James Timberlake 
Sons of Thunder 

Book One:

Sons of Thunder is the first of two books based on one summers 2000 mile trek across southern Europe. It celebrates the adventure of walking medieval pilgrim trails from Andalusian Seville to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in the northwestern Spanish province of Galicia, and brings the reader along the journey in a first-hand way by weaving emails, journal extracts and walking poems.
The broad agricultural expanses of the Spanish countryside form the backdrop for reflections on what its like to pare life down to food, water, will and ambulation while exploring the little villages dotting rural Spain. And from such sparsity, to walk into monumental cities… Mrida, Cceres, Salamanca; cities thriving modernly around Roman ruins, Moorish palaces, Gothic and Renaissance cathedrals; cities offering music, regional cuisine, stunning architecture and art in the heady awe of human history… Then, to walk out again through tranquil forests and plains.
But more than a travelogue, these physical experiences are part of a spiritual journey, a journey which on one level culminates en masse with hundreds of other pilgrims celebrating in an incensor swung and organ boomed baroque Cathedral, the shrine of St. James, and that on another deeply individual level ends with an introspective three-day walk to face the finality of the sea, the true end of the road, and cast an intention-rich scallop shell into the cliff-crashing tide as a symbol of all that continues beyond physical boundaries.

Über den Autor

‘Infected’ early on with a want to acquire foreign languages from hearing the musical French Canadian dialect spoken in the homes and streets of Lewiston, Maine, where he was born… ‘Infected’ with a desire to travel ever since his parents bought their VW Westfalia Campmobile back in the late 70’s and spent summers traveling throughout New England, to the Canadian Rockies, the Grand Canyon, Nova Scotia, Florida, and by being deeply stirred by the epic journeys undertaken across Tolkien’s Middle Earth… ‘Infected’ with a love for poetry by the late Boston College professor, Richard Hughes, under whose influence the author left his senior year at Boston Col-lege behind and went to study abroad in Nijmegen, Holland… ‘Infected’ with a worldly appreciation for food by Josefina Yanguas Perez – the proprietor of the Café Pamplona in Harvard Square who used to share the extras from her famous Saturday night dinner parties with Timberlake’s then yet inexperienced tongue, while he was a waiter there… ‘Infected’ by Thich Nhat Hanh and the teachers within the Cambridge Insight Meditation Center community with the seeds of mindfulness after realizing he was empty-handed and tool-less to deal with life’s sucker punches…
These happy ‘infections’ have shaped James’ perceptions and expression, and he continues to seek to bring these pleasures along with him on his next journey.