Travels With a Stick: A Pilgrim’s Journey to Santiago de Compostela

by Richard Frazer

Almost 300,000 people ‘officially’ complete the journey to Santiago each year – hundreds of thousands more travel at least part of the way.

In this book, Richard Frazer discovers on his pilgrimage to the shrine of St James the Great how a journey – wherever it is made – undertaken with an open and hospitable heart can provide spiritual renewal and transformation, filling what many people see as the spiritual void in 21st century life.

This absorbing account reveals how the pilgrim journey can be nourishment for the human heart. It connects us to landscape and brings us to the mystery of what it is to be human and vulnerable and open to the kindness of strangers and the gift of the new and the unexpected.

Genres: Nonfiction, Travel

208 pages, Mass Market Paperback

Published June 11, 2019

Reviews

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the 6th memoir/travel book I've read about someone's journey on the Camino de Santiago. Of all these books, this is the only one that has been disappointing. From other writers, I have had the experience of feeling like I'm on the journey with them, taking in the landscape, tastes of food and wine, getting to know in depth various people the writers encounter. This writer provides very little insight to his Camino experience, but way too many random thoughts about his personal beliefs and politics that have no clear connection to his Camino experience. This book is for someone who is interested in a writer's beliefs about human beings, injustice, and all the little things that can be a disappointment on the Camino. Maybe eventually he reigns in his thoughts to give the reader a fuller and richer sense of what walking the Camino is but after making it through three quarters of the book I decided to stop reading it.

[Ros Lawson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the majority of this book and Richard’s Camino experiences which were written with humour. He met some interesting and big-hearted people along the way. However, towards the end it got a bit deep & churchy for me but he is a minister afterall!

[Adeptus Fringilla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really fascinating account of walking the St James Way by a very charismatic person. I am probably biased since I attend his services at Greyfriars Kirk occasionally but I think Richard has a lot to say about the current state of the church and the relationships between society and faith. Having said that, I didn't perceive this book to be a rant about the ills of modern society, quite the opposite. Richard is eloquently persuasive about his argument that we all have a lot to give but also a lot to learn.

[Liz Birchall · Rating 5 out of 5]

My husband bought me this for Christmas, I enjoyed it much more than I expected. It took a little while to "get going" but in the end didn't want it to finish.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice description of pilgrimage to Santiago but with many ‘facts’ and opinions on religion. The first chapters are best.

[GBL · Rating 5 out of 5]

Richard Frazer, the minister of Greyfriars Kirk in Edinburgh takes the reader with him on the physical and spiritual journey to Santiago, the shrine of St James in Northern Spain.

As he walks from Le Puy in France on his 700 mile pilgrimage, Frazer shares his thoughts and reflections on the idea of pilgrimage and its impact on him. As he shares the journey with people he meets, we see him develop his own thoughts on spirituality. Frazer does not gloss over some of the hardships he experiences but again we see how these difficulties enable him to grow and develop.

Having walked part of the Camino in June 2019, Frazier’s book was a mirror to many of the experiences and reflections I had as I made the pilgrimage to Santiago.

For those who have been on pilgrimage, this book will describe many of the experiences people had, but hopefully this book will inspire others to walk out one day to find themselves.

[Karla Osorno · Rating 4 out of 5]

Richard Frazer delivers a beautiful narrative about his outward and inward journey to Santiago de Compostela. He is vulnerable, thoughtful, and engaging, describing the places he visits and the people he meets. He embeds lessons learned, both physical and spiritual, as well as lessons learned in his readings and conversations.

Reading this travel book was bittersweet for me as we are three weeks shy of the date we would have set out for our own Camino (cancelled by Shelter-in-place directive for COVID-19). Instead, like the rest of the world, we will be praying for the people of Spain during this horrible time.

Reading Frazer’s book, I came to love the Spanish people even more than I already did. I was able to imagine myself walking the same route and will Camino in the future. Frazer’s ability to help the reader envision the path, while creating mystery and motivation to take your own journey makes this a book to read for pilgrims.

[Alison Roberts · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did enjoy this account of Richard Frazer’s Camino but felt the narrative didn’t flow very well. Jon his friend arrived to walk with him but never left again. Then exactly the same happened when his wife Kate joined him for a couple of days.
In contrast to other reviewers I thought he was most interesting when talking about faith and how the ‘Church’ has got caught up in dogma, power and suppressing the faithful. I was less engaged with his description of the terrain and the walk itself.
I was disappointed when the arrival in Santiago was a let down. I guess he felt he had to tell it like he experienced it. However one of his main themes was that it’s not the ‘getting there’ that matters, it’s the journey.

[Trevor H · Rating 3 out of 5]

Occasional gems that squared with my experience of Camino Frances. Frequently falls short of the asserted and intended inspiration. I have the distinct impression that the author prefers to walk than to write, and that squeezing this book out was the harder task. The insights, while often valid and occasionally representative of the gentle humour that surely infused more of the journey, are not justified by the time it took to come to press. I'm glad to have looked through this window into another person's journey, and grateful to have considered his notion of Spirit in everyday interactions. I wish, I think, that the warmth and wit of the interactions had come a bit more alive in the prose.

[Craig Smillie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can't get enough of Camino books or Camino walking! (Going of to do Camino Frances again next week!) This is most enjoyable account of The Camino I've read till now. He captures the experience well - I could recognise most of the feelings, encounters, fascinations, meditations, contemplations and the ups and downs of the Camino road. Well done, Richard!

[Nancy Dardarian · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had to skip over the preachy stuff as the author is a minister... he is a wonderful person and I loved his insights into the mindset of the pilgrim but just a bit too much Jesus for me. Still I liked it, probably the fifth or sixth book on walking the Camino that I've read.

[Michael Frankland · Rating 5 out of 5]

A worthy read

Thought provoking, but not thought enforcing.
Points of view which I've realised are deep down a part of me.
Requires a lot of self introspection, probably a couple more reads to assimilate
Really think it has put me into another path

[Teri Peterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I *almost* want to go on a pilgrimage now.

[Raquel Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Refreshing perspective on religion and I enjoyed the author’s humble, “teachable spirit” as he journeyed. I look forward to opening myself to this walk someday soon.

[Catherine Maloney · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5.

[Maddie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Richard Frazier's journey through the famous pilgrimage route through France and Spain, along the Camino de Santiago, is an enjoyable read, focusing on the people he encounters along the way, with Richard's views on matters of faith, religion, politics and humanity woven in.

I enjoyed hearing about the differences in the accommodation and hospitality provided along the route for travellers as well as Richard's honest observations and inner struggles with various matters including the need for both solitude and connection, faith, belief and the Church and human behaviours.

[Gemma · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed revisiting the Camino with this. It was a smooth and pleasing read (especially after the intensity of the Books of Jacob). I was intrigued, and occasionally annoyed, by his views on different denominations and religions - I did sense that he did not fully respect faiths with a deeper basis in ritual and liturgy than Scottish Presbyterianism. But he was sufficiently self-reflective on this point to make it a thoughtful read.

[Jeremy Jl · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have long been interested in pilgrimage for physical and spiritual reason rather than religious and this book largely meets my interests as the author, an ordained minister, avoids too much theologising.

[Lee Prescott · Rating 3 out of 5]

A gentle, spiritual read about the author's trek to Santiago. The experience was different to mine, not surprisingly given Frazer's calling, and the nicer for it.