Back by popular demand, the Blue Hill Library is sponsoring a reprise of the talk with local artist and enthusiastic hiker Gale Flax on Wednesday, March 19 at 6:30PM in the library's Howard Room. Join Gale as she speaks about walking one of the oldest and most well known of the European pilgrimage routes - the Camino de Santiago. 

With maps, photographs, and a few souvenirs, Gale will walk you through some of the highlights you would discover on this 500 mile journey. You will learn a little bit about the history of the Camino, the art and architecture that drew early pilgrims to this route, the ever-changing landscape of northern Spain, and who you might find walking the Camino today.  If you have ever thought about undertaking a pilgrimage yourself, or maybe you have already walked this route and plan to return to those vistas and holy sights again, join us for this 45 minute presentation. At the end, Gale will open up the floor to questions and discussion about the experience of pilgrimage, how to train, what to take, and when it is best to go. 

Gale Flax is a retired visual arts professor, artist, and enthusiastic hiker, currently living in Sedgwick.  She grew up in Blue Hill, spent her working years first in California as a medical illustrator at the University of California San Diego Medical School, and later in Virginia teaching visual art at Old Dominion University and at the College of the Albemarle.  She took two significant detours working as the Community Liaison Office Coordinator for the US Embassy in Lima, Peru, and later for the US Embassy in Bangkok, Thailand.  Most recently, she spent 5 years living in Cologne, Germany, where she got hooked on hut-to-hut hiking - the Tour de Mont Blanc, the West Highland Way in Scotland, Samaria Gorge in Crete, Mt Olympus in Greece, and many shorter hikes in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland.

This program is free and open to the public. For more information, please email Circulation Coordinator Olivia Zubrowski at oliviaz@bhpl.net or call the library at 374-5515.