy of St Jean Pied de Port where our walk proper begins in two days talk to you soon Will
Below are photos displayed in Bayonne, France on Parkinson's Day where the majority of locals and visitors can view it clearly as they cross the Adour River
World Parkinson’s Day - a Sonnet by Will Boag The world has set aside a day to share What it means to live with this disease Reflecting now to make us all aware Of symptoms: we might shake or simply freeze. Its silence means we might not know we’re caught; Its slowness gives us hope that there’s much space; Its persistence shows that time is gold but short; Its weakness felt but fails to leave [...]
PARIS We arrived in Paris close to World Parkinson’s Day and close to the home of Jean-Martin Charcot who was the first person to make the distinction between rigidity, weakness and bradykinesia, and who also renamed what was called ‘shaking palsy’, Parkinson’s Disease, after James Parkinson, a British Doctor and original founder of the disease. Charcot, the ‘father of modern neurology’, the ‘Napolean of neuroses’, named, and was also the first to describe, Multiple Sclerosis [...]
Pupils from this school have designed and illustrated this beautiful banner and have obviously done their research (the tulip is the emblem for Parkinsons) Thank you so very much for all the work and creativity you have invested in this On April 11 please log in to see your banner in Bayonne, France talk to you soon Will
It is great to hear from old friends and new whom we will meet at certain stages along the way Sean, who will be staying for some time in a village not far from Pamplona, Jim from the ever getting bigger village of Balmain, Dave and Maddy from London and Rob from the same place The photo is of a Korean friend we met near Astorga in Spain last year, and a local villager talk [...]
I visited Colleen, a speech therapist today, and found it fascinating as I stared down someone's throat (I Pad) and studied their voice box, read and spoke out loudly thoroughly enjoying being educated by a most sophisticated, adept, personal and uninhibited teacher Colleen has given me an eclectic mix of exercises with which to frighten pilgrims on the walk, however I will apply the training as sensitively as possible Most people with Parkinsons experience varying [...]
