Raid - I've been browsing your Smugmug and RFF and love them.  Particularly the ones which feature You, and the light in your daughter's hair.  The M9 looks to give particularly good colours.
That shot of the couple sharing a kiss on the red Vespa is a corker!
35mm lenses rock, eh.

Julio
I like them all.  Stick with it.  Would love to see what you can get from the old train station and the former best restaurant in Montevideo, if you can get inside ...
There is nothing like a TLR for the feeling that the perspective is just right.

Er, PF - that makes  you younger than me, and a lot younger than Les!  Hope you are fit and on top of things?

Thank you Nancy!  We did have a fun trip.  We have just had dinner at the local Mexican with kids. friends and grandkids - and it was great.  

Julio - you made me think a lot with that post.  I just might do that... we have been trying to explain to our friends back in our materialistic western society (they are really great people and they are sympathetic) what it was like to have Nothing - and to be happy with just your daily walk and the friends you met on the Camino.  I seem to have spent most of my time since our return describing the wonderful people we met - other pilgrims and Spanish people who illuminated a moment we will never forget.

I'll try.  It was a defining time in our lives.

Ron - wow!  what a majestic bird.

I just checked the DCM ZS19.  What a range! 24 - 480!  Leica vario-Elmar!  There can't be much you cannot nail with that.

What focal length were you at when you took this shot?  As PF says, no sign of shake - the fine detail in the trees is all there.  Does it have IS?

PF
I particularly enjoyed the insect / bird shots and 'startled'.  Just popped over to DP Review to check up on the P7700 and it has some great specifications - noticed that f2 - f4 lens and the zoom range.  It must be terrific to have f4 at the long end of the zoom - and the use you have made of it illustrates what it can do in experienced hands.


[glad for your sake you've got good genes - Mum at 90 is a good sign  ]

PF - the last one, I second what Santiago said.
Nancy, what a pleasant looking horse!  seems to have a nice nature - I can understand why you stopped to pat it.
Ron - that is a classic shot.  And I loved your description of how you mounted and dismounted Lady 

Nancy
They are all interesting and so informative.  It's great to get a window to another world.
Purely as photos, I really appreciated the Morris (a bit of nostalgia there, I used to own one when I was 17), the billy Goat, the door handles (of the Mercury?), the flamingos (?) and that little boy!
The rush of fear meant I could hardly look at the suspension bridge shot … but that is a great photo of you, Cheryl and Mike on the Cliff Walk - that looks like a fantastic walk experience.

Thanks PF.  I'll add a bit more later.

Robert!  I roared laughing when I saw your comment!  Interestingly the X100s confused everyone who took it to take a photo of us.  The style of the controls is so unfamiliar to the modern digital P&S camera user.  They all thought it was a bit queer.

Philip, thanks for your comments. 
And I am in awe of your friends.  What a magnificent couple.  They must be special people. 
If you are in contact with them, please pass on my compliments on their achievement.  And give them our best wishes for another wonderful walk on the Camino.  Annie and I now talk of 'Camino magic'! when good things happen.  For some reason, every day on our walk from St Jean right through to Santiago we had some example of unexpected good fortune. 
May your friends have much Camino magic.

Thanks Ron.  I hope you are right about it keeping us young!

Robert:  I will have a look at Tumblr, thanks.  When you mentioned it I remembered that I had noticed a blog or two in the past by a couple of photographers.  I will certainly copy you guys in when I have something up and running.  Work and work related stress is killing me since we flew back in on Monday night.  We are longing for the simplicity of the life of a pilgrim again 

1.  Purchased only a few days before leaving for the Camino Frances (St Jean Pied de Port, France to Santiago de Compostela, Spain - 820km).  Decided to leave the instruction book at home.  Every bit counts when it's on your back.  And it was almost certain to get battered and torn on the trek.

2.  There is nothing like having just one lens and one camera with you all day, every day for 5 weeks or so and in all kinds of weather.  By the end of that time you'll either love it or hate it.

3.  I love it.  But the feeling came gradually.  The stuff ups were all my doing.  Now its operation and controls are something I don't even have to think about.

4.  Purchased a case which is an imitation of the Fuji X100 case.  Closes up just fine with the adapter ring in place and a B+W UV-Haze MRC nano filter screwed in.  Did not remove the filter throughout the whole trip (departed St. Jean on 16 April, arrived Santiago de C. on 19 May - then to Finisterre, Galacia - then to Paris, France and back to Aust. 3 June.

5.  Felt that the case was awkward to use at first.  Then (this seems to happen with most things) opening and closing it became second nature and I forgot about it.  Would not attempt to do the 'reportage' style on a backpacking trek without this case and the filter in place.  First, the entire package is small - and that is vital to using it and carrying it.  The camera strap was around my neck most of the time and the case stuffed in amongst supplementary pack things on my chest, or inside a gore-tex jacket in really bad weather (but still with the strap around my neck - good photo opportunities crop up a lot in bad weather).  Second, the camera needs protection but has to be quick on the draw; it rains, it snows and it hails;  the faux leather knock off of the Fuji case for the X100 is not waterproof but it takes the shocks and shakes off the moisture.  Mine is now a bit battered and worn, but it was as cheap as chips and has done the job.  

6.   The Fuji lens is very exposed without a filter.  It might be ok to protect it with just the hood (which I had but rarely used because the case could not close over it when fitted).  On more than one occasion the B+W filter saved the lens.  And it still seems to be without any blemishes.  I brushed the filter and the camera carefully each night with a retractable camel hair brush and gingerly cleaned the filter and other glass bits on the camera with a small micro-fibre cloth which was carried with the brush in a protective case.

7.  The most freedom in operation comes with the hood fitted and the top half of the case removed.  I only did that once or twice in the cities.  It was bliss - fast!  But life is full of compromises.  In the conditions I've described the hood had to be tucked away and the case fitted.  Only then was I able to use the camera all day in all conditions without fear of damaging it.

Snow starts to fall ...






waves of cloud ride the mountain tops at dawn


sometimes you gotta dance


get ready for the cows coming at you


and reminisce about the journey with the one you love



8.  (to be continued ...)

Thanks Mike and PF.

The most significant things for us were (a) just how hard it was and (b) how bloody marvellous it was.  As I think I may have said before, we became addicted to strapping on the packs before dawn and setting off into the countryside/mountains/forests/deserts etc. etc. - and getting on top of the difficulties and relishing the company.  

Since our return yesterday Anne is having difficulty coming to terms with the fact that no longer is everything she needs in the pack on her back, and that it felt so right to not need anything else.  

Before we left for Spain we had the full range of opinions some of which were:
"it is like a stroll in the country with lovely little villages dotted along the way";
"I know a bloke with two hip replacements and knee reconstructions who did it, you should have a ball";
"you only really need to wear open-toed sandals".

These are myths.  Well, we did meet one delightful young American guy who was wearing open-toed sandals!    I'll try to insert photos below.  But Rory was exceptional - young, strong and fit.

I'd like some advice:  because of the amount of mis-information on the net about the Camino, I have a hankering to set up an account of the preparation and the experiences we encountered, accompanied by photos.  Btw, the movie "The Way" with Martin Sheen is Not misinformation.  When we flew back to Paris our French friends wanted to watch it with us.  We were struck by how authentic it was.    

Any recommendations?  a Blog?  something like 500Px?  or something else?  As I firmly believe that a picture is worth a thousand words (or more!) it will not be text-heavy.  Just brief explanations of what is depicted in the photo.  I would like the platform to allow that and to have an attractive "theme" layout.  But I don't want to be sucked into some facebook type situation.

The pics that prove the exception to the rule!

Anne meets Rory (with sandals!) and his father Bob from Bend, Oregon - and cannot resist describing the trout she caught in a Spanish mountain stream by just tickling it under the gills


further along the track we meet again for a morning coffee


and later, after a tough climb, Bob suggests that his son do the right thing


our group of American friends take time out, Bob and Rory far left

Thanks guys!

Will, the hailstorms we experienced were ok. Ran into a couple about mid-way on the track. Then in Galicia we had two in one day. Not too dramatic. The hail was about the size of peas. It rattled loudly on our gear (gore-tex jackets and a Spanish 'Altus' over the jacket and backpack.  Seals up everything and in zero/sub-zero temps (Celsius) gives added protection against any chill factor.

Annie and I perfected "the Altus flip" which enabled us to get them on quickly, unaided. They have a buttoned up hump which is unbuttoned to fit snugly over the backpack.

And hail of that size is ok provided that it is not tearing into your face! Then it hurts a bit until you react.
We became used to continuing on in all types of foul weather. In fact bad weather, outside, when you are equipped for it, is exhilarating.

Rainy morning in Paris. Experimenting on iPad mini with Snapseed. All taken with the X100s

The Iron Cross


Approaching Ages after snowstorm


Crossing the Meseta. On Tranjan's road.
i

Descending the Pyrenees through the beech forests


Walking towards hail storm in Galicia

Nah Kalle, not that energetic! Only got to the end of the earth in Galicia. 

Hey Julio, thanks for that photo of the cathedral from your visit. Quite special knowing that another Forum member has been there. As you will see from the post above we had a bit to do with the people of Galicia -;)

I am uploading the x100s jpeg files to Dropbox as a backup. Once that's finished I will get around to sorting them. Then will post or give a link.