From Sore Soles to a Soaring Soul

Changing My Life One Step at a Time on the Camino De Santiago

By: Blaine A. Rada

Narrated by: Blaine A. Rada

"Do you like going for long walks?"

Being asked this question by a fellow pilgrim, or peregrino, a few days into my month-long journey walking 500 miles across northern Spain seems ridiculous. And then, I realize it's a brilliant question. It seeks to answer why someone would embark on such a challenge.

Honestly, I don't like walking. So why would I - or anyone - take a month off from work and life, leaving their family behind, to walk the Camino de Santiago? The physical, mental, and spiritual journey that is the Camino is profoundly personal yet universally transformational.

The greatest challenge is staying transformed when you get off the trail and go back home to your normal life. Walk with Blaine Rada, as he shares his daily diary filled with insights, humor, and his quest for meaning and chocolate milk. From Sore Soles to a Soaring Soul is the book he never intended to write. And is so glad he did!

©2019 Blaine A. Rada (P)2019 Blaine A. Rada

Short but very sweet

I tend to hesitate when a book is very short, but I love Camino books and so gave this a try. I am delighted I did. The writer is extremely genuine and honest with a strong sense of self-awareness. You really feel that you are there with him on the walk, and the way he wears his heart on his sleeve (but in a very non-aggressive and honest way) is incredibly endearing. You really felt for him when his father in law passed. You could also really sense and sympathize with his obvious struggles with planning and timing and whether it should be important and what he was really doing out there. Like most of us, he doesn’t know all of the answers, and refreshingly he doesn’t try to draw definitive black and white answers to everything upon the Camino’s conclusion, something which a lot of authors try to do in an unconvincing and sloppy way. One suggestion for him. For understandable reasons, he covered a superhuman amount of miles every single day with no rest days. I imagine that it was part of his personal journey and needed to happen that way. But I would really love to hear that one day he and his wife have a chance to do a slow Camino together. He deserves it.

Good overview of the Camino

Fairly short overview of the Camino. I felt like I was walking with the author and experiencing the Camino with him.

Audible version prompted me to buy the paperback

I had an Audible credit I needed to spend and I was looking for a book about the Camino when I saw a review by Sharon Franta. I crossed paths multiple times with Sharon and her son during my Camino in 2017. Her review prompted me to get the Audible version of this book. The journey the author made was vastly different from mine and yet, eerily similar. He was on a fixed schedule and paid a price in blisters and pain. I had the luxury of time and was blister-free. Mr. Rada taught me that the spirit of the Camino will touch you no matter how hard you try to outrun it. When we left a town in the morning, neither of us knew where we would sleep at the end of the day. Some of the things I heard him read to me in his book were things I had written in my Camino journal 4 years earlier. If you are thinking about making this Pilgrimage, I highly recommend this book. He has some good advice that he, admittedly, did not follow. Make the Camino your own. If you have your Compostela, this book will bring back lots of memories. Also, I like his quotes at the end of each chapter. Buen Camino!

Thank you

It was in 2017 I walked the Camino with my son - the year I turned 50. Blaine has done a great job reminding us what the pilgrimage can bring to the hurting, the lonely, the adventurer, the curious...
He has also captured much of the heart of the journey that could aid anyone who needs to remember or who needs to prepare.

The perfect blend...

... of spiritual and practical commentary. Food for the soul and inspiration for imagining one's own future Camino intentions, combined with plenty of down-to-Earth, pragmatic advice concerning what one might encounter along the Camino Frances. Very well done and highly recommended.