I will admit I had a hard time with this book. I am not sure exactly why. It is very well written. Maybe it is just more scholarly than I prefer. I think my biggest objection, is a more personal taste than fault of the author. Disregarding the fact that it bugged me the author did not actually walk from Paris to the Pyrenees as the title would imply, mostly I find it hard to deal with the fact he didn't like to be around other pilgrims, and actively avoided them all together. To me that is a part of pilgrimage doing something that has been done for hundreds of years, by thousands of people. I'm not saying you must always be in a group, talking to everyone but I think it adds something to the be connected with those who have the same purpose as you do. David and his wife mostly stay in BB's that are not on a very well travelled path by pilgrims or anyone really. What I did take away was his great interest in the history of place he was walking thru and his knowledge of the significance of the monuments and buildings he was passing by. That is one thing I will really like to add to my trek on the Via de la Plata. Take time to stop and know what it is exactly I am seeing. He also conversed quite a bit with the proprietors (maybe as there were no other pilgrim's) who of course know something of the land they are on. Hopefully my rudimentary Spanish will allow this to happen. I would be remiss if I didn't mention during his wife's tooth incident, I couldn't help but mentally scream, "just Get a taxi and go see a dentist, NOW!!" Maybe's its because I had the meanest dentist as a child, or have nightmares of my teeth falling out, but I just didn't understand their decision. While not quite my cup of tea, if you find it on good discount or at your library I would recommend it. Not at full price though.
