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Hello Pilgrims , and welcome to the Camino

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News Update . It is Wednesday , april

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10th , and we have a packed show

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for you today . It is an international

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show , and what ? What is that ? Is that

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sunshine ? We

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have a great show for you today . We're coming

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from all over the world John is

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in Malta , rocco is

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in Japan , lindsay's been on

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the Invierno and I'm here in

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beautiful , sunny Santiago

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. Now I've got to say this city

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is beautiful when it's drenched

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with rain and it's beautiful

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when it's sunny . I've been out

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here just watching pilgrims come in

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, and what a joy it is to see their

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faces . The

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Way my Way is coming to cinemas

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across Australia on May 16th

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. Next Tuesday , though . They begin

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a national screening tour , and it is sold

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out in several locations . Here's

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a sneak peek of a podcast interview coming out

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next week where I spoke with filmmaker

0:58

Bill Bennett . I wanted to see how he's feeling

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this close to his big movie premiere .

1:03

But first let's just take a moment to

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look at parts of the movie trailer

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. I see this walk as

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an 800 kilometer long cathedral

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.

1:28

This is the Camino . Miracles

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happen all the time .

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Safe journey . Welcome Eh welcome .

1:48

Welcome . Yes , sweetheart .

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I'm a pilgrim .

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What would you say is your

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mission with this movie ?

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Like why did you want to make it

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? I didn't want to make it .

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Lee you to make it . You didn't want to make it , okay , so did you want to write

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the book that that it was based on

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oh yeah , I wonder , I want to write the book

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.

2:15

And the reason I want to write the book was because I came

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back from that first camino , the camino

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frances , really confused and

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I thought that the book might help , um

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, ameliorate that confusion

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. You know , I needed to

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find out why I had put myself

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through that whole ordeal and in writing the

2:33

book , I hoped that , um , that that

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would meet that , meet that need

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, and it did in a way . But

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then what happened was a distributor , a film distributor

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, uh , read the book and it had a deep impact on

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him . And he contacted me and he said

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, bill , I think there's a movie in this . And I said , no , there's

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not . He

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said , bill , this book , I know this book is

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going to turn into a movie and it's going to be really great . You

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know , the book really impacted me and if you can get

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the book onto the screen , then

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you're going to have a movie that people are going to want to see . And

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I said I can't do that .

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I can't make a movie about myself , it's just not

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possible and how do you feel

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right now , sitting here knowing that it's

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premiering next week , when you didn't even want

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to do it , yet you

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did it ?

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um , well , number one , I feel

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, if

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I can say I feel a sense of achievement in actually

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completing it . You know , because

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it's really hard to make a film on the Camino

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, and I realize now

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why there hasn't been an

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English language movie , not a documentary

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, but a movie made on the Camino

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since the way , which was in 2011

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, I think , you know , something like 13

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years . And the reason that there hasn't

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been is because to mount a

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full-scale movie production

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, you know , and

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to do it on the Camino in

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its entirety , which is what I wanted to do , I

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wanted to traverse the entire Camino

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is , I

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mean , it's really hard . You've got trucks , you've got

4:04

infrastructure . You know you can't

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shut down the Camino because you're making

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a movie , you know . So

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I had to find a way to

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work within the rhythm and

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the life

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force and the energy of the Camino , if you like

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, you know , to tap into it , not to stop

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it , not

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to try you

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know , to tap into it , not to stop it , not , not , not to try hmm , I

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love that to tap into it rather than to stop it . I mean , basically

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, I want to get to a point of invisibility

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where we melded into

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the energy and that , so

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that that current , that

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life force , current of

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the Camino , we

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needed to meld into it and become invisible

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, so that we became a part of it , if

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that makes sense .

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Yes .

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And that's really hard to do .

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Yeah , and do you feel

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good about the outcome

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?

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I do . Yeah , look , I've got to say

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I'm very proud of the film . I

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think it's a beautiful film , you

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know . I think we have

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managed to capture the

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true transcendent beauty of

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the Camino , and in that beauty

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, of course , lies the spirituality , because

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God lives in nature .

5:25

Hello everyone . This is John in a very rainy Santiago

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and , as you can see from the weather forecast

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for the next week , it's going to be dull

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. Thankfully the rain is going to stop

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, they tell us , and thereafter the

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weather will improve . However

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, the weather hasn't put off the pilgrims and

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they continue to pile into the city

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37,000 pilgrims this

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year so far . That's 31%

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more than in the same period

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last year . Now the graph tells

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us that the pilgrim numbers have gone

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up and they haven't come back down yet , as we

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expected after Easter time . But

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the schools have been on holiday , so have parents

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, they're now going back children

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to school , parents back to work , and

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we think that the numbers will come down

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. But we'll see . I have

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, however , have not been in the rain . For the last week

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I've been on the beautiful island

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of Malta . Now , the

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island of Malta was the headquarters

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for some considerable time of the

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medieval order , the Knights of

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St John , who were formed to

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protect pilgrims and to

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care for pilgrims . So a little

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later I'll tell you more about

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my visit to Malta and the new Camino

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route there .

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And here's Rocco .

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Two plane rides , four trains

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and now just got off a bus from

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Kitenabe and I'm here in

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Takejiri , which

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is where the trailhead begins

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for the Nakahechi , the version

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of the Kumano Kodo , which

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I will be undertaking this week

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. There we go Along

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the way . At key sites there are these

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wonderful little wooden shelters

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that are set up

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to hold the

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stamps that you stamp , your booklet

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, to show progress

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along the way and when we get

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to the end of

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the pilgrimage , to qualify for our dual pilgrimage status

7:21

. To qualify for our dual

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pilgrimage status , signs

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as to where to go are all fine and dandy , but the Kumano Kodo folks take it

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to another level and actually put up signs

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where you are not on

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the Kumano Kodo , and you should look

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around and see where the real path is . Incredible

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singing of frogs . One of the elements that adds to the challenge

7:52

of walking the Kumano Kodo and

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that obviously slows you

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down are just

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the kilometers

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worth of exposed route . So

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you have to watch your footing at all

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times . And this isn't

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a race , it's a pilgrimage

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. Embrace the moment

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and enjoy .

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Simply awe-inspiring

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sunset here from my

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room at the Kirinosato

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Takahata Organic

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Lodge . End

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of my short but steep

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first day and

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, given jet lag and all of the travel

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in the last 72

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hours , this was just what the

8:44

doctor ordered . 72

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hours this was just what the doctor ordered . Now

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off to dinner .

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Here's Lindsay .

9:15

Hi there , lindsay , here again . As

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you can hear , I've arrived in sunny Santiago

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Today . I've

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enjoyed watching pilgrims arriving

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in this ancient city . Today , I've enjoyed watching pilgrims

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arriving in this ancient city . Recently , a number of people

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have asked me for advice as they

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are contemplating doing the Camino

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in Vienno at some point

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in the future . I say

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great , if you have more Caminos

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in you , the in Vienno is a

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must . Today

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, I thought I'd put together some things you

9:47

need to know before heading off . These

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are my top five picks . One

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for the Galician Zunta

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albergues even though they have a kitchen

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, they do not have any kitchen utensils

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, which includes cutlery . However

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, they all have microwaves . 2

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. The Zunta albergues do

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not have blankets , so you are likely

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to need a sleeping bag . 3

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. Some days are quite long

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between services , so be

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prepared to carry sufficient food and

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water . 4

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. On the invierno , cash

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is king . Take lots of

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smaller denominations , as

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Donativos won't be able to break

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50 euro notes . 5

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. Most private albergues

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are able to be booked via

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WhatsApp , which , combined

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with Google Translate , makes

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the whole process easy if you're

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not confident with your Spanish language skills

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. The invierno

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is definitely one of my top favorite

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routes . It's easy enough , beautiful

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and the people are very friendly

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. I do hope you enjoy it Until

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next time . Buen camino

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.

11:05

Here's Johnny Walker .

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I'm here on this very beautiful island of

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Malta , my first visit there . But

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not my first encounter with my old

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friend James Portelli , who's the

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chairman of the local

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pilgrim association Sheer Kamini

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here on Malta , and

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they've developed a Camino route

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Camino Maltese , james . Could

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you tell us about it ?

11:29

Sure thanks for the invitation . It

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is one of the youngest

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but also one of the longest caminos , because

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it starts in the old

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town of Rabat and Medina

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in Malta , but then crosses Malta

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, crosses Sicily , Sardinia

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, and through Barcelona

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, through the Catalana

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Ragonese , onto the Frances , all the way

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to Santiago . So it's 3,600

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kilometers .

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How much of this Camino have you walked ? I've

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walked .

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Malta , I've walked Sicily , I've

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walked part of Sardinia and I walk

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part of Spain . So

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this spring

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I'll be continuing part of

12:10

Sardinia again , and

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in summer I'll continue part of Spain .

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And James . A

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number of associations are developing cabina routes

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in their own country , for example . In

12:22

England they've invented the way of St James

12:24

, but it's not an extraordinary

12:27

work . I understand that

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your work here is very authentic

12:31

.

12:32

Yes , it started with a pilgrim in the

12:34

17th century . Yes , yes , indeed

12:36

, it did . The pilgrim's name

12:38

was Don Juan Benegas de Cordoba

12:40

. He was the custodian

12:42

of St Paul's Grotto in Rabat

12:45

, just outside the old city of Medina , and

12:48

Grand Master Alaphina Court

12:50

in the very early 1600s granted

12:53

him a credential , basically a document

12:57

of safe passage , to travel from

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Malta all the way to San

13:03

Giacomo in Galicia that's what the

13:05

document says for

13:08

him to visit the tomb and the

13:10

sanctuary of St James .

13:11

And .

13:12

James , this is very much the home of the altar

13:14

of St John , and they were funded

13:17

to welcome pilgrims and

13:19

provide support to pilgrims , and all I've

13:21

got to say is thank you for your hospitality

13:23

to me as my first customers to Malta

13:26

.

13:26

Thank you very much , always a pleasure

13:28

.

13:30

All right for our calendar of upcoming events

13:32

. The online Santiago de Compostela

13:34

Book Club will have their next monthly meeting on

13:37

April 27th . This meeting

13:39

is with Steve Walther , author of

13:41

Sacred Blisters . He's so much

13:43

fun you don't want to miss this one . There's

13:45

a link in the show notes to join the group . Now

13:47

here's a public service announcement for all English-speaking

13:50

pilgrims . Pilgrim Mass in English

13:52

is with Father Manny . It's held daily

13:54

at 10.30 am , except on Wednesdays

13:57

. Camino Companions is open daily

13:59

now from 10.30 am to 5 pm

14:01

. Both are located in the pilgrim

14:03

office where you get your . Compostela pilgrim

14:06

house on ruanova is now open from

14:08

10 am to 6 pm daily , except

14:10

they're closed on wednesdays and sundays . Well

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, that's it for this week . Pilgrims hope

14:15

to see you in santiago soon

14:17

.