Category Trippin’ book

My Camino Book: Is This Really Happening?

Reg Spittle 2 Comments

I was warned. The vast majority of books from indie authors find few readers beyond family and friends and have a short shelf life.

Almost six years after my first book, Camino Sunrise: Walking With My Shadows, was published, it is finding new readers in surging numbers in several countries, especially the United States and the United Kingdom. One wrote me a note:

“My friend and I so enjoyed your book Camino Sunrise. I have read endless books written by pilgrims, but yours provided me with an entirely new set of information. Thank you for all I learned from you and Sue with your beautiful book.”

Another posted a review:

“Not only did I love trekking the Camino through the eyes of Reg and Sue, I so appreciated Reg’s candid and very personal reflections on a difficult childhood, bullying and lack of confidence. I too find myself looking critically through the rear-view mirror of my life. I’m inspired now to bravely find my own Camino challenge.”

The number of new readers is inspiring as I finish work on my third book about my journey with Sue on the John Muir Trail through California’s Sierra Nevada wilderness. My second book, Trippin’ Through My 60s: When Adventure Calls, the Trails of Europe Answer, is also gaining renewed attention. It transports readers to Scotland’s West Highland Way, the Alps’ Tour du Mont Blanc, Italy’s Way of St. Francis, and England’s South West Coast Path.

It is an honor to know people choose to read my books. Above all, I hope my love of distance trekking will encourage others to give it a try, like I did–grudgingly–on the Camino de Santiago, my first trek. Or maybe they will experience adventure from their armchairs.

Both books are available on Amazon in ebook, paperback, and audiobook formats. If you are a Kindle Unlimited member, you can read it free. The paperback can also be ordered online through Barnes and Noble and Powell’s Bookstore in Portland.

I am gratified that readers have invalidated the predictions about indie publishing, at least in my case. When I left the working world in 2012, I would never have guessed that distance trekking would play a leading role in my life. And to think that people would one day read about my adventures. I am still coming to terms with that concept, but it has left me grateful beyond measure.

Top Ten Retirement Adventures: No. 4

Reg Spittle 2 Comments

If you have walked a distance trek, then you have felt the bittersweet experience of your final steps. I was overwhelmed when I turned the corner from the Tiber River and glimpsed St. Peter’s Basilica, the end of the Way of St. Francis. We had done it! My achy legs and feet cheered the end of our toughest walk yet. Later, my eyes welled up as I folded my trusty trekking poles while Sue and I sat on a step in the square. What now?

Following the steps of revered Saint Francis, Sue and I walked 23 days, 258 miles, 80,000 feet in elevation during spring in 2018. Many days were sunny, three or four were scorching, two left us drenched. It is one of three major Christian pilgrimages, but we saw few fellow trekkers, even none a couple of days as we walked from Tuscany east to the Umbrian mountains, then south and southwest to Rome. No other Americans, until we met an American tourist who snapped our photo at Vatican City.

When we turned the corner from the trail along the Tiber River, St. Peter’s welcomed us from a distance. Inside, guards checked our pilgrim passport and ushered us into an inner chapel where a Catholic official checked our stamps and issued our Testimonium. I may not be an authentic pilgrim, but it was still a magic moment. We kept searching St. Peter’s Square for other trekkers/pilgrims, but there were none.

Italy. Italians. Italian villages. Italian food. Italian scenery. All added charm to the Way of St. Francis, my number four retirement adventure. The trek pitched some good arguments to be number one, but three other adventures were even more noteworthy.

If you want to further explore the Way of St. Francis and three other European trails, check out my second book, Trippin’ Through My 60s: When Adventure Calls, the Trails of Europe Answer. The other three treks: Scotland’s West Highland Way, England’s South West Coast Path, and the Tour du Mont Blanc.