Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from June, 2015

Camino crafts: crocheted Scallop shells

My sister Becky has been learning to crochet and has made me this amazing bunting and a scallop shell badge for my bag!
'We live in a fast-paced society. Walking slows us down.' - Robert Sweetgall 

Conditions for Gaining a Compostela

The Cathedral website ( http://peregrinossantiago.es/eng/pilgrimage/the-compostela/ )   states that: ‘In the 20th century the growth of pilgrims arriving in Santiago by vehicular transport gave rise to a concern that the aspects of effort and sacrifice previously characteristic of the pilgrimage may be lost or diminished. It was also the case that there was a growth in certificates issued by other bodies which sought to imitate the traditional Compostela. Therefore the Cathedral of Santiago decided that to gain a Compostela a pilgrim had to provide evidence on a Credencial that they had walked or travelled on horseback at least the last 100kms of their journey to Santiago and, if travelling by bicycle, the last 200kms. That rule still stands today.’

Paulo Coelho

'When there is no turning back we should concern ourselves only with the best way of going forwards' Paulo Coelho

Offa's Dyke

Offa's Dyke is a large and linear earthwork which more or less follows the border betwen Wales and England. It is up to 20m wide and 2.4m deep and has a 176 mile (283km) National Trail path from Liverpool Bay in the North and tryhe Severn Estury in the south along it (opened in 1971). On a recent visit to Wales I walked what was probably about a kilometer along it.

Santiago Star Wars

Does a Pilgrimage have to be a Physical Journey?

Sally Welch in ‘Making a Pilgrimage’ (Lion, 2009) defines a pilgrimage as, ‘..a journey of purpose,’ but does this journey have to be a physical one? Are retreats also a type of Pilgrimage and would other experiences of faith count or not?