Katharine B. Soper

Kate first walked the five hundred mile Camino francès solo in 2002 at age fifty-seven, and this was the beginning of her fascination with the thousand-year-old pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in Northwest Spain. Steps Out of Time is the story of that first life-changing Camino journey. Since then, she has returned to walk six Caminos, including the traditional Portuguese Camino from Lisbon to Santiago, in 2017, and the Portuguese Coastal Camino from Porto, in 2019. Kate continues to deepen her understanding of pilgrimage by volunteering at the Pilgrim Welcome Center in Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port (2009, 2010, and 2011) and serving as a volunteer hospitalier at a monastery in Conques, France, that has welcomed pilgrims to Santiago for centuries (2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018). Her plans to walk the Via de la Plata from Seville to Santiago in the spring of 2020 and to do additional volunteer work at pilgrim centers are on hold pending the safe re-opening of the Camino. To read some of Kate’s current Camino musings, check out her blogs at www.crazywisdomjournal.com. Search for “Creature Comforts on the Camino, Part 1: Do Real Pilgrims Take Cold Showers,” “Creature Comforts on the Camino, Part 2: Are Smartphones, Email and Apps Existential threats,” “Danger on the Camino: Trust in Allah and Tie Up the Camels,” and “Been There, Done That?” Now retired, she has worked as a French professor at Boise State University and the University of Alaska, an attorney practicing divorce law and insurance defense law, a divorce mediator, a writer and editor at the Institute of Continuing Legal Education in Ann Arbor, and a University of Michigan administrator. Earlier in her life, she supervised line-walkers on the Alaska pipeline, guided student tours to France and Spain, and taught English to mid-level executives in Bogotá, Colombia, and to air traffic controllers at the Bordeaux International Airport. Kate was an avid backpacker until health concerns precluded carrying more than ten pounds on her back; she has gotten this limitation down and is looking forward to future Caminos! Kate and her husband, Philip, live in Ann Arbor, Michigan. They have a son and daughter and three granddaughters. Kate is sometimes available to lead book club discussions and make presentations about the Camino. She also leads workshops on the practical realities of a Camino journey. Write Kate at stellairepress@gmail.com with your questions, comments, and thoughts. ¡Buen camino! Blog post by Katharine : http://bit.ly/2ibPLLF