Sonido del sendero

9:30 mass at the Cathedral de Santa María el Real. I wonder if they knew the reverb they were going to have built when they made these cathedrals so enormous and cavernous…

Seated at the only turn on the only road in the basque hamlet of Aquerreta, to the left we hear heavy machinery logging in a nearby forests. To the right are any number of birds, now the only permanent residents of the village; the last couple recently passed in their old age.

At today’s destination, the forest ends where the village of Roncesvalles begins, and there a stream is heard making its way.

The French countryside in the Pyrenees: a sheep’s bell, birdsong, pilgrims walking by.

Pilgrims gather from all over the world at St-Jean-Pied-de-Port, the start of the Camino Frances. Travelers walk along the old town’s street, a dog makes a new friend, and two American women deliberate at length about a crucial purchase of trekking poles.

San Sebastián, La playa de la concha, 2:45pm. Waves roll in while locals take their afternoon stroll along the promenade.

A walk through a Madrid metro station, 2:30 pm. Turnstiles, a man playing flamenco guitar, and the arrival and departure of trains.