David Downie speaks on Paris to the Pyrenees

David Downie, author of Paris to the Pyrenees: A Skeptic Pilgrim Walks the Way of Saint James, was May's featured speaker at Left Coast Writers Literary Salon. Downie described his account of the 750-mile sojourn along El Camino de Santiago del Campostela as an "anti-pilgrimage" book; he originally wanted to title it The Other Way in opposition to the (schmaltzy, judging by the trailer) 2010 Martin Sheen film "The Way."

"You may have guessed, I'm not a believer. I went to seek enlightenment in the form of losing weight," the prolific food and wine writer joked, adding, "The process of walking three months on pilgrimage as an atheist was daunting."

But Paris to the Pyrenees isn't simply a personal memoir or travel book about the trail. The book that took years to write, sculpted from about 20 notebooks tucked into a Ziploc bag, is filled with the politics and history of the medieval route built over an ancient Roman road. The author of Paris, Paris, Journey into the City of Light  as well as a dozen nonfiction books, two thrillers and features in more than 50 print publications says his fascination with ancient Rome began as a boy, when he moved to the city with his Roman mother.