Noel Braun
The Day Was Made for Walking
2013
Noel Braun yearns to walk the Camino, the ancient pilgrimage route that leads across France and Spain to Santiago de Compostela. Since the suicide of Maris, his beloved wife of forty-two years, he has struggled to find himself. But is it pure madness? He’s an old bloke. At seventy-seven-years, he should be sensible, act his age and relax in a rocking chair. Can his body and spirit withstand the demands? Can he leave family and friends behind? Noel believes this is a journey he MUST undertake. It’s a compulsion, a spiritual quest of self-discovery, an urgent need to commune with the world around and beyond him.
When Noel begins his journey, he discovers it’s not just the rigorous demands of the physical world he must answer. The territory of the heart and soul has its own challenges, which have him searching for spiritual and emotional insights. His travels are interwoven with accounts of the many engaging characters he meets. In time he realises he himself is one of the Camino’s characters.
The Day Was Made for Walking merges the spiritual with the physical, the ancient with the contemporary. It is a memoir, but also a glimpse into history and a travel guide.
About the Author
Noel Braun commenced his working life as a country schoolteacher, then moved into a corporate career, which took him from Melbourne to Perth and Sydney. He has had a lifelong passion for writing and wrote the first words of his novels fifty years ago. After a busy career and raising a family of four, he has found the time in retirement to fulfill long-held ambition to see his work in print.
Noel has published two novels: Friend and Philosopher and Whistler Street. He has published a memoir, No Way to Behave at a Funeral which describes his grief journey following the death by suicide of his wife Maris, and three explorations of the Camino de Santiago de Compostela: The Day was Made for Walking, I Guess I’ll Just Keep on Walking and Keep Pressing On, Brother.
Noel has taken his time with his third novel No Comfort on a Chilly Night. He commenced the first draft twenty years ago and wrote four other books in the meantime. He is working on other manuscripts. He lives in the Snowy Mountains where he is involved with the community. He is a keen walker and enjoys getting out in the national parks surrounding his home.
