Travels with My Donkey

Moore's sense of humor and his complaints get him to the Pas de Roman to visit the Spanish Santiago Cathedral over the Pyrenees from the Atlantic Coast of France. Along the way, we are all drawn into his contacts with other, serious and not so serious pilgrims; the landscapes; the hardships of caring for this donkey animal he starts the trip with not knowing or caring much about; the incredible overnight sleeping accommocations he encounters; the meals; the brandy; the elevations; rain and shale; bridges and cobble stones. Having driven alot of the trail myself without knowing much about what it was or what I was doing, I was tied into this wonderful and hilarious story every bit of the way, enjoying his cynicism and suspicion until he reached the pinnacle of Santiago for all his cold dismissal of the energy required to make this pilgrimage. I sensed he made quite a turn by the time he reached the end of the journey but then perhaps he'd started out more committed to personal spiritual reasons for the journey than I'd understood at the beginning. I LOVED the book, his hilarious ability to laugh at himself and his circumstances, his brilliant evaluations of others' situations, his cautious thoughtful spiritual tussles along the path and most of all the subtle way he slipped in so much of the history of that great period when the Crusaders were displacing the Saracens or the Muslims. The weight of the themes sneaks in on the reader as the book develops - there are so many twists and turns that this book would be a fantastic book club or academic assignment as it calls out for interaction among readers. Would it ever become a book tape? Would it ever become a play? I feel it should have wider dissemination. Great book!

Tim Moore has taken me on some extraordinary journeys in the past, from the Tour de France to the Monopoly board via the arctic deserts of Iceland, but I found this one easily the most enjoyable. If you don't fall in love with the infuriating but utterly endearing donkey he takes with him on this Spanish pilgrimage, I'll eat my cat...

From the early 1990s the Camino Francés - an ancient pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela in the Spanish province of Galicia - has been undergoing a rapid revival, to the point of becoming a hike of choice for the middle-age crisis sufferers and the spiritually fashionable from all over the world. Several good books (and many more indifferent and downright bad ones) have been written about the Camino, and now Tim Moore joined the level-headed group of authors with his "Spanish Steps". His account is not going to go down well with the professional "pilgrims" and the holy phonies who people both the road to Santiago and the Camino internet groups. He does not speak in vague and tearful terms about the "spiritual renewal". He makes fun of the highfalutin fantasies of Shirley MacLaine and Paulo Coelho. He is not a believer in Templar mysteries, ley lines, Celtic lore and magic swords. What's probably the worst, he does not look at his fellow pilgrims through the love-clogged lenses of New Age sentimentality. His book is full of annoying power-walkers, elderly lesbians, old naked German men, assorted nut cases, overcrowded refugios, eternally closed churches, sticky mud, bloody blisters and donkey crap. Just the same, he also describes ordinary people doing various acts of heart-warming kindness, and some of his weirdos are much more likeable than the average "pilgrim" types. Like Tim Moore's previous travel accounts, "Spanish Steps" is full of his trademark humor (somewhat heavy on sexual innuendo and mild scatology). Along with Jack Hitt's "Off the Road", it should be required reading for all the would-be walkers to Compostela. PS. I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Moore (without knowing his identity) in front of the Villatuerta albergue, after following him and Shinto the donkey at a very brisk pace for about two kilometres. He kindly took my picture with Shinto, and I would like to thank him for that again.

Note: this book has been originally published in Great Britain as "Spanish Steps", with the same subtitle. From the early 1990s the Camino Francés - an ancient pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela in the Spanish province of Galicia - has been undergoing a rapid revival, to the point of becoming a hike of choice for the middle-age crisis sufferers and the spiritually fashionable from all over the world. Several good books (and many more indifferent and downright bad ones) have been written about the Camino, and now Tim Moore joined the level-headed group of authors with his "Travels with my Donkey". His account is not going to go down well with the professional "pilgrims" and the holy phonies who people both the road to Santiago and the Camino internet groups. He does not speak in vague and tearful terms about the "spiritual renewal". He makes fun of the highfalutin fantasies of Shirley MacLaine and Paulo Coelho. He is not a believer in Templar mysteries, ley lines, Celtic lore and magic swords. What's probably the worst, he does not look at his fellow pilgrims through the love-clogged lenses of New Age sentimentality. His book is full of annoying power-walkers, elderly lesbians, old naked German men, assorted nut cases, overcrowded refugios, eternally closed churches, sticky mud, bloody blisters and donkey crap. Just the same, he also describes ordinary people doing various acts of heart-warming kindness, and some of his weirdos are much more likeable than the average "pilgrim" types. Like Tim Moore's previous travel accounts, "Travels with my Donkey" is full of his trademark humor (somewhat heavy on sexual innuendo and mild scatology). It should be required reading for all the would-be walkers to Compostela, along with Jack Hitt's "Off the Road". PS. I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Moore (without knowing his identity) in front of the Villatuerta albergue, after following him and Shinto the donkey at a very brisk pace for about two kilometres. He kindly took my picture with Shinto, and I would like to thank him for that again.

Ever since I read "Continental Drifter" I have been an avid fan of Moore's writting (and comic) talent. His ability to play to me sense of humour is uncanny and has left me looking like a deranged, giggling, teary eyed loon whilst reading in public. This book seems like a slight change of direction for him. The humour is still there but it is somewhat muted and is not bursting out of every sentence as with his previous outings. Instead the book has a much more reflective tone (for Tim Moore that is) and is perhaps due to the envronment and people he walked with. It is a great book, I read it for the humour I expected from this author, I got the humour I wanted but got much more. "Burn donkey Burn - Shinto inferno". Great.