Dr Jennifer Jones: 'Academic Yarn Spinner'

I always wanted to be picked first, or second, even third, when team captains chose their squad for school sports. It was a vain hope. I usually waited in that anxious cluster until the final few. When I reached adulthood, this mysteriously changed. I always found a spot on the B team squad when I… Read more.

I’m not a very good cook. Following all the precise steps in a recipe is quite stressful, and I can never manage them. So, picture the scene when I first met Gina. It was 2008 and we were invited to the Daish-Gorge house for a Saturday evening dinner party. A dainty woman opened the door… Read more.

One of the prayer cards I collected along the Camino path at the Iglesia de Santa Maria in Los Arcos, calls for God to watch over and guide the steps of each pilgrim so that they might not only complete their journey to Santiago but be ‘strengthened with gratitude and power’ to return home safely.… Read more.

The slow revelation of the final vista has been one of the joys and challenges of our daily walking. First comes the anticipation of a fresh horizon, then the dawning comprehension of the terrain involved, followed by a calculation of the physical resources required. Susan and I are both wearing watches that track the distance… Read more.

Before we embarked on this long walk we found the Pilgrim’s Office in Bordeaux. Here we registered our intention to undertake the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela and were presented with two options to describe our motivation. We could walk with ‘Christian devotion’, or with an ‘attitude of search’. Consenting enabled us to collect the… Read more.

My backpack attracts a fair amount of comment on the trail. The vast majority of packs on the French Camino are by a ubiquitous American brand. Every other person has one, and the bright colours add a festive element to the trail. Mine is made by a small New Zealand company. It has an unusual… Read more.