Sensei Akeni is whistling when he strolls into a local bank to make a deposit, unaware that just seconds later he will be lying unconscious, the victim of a violent robbery. After he is questioned by the police and released from the hospital, the sensei of the town’s popular judo club returns home, only to be murdered as soon as he hangs up his coat. After officers Bill and Smithy are assigned to the investigation, they soon discover there are few clues to go on and that the town is being ...

In 1968, the Cold War is at its hottest. A Royal Air Force Special Operator hears an unusual World War II style transmission cutting across his frequency every month at midnight. That in itself is not surprising; static and other stations occasionally come through. In the case of this transmission, though, every day following its appearance, something terrible occurs, whether it is a major crime, a disaster, or an act of terrorism. The operator reports this to his watch commander who passe...

The Camino de Santiago is a walk across northern Spain. No one is quite sure of its origins which predate the Christian era. Today the majority of walkers are Catholics who regard it as a pilgrimage which is the main reason why it attracts people from all over the world.The minority are a mixed bag of people who follow other religions and some with no set beliefs which includes the author. Historically the Camino has been walked by a spectrum ranging from Kings and Generals to pett...

The architectural history of the Middle Ages is full of surprises It is hard to imagine today that relatively few construction plans have been found for the impressive churches and cathedrals of the Romanesque and Gothic periods. Where did most of the drawings go? Were the plans destroyed in Europe or lost over time? Or were they never made at all? Although there are very few architectural drawings, there were numerous compasses. What were they used for and how? Was it possible to design c...

Despite quadruple heart bypass surgery, fear of failure, and concern also at being labelled a copycat for repeating the theme of the movie The Way—walking the Camino de Santiago de Compostela in memory of a lost son—64 year-old Melbourne writer Michael Thornton takes on the often gruelling 800km Spanish pilgrimage.Michael's 27-day trek from St Jean in southern France to Santiago de Compostela in north-west Spain is plagued by self-doubt at having to walk 25 kilometres a day for a m...

William S. Schmidt is an associate professor of the Institute of Pastoral Studies at Loyola University Chicago. He is the author of two books and numerous articles in the fi elds of counseling and spirituality. He is the editor of the Journal of Spirituality in Mental Health published by Taylor and Francis.

In Grandmas On the Camino, author Mary OHara Wyman, a 72 year old grandmother from San Francisco, relates her 2010 adventures walking 500 miles alone as a pilgrim on the Camino Frances. Her journey takes her from St. Jean Pied de Port in France, across the Pyrenees to Spain, then westward to the ancient spiritual destination of Santiago de Compostela. Through back-home reflections based on journal entries and postcards sent to her grand daughter, Mary describes engaging encounters with pil...

In May 2006, armed only with a small rucksack and a staff, Tony Kevin, an overweight, sedentary, 63-year-old former diplomat, set off on an eight-week trek across Spain. But this was not just a very long walk — it was a pilgrimage.From Granada, in the southeast, to Santiago de Compostela, in the far northwest, Tony followed the Via Mozarabe and the Via de la Plata, two of the many pilgrim trails that crisscross Spain and Portugal and that all lead to a single dest...

The Camino de Santiago - an 800 kilometre hike across Northern Spain spanning two mountain ranges, one barren wasteland, four different provinces and, most daunting of all, five weeks sharing dorm rooms with exhausted snorers, and bathrooms with enthusiastic wine drinkers. The whole concept sounds absurd and unbearable. But Dean and his wife did it anyway, and nothing was more surprising than how much they enjoyed it. The camaraderie, the sense of community, the satisfaction that accompani...

"I'd never done anything crazy like this before – a pilgrimage walk. I was not a hiker, and I wasn't a Catholic. In fact, I wasn't even sure I was a Christian. On the last government census when I had to state my religion, I'd said I was a Buddhist, mainly because they've had such a hard time in Tibet and I felt they needed my statistical support.I was also not an adventure traveler. For me, adventure travel was flying coach. All this backpacking and wearing of heavy boots and flyi...

The Kiwi Sisters' Camino de Santiago gives practical advice on the preparation for the walk; shares the many challenges and joys pilgrims face along The Way; offers humerous, wry observations on themselves, fellow pilgrims and village life; identifies six Camino lessons as touchstones for life; and considers the broader, life-changing ramifications of completing the trip.

What do you like most when reading about adventures: descriptions about the terrain, the culture, the challenges, the personal growth, the interactions between other adventures? Women of the Way: Embracing the Camino successfully combines all these elements in a heartfelt and personal recounting of Jane V. Blanchard’s 2011 five-hundred mile pilgrimage on the Camino de Santiago—hiking from St-Jean-Pied-de-Port in France over the Pyrenees to Roncesvalles in Spain, and then westward across no...