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Following your feet

One step at a time

My name is Steven Bloom. I started this blog when I was about to embark on the journey of a lifetime, visiting 88 temples on the island of Shikoku in Japan. It was fantastic, so in 2019 I went back and followed several of the beautiful Kumano Kodo routes on the Kii Peninsula.

During the Corona years I walked 1200km through Denmark following the Danish Pilgrimage.

In 2023 I stopped working and I decided to walk from Sagres on the Algarve in Portugal, to Rome in Italy, which led me to walking various paths in Portugal, Spain, France and Italy.

Scroll down to see my latest posts, or my walking adventures (by trail).

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Sagres to Rome

When I stopped working in June 2022, my wife said that I needed a project! Whilst walking the Fisherman’s Trail, Camino Portuguese and Lighthouse Way during 2023, an idea developed that I should continue to Rome. That should take a few years! At the end of 2024, I have now walked 5 of an expected 8 stages to cover the more than 5.000 kms between Sagres and Rome. In 2025 I plan to continue from Toulouse to Vence in France, La Spezia to Rome in Italy, and fill in the missing bits in Spain and Portugal that I didn’t walk.

The eight stages

Latest posts

Day 24: Getxo to Castro-Urdiales September 20, 2024 What was supposed to be a 24km day turned out to be much more, partly thanks to lack of signs, missed signs and a closed path, which lead to longer detours. So instead of 24km, I ended up walking 30km. The day started sunny and bright, and lasted until early evening, As I write this,… Read more >
Day 23: Guernica to Lezama September 19, 2024 A short walk, 21km with 630m elevation, but a busy day. Lene flew back to Copenhagen, so we walked to the airport bus, said our goodbye’s and I walked 500m further to the bus stop for Guernica, where I had ended up on Sunday (day 21) before meeting Lene. It was 10.30 by the time… Read more >
Day 22: Lezama to Getxo, via Bilbao September 17, 2024 Yesterday I had a rest day, spent in Bilbao with my wife, Lene, visiting the Guggenheim Museum, walking around town and taking the Funicular up into the hills above Bilbao for great views of the city. This morning I took a bus to Lezama and walked 13km back into into Bilbao. The first kilometers were… Read more >
Day 21: Markina Xemien to Guernica September 15, 2024 A quiet day on generally dry paths, only some mud, so a big improvement on the previous days. Pretty hilly, with a cold start (below 10 degrees), but it was sunny all day, so it soon warmed up. I met a lot of follow walkers including a Dane who now lives on Vancouver island in… Read more >
Day 20: Deba to Markina Xemien September 14, 2024 “Make at least one path in your life a dirt path”, is a saying I have heard every now and then. The problem with dirt paths, is that sometimes they become muddy paths and over the past days I have seen many muddy paths and they are very tiring to walk on, progress is often… Read more >
Day 19: Getaria to Deba September 13, 2024 A very short day today, only 18km and breakfast had to be taken before 9am, so I was on my way relatively early for such a short stage. Despite the short length, there were still quite a bit of climbing - 650m elevation. One of the things that I find most difficult when walking, is… Read more >

My walking adventures

Following your feet

Explore

Temples and Shrines

Vajra and Ema, Tori gates and Shitenno, Jizo and Omikuji. There's a lot to learn about Japanese Temples and Shrines. Read some of the things I've learnt when in Japan, many that I'd wished I'd known the first time I visited.

Japan is just different

Plastic food, white gloves, love of trains, pachinoko, toilets, manholes, social distance and futons. Japan is just different in so many different ways. Read about some of the differences I've experienced in Japan during my visits.

About me

That I was just following my feet, was something I often thought about during my pilgrimage to Shikoku, Japan, in 2018. I walked for 38 days, and at times it felt like my feet were walking, and the rest of my body just following.