On the Camino

As with many of my crafts what makes this card camino-y is the use of the blue and yellow of the Camino signs and the star from the 'field of stars'. The star could be replaced with the Camino shell if you want For this card I drew a straight line in black pen and placed a star sticker at the bottom. Then I wrote 'happy new year' in french, Galician (which is also Portuguese) and spanish as these are the countries I have walked the camino in. The card took me less than five minutes to makeso have fun maling it and happy new year!

Britain's had some snow over the past two days so, after all of the snow over the Pyrenees two years ago, I gave my walking boots a quick try out in the snow and they were ok Some of the snow at Roncesvalles

Happy Christmas everyone and buen camino!! (I'm afraid a Portuguese Cockerell was the best I could find this year for Camino related decorations)

I've been getting a bit more creative with my wrapping paper recently using brown paper and decorating it. A few can be easily Camino-themed and could be used for presents for people who are going to walk the Camino (backpack, guides, a spork etc). Stars on strings - this is in two shades of yellow but could be blue and yellow easily    Bunting made with felt - I drew the line with black pen and then glued the triangles onto this line.

Canterbury was, in the mediaeval era, the most visited site of Pilgrimage in England and so there are a few interesting sites to see there for anyone interested in Pilgrimage. The Cathedral

We visited Lincoln recently and went to see the Cathedral where there is a carving of a Pilgrim. I thought that this was inside the Cathedral and so did not even look for it but it turns out that he's outside on the south side of the Cathedral. There doesn't seem to be a legend about him as there is with the Lincoln Imp though. I did buy a small charm of him though - this isn't a great picture of him but I think that you can make out his staff and he has his wide-brimmed hat on his back (I guess because the Pilgrimage to Lincoln Cathedral wasn't as sunny as that to Santiago!).

I went recently to an art day run by my local Council and learned how to do Lino printing, I'd seen this before and liked the way it looked but hadn't known where to start so when the chance to do this came up for only £15 (including all materials) I couldn't resist! The day ran from 10-4 and we all enjoyed ourselves so much that we almost forgot to eat. The teacher taught us the basics and then left us to try things out but wandered around giving advice, answering questions and always aware of what everyone was doing and whether anyone needed help. I had time to do six different designs half of which were Camino-inspired. I started with a simple scallop shell - a chance to do some lines and curves as well as a bit of patterning

In Canterbury I bought these three replica Pilgrim badges: This is the Canterbury Cross - the design comes from a Saxon brooch from about 850 which was found in 1867 on Canterbury (the original is in the Canterbury Heritage museum). I bought this version from the Canterbury Tales for £4.

Having covered the journeys of Bilbo and Fro do I thought that it was only fair to mention the run of 135 miles undertaken by Aragorn, Legoas and Gimli in 'The Two Towers'. This covered the distance from Rauros near Emyn Muil to Fan gorn going via Ensenment and the Wold of Rohan. 135 miles is 217.3km in four days so they averaged 54.3km per day, an impressive feat! Some people do run the Camino and travel 50-80km per day so this sounds possible although it's not something that I would like to attempt on my next Camino!

Saint Augustine's Abbey is the first site of interest you reach on The via Francigenia as you walk out of Canterbury. It was a Benedictine monastery and was founded in 598 and was dissolved in 1538 during the Reformation after which it was dismantled until 1848. It's now in the care of the English Heritage. A sign to the Abbey The Abbey

The Pilgrims' Way is the route that Pilgrims are meant to have taken between Winchester to Canterbury (although the idea of one route under this name seems to have come about in the Victorian era when surveyor Edward James who was working on the Ordnance Survey map of Surrey published a leaflet in 1871 called  Notes on the Pilgrims' Way in West Surrey) . The route follows an ancient track way dated to 500-450BC (although it may have existed in the Stone Ages) and follows the natural causeway east to west on the slopes of the North Downs - a path that was dictated by geography: avoiding the clay and the summits From 1173-1538 Becket's shrine in Canterbury was the most important Pilgrimage site in England. Winchester was a regional focus, a meeting point for travellers from the south coast seaports and an important ecclesiastical centre and the 'Pilgrims' Way' was the most direct route between the two

I remember when I first decided to walk the Camino six years ago and started to look for books that I had a lot of difficulty finding any, thankfully that seems to be changing as evidenced by a recent trip to my local Waterstones shop These were in the general travel section of the shop My favourite travel guides are those by Brierley as I like the maps he has but those done by the Confraternity of Saint James are good as well.

The Saint Swithun Way was opened in celebration of the Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II in 2002 and goes from Winchester to Farnham (and is roughly where the Pilgrims’ Way once ran – the original route is now under the A31). The waymarking of this route is circles which are green and show a scallop shell with two crossing crosiers (to represent Saint Swithun and Saint Thomas a Becket). The Tourist information offices in Winchester sells guides to the Saint Swithun's Way for £3 which includes maps but these are more sketch maps than trail maps - between these and the way markers it is usually possible to find where you should be walking (we did have to guess on at least one occasion but managed to guess correctly). I wouldn't rely solely on the way markers or the maps on this section of the Pilgrims' Way.

In the tenth and eleventh centuries the pilgrimage to Santiago rose in importance as the Spanish and French kingdoms had formed greater alliances and the French kings were keen to promote the pilgrimage through their lands which meant that the route was a lot safer than it had been – the abbey at Cluny was one that established a lot of monasteries along the Camino and promoted pilgrimage heavily. Many aristocratic families followed this example by setting up infrastructure (including hospitals and Churches) for pilgrims and began to take responsibility for the Camino’s upkeep believing that these actions would assist in the salvation of their souls. In the eleventh century travel became a lot safer as the invasions by Vikings and other groups lessened in number whilst the publication in the twelfth century of the Liber Sancti Jacobi (which contains what many consider to be the world’s first ‘tourist guide’ – a description of the Camino route). There were by now four main Camino r...

The only albergue (at least on the Frances route) in a pilgrim hospital. 62 beds is one room on three levels - warm on a cold day. Very large kitchen with several stoves and sinks, as always in municipal albergues no equipment and there is no where in Ribadiso to buy food so get anything that you might need in Melide (there is a bar here with good food though). Hot showers and toilets in a separate building which has a gap between the walls and the roof - I have stayed here twice and both times it has been too cold in the building to get a shower. Lovely position near the river.

I have only walked two of the Camino routes (the Frances and Portuguese) and still want to try many of the others and yet I am also finding other Pilgrimage routes that I want to walk - I did the Pilgrims' Way in the summer which starts from Winchester which is also the starting point for the Pilgrims' Trail a 155 mile route that finishes at Mont St Michel in Normandy, France. The cult of saint Michel was popular in Britain from the 9th century and the Pilgrims walking this way were called Miquelots and many Pilgrims on their way to Santiago. The route is marked by green way markers in Hampshire taking walkers from Winchester to Bishop's Waltham to Southwick and then to Portsmouth where ferries are caught to France and Way markers become blue. Tradition says that, in 709 Saint Michael the Archangel appeared to the bishop of Avranches, Saint Aubert, and told him to build a chapel in his honour on the island. The bishop obeyed and soon sent a group of monks over...

According to this article later this week Britain will be warmer than Santiago with highs of 21 degrees C. The question though is which will be wetter?!

Scallop shells often appear in helaldry and are shown as a symbol of pilgrimage (and possibly the crusades) so any family coat of arms bearing a scallop she'll had someone in their pat who went on pilgrimage - not necessarily to Santiago though. The Scallop shell appears as early as the reign of Henry 3rd  and appears on the Coat of arms of Winston Churchill and the Spencer family (Princess Diana and therefore Princes William and Harry). It also appears on the Coat of Arms of John Wesley and so has become a symbol of the Methodist Church.

A new albergue opened only last year 'The Last Stamp' is about a five minute walk from the Cathedral. Last year it cost 15E a night but may now cost 18E. Beds are in sections of four with eight in a room and some rooms have double beds. All beds have sheets and duvets which, I remember very well, is a great joy after 500 miles of walking! Well decorated with friendly staff and you can hire a card key to gain entry into the albergue at any time. A small kitchen with a stove and microwave and a few tables - all that we needed while we were there.

Mediaeval pilgrims carried very little with them – a cloak to wear as they walk and wrap around themselves at night, a hat to shade them from the sun, a staff to lean on as they walked and to ward off dogs, a scip (a leather satchel slung over one shoulder in which they would carry food, money and any documents they needed), a gourd to carry water in, a sclarin (a long tunic from the 17 th century onwards), a shell as a symbol of their pilgrimage (it also served as something to eat off of).             At the time what a man could wear was set down in law according to your social class and there were punishments for wearing anything that didn’t fit your station; the ‘uniform’ of a Pilgrim was the type of clothes that unskilled labourers or peasants would wear – they were a social leveller. 

Just a quick reminder for anyone in or around Canterbury this weekend: Canterbury Cathedral is hosting a conference on the Pilgrims' Way with a weekend of events linking the Pilgrims' Way Project and The Green Pilgrimage network (a global collaboration between 28 pilgrim cities and other sacred sites who want to be models of green action and care. It was launched in Assisi in 2011).On the 5th people will gather at meeting places a mile or a couple of miles outside the city to walk in with the Archbishop. The weekend will also see the official launch of the Pilgrims' Way website at www.pilgrimswaycanterbury.co.uk . On Saturday the 4th at the Beaney House of Art and Knowledge the following events are happening: 11:30-12:30 - Guided walk to Saint Martin's Church and Eastbridge hospital 1-2 - a Pilgrim clinic for those interested in walking the Pilgrims' Way to Canterbury or to Santiago or Rome 2-3 - Pilgrim history talk by John Butler about the mediaeval pract...

I said that I wouldn't make any of these when they came out but one niht at Guides one of the patrols was making them as part of their camping  Go For It! and one of the girls insisted I had a go and I really enjoyed it! There are lots of instructions on the Internet about how to make loom bands so I'm not going to give you any here but just give you a few ideas. Loom bands are easy to make and cheap to buy plus they are really light so they would make a good gift for someone going on Camino or for someone going on Camino to give to family members when they set off. I bought Camino blue and yellow bands (scented of blueberries and bananas so I guess you could use the loom bands for a couple of days to make your boots smell nice!). Each packet has 250 bands in each and cost £1 each. There have been a few headlines on kids having the bands stuck on their fingers so I used a fork to make my loom bands on. I experimented a bit and found that 3 lots of nine bands of e...

The Pilgrim Hospital of Saint Thomas the Martyr of Eastbridge was founded in the 12th century (possibly 1176) in order to provide overnight accommodation for poor pilgrims to the shrine of St Thomas a Becket. It is now one of the ten almshouses still providing accommodation for elderly citizens of Canterbury. In the 14th century it was reformed by Archbishop John de Stratford who came up with ordinances, as well as a code of regulations to be acted on concerning pilgrims - every pilgrim in health could rest in the hospital for one night at the cost of four pence, that weak and infirm applicants were to be preferred to those with better health, and that women "upwards of forty" should attend to the bedding and administer medicines to the sick. During the Dissolution of the Monasteries the Hospital survived although Pilgrims no longer went to Becket's shrine so inn 1569 Archbishop Parker issued new ordinances governi...

I have read recently of  a military exercise that happened in May 2014 - a march from Tui to Santiago (125km) with only two separate hours of rest. The 'walk' included running, swimming, shooting and climbing with kit including rifles. Not my idea of a fun way to complete the Camino but those who did it definitely have my respect!

This is from a tweet by Eleanor Parker who's a medevalist, blogger and academic. She labelled it as , 'St James as medieval Pilgrim with staff, scrip and cockle-shells (1320s England BL Stowe 12, f. 279v)'. Eleanor Parker's blog is at http://aclerkofoxford.blogspot.co.uk/?m=1

I read in a guidebook about the Hospital of Saint Cross before we went to Winchester. It lies on the Pilgrims' Trail but not on the Pilgrims' Way - it was about two miles round trip along the side of the River Itchen and was a nice walk. The Hospital is one of England's oldest continuing Almshouses and the oldest charitable institution in the United Kingdom. It houses private, individual apartments for 25 elderly men who are known as 'Brothers'. These men wear red or black gowns (black robed Brothers are members of the charitable institution of the Order of the Hospital of Saint Cross; they also wear a silver badge that is the Cross of Jerusalem whilst those in red are members of the Order of Noble Poverty and they were a silver Cardinal's badge) and a trencher hat for the daily Church services and formal occasions. The Church at its centre is Norman and it has a Tudor cloister and a mediaeval hall and kitchen. The Hospital was said to have o...

The United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNTWO) estimates that 300-330 million tourists visit the world's  key religious sites each year so last July they organised an International Congress on Pilgrimage and Tourism to be held in Santiago this month to raise awareness internationally about the growing importance of pilgrimage spiritual tourism in the light of tourism development. Amongst the topics to be discussed are ways to manage and preserve heritage sites along religious routes and how pilgrimages sustain growth and assist with world peace. The Congress' organisation was undertaken by UNWTO Secretary-General Taken Rifai, Spanish Secretary of State for Tourism Isabel Borrego Cortes and Galician President Alberto Nunez Feijoo in July 2013 in Madrid through the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding.

Winchester Cathedral is one of the largest in England and is the longest Gothic Cathedral. It is dedicated to Saint Peter, Saint Paul, the Holy Trinity and Saint Swithun who was a local man born around the year 800. After he was ordained he served in the royal household becoming an important advisor to the King. He became the 17th Bishop at Winchester Cathedral in 852 until he died in 862 after which he was associated with many miracles which saw him declared a Saint. This has led to his shrine in Winchester becoming a site for pilgrimage. While he was Bishop he rebuilt Winchester’s East Gate bridge over the River Itchen and whilst he was visiting workmen for this legend says he found a poor woman who had dropped a basket of eggs which had broken – he mended the eggs and for this miracle he became famous. Tradition also has it that he took a young Alfred on pilgrimage to Rome.

The Arabic letter 'n' is being painted on the doors of Christians in Iraq making them targets for Islamic Sate militants. N stands for 'Nazarene' or 'Christian' in Arabic. Many people across the World are using this image on social media to transform a symbol of abuse and oppression into a show of support.

Canterbury Cathedral is hosting a conference on the Pilgrims' Way with a weekend of events linking the Pilgrims' Way Project and The Green Pilgrimage network (a global collaboration between 28 pilgrim cities and other sacred sites who want to be models of green action and care. It was launched in Assisi in 2011). On the 5th people will gather at meeting places a mile or a couple of miles outside the city to walk in with the Archbishop. The weekend will also see the official launch of the Pilgrims' Way website at www.pilgrimswaycanterbury.co.uk .

On the outskirts of Hospital de Orbigo is the bridge from the 13th century which has 204 arches and at 204 meters it is the longest bridge on the Camino. This bridge comes with its own Camino story: in 1433 Don Suero, a Knight from Leon, loved a Lady who did not return his affection – to free himself from this love he, and nine other Knights (Don Sancho Rabanal, Don Diego de Bazán, Don Suero Gómez, Don Suero de Quiñones, Don Pedro de los Ríos, Don Lope de Estúñiga, Don Pedro de Nava, Don Gómez de Villacorta, Don Diego de Benavides, Don Lope de Aller) embarked on a joust to break 300 lances on the bridge over the rio Orbigo. Knights from all over Europe came and the tournament lasted a month (from 10 th July) during which 200 lances were broken and 68 men defeated (with only one being killed). Having decided that he was now free of his love Don Suero and his friends went to Santiago to give thanks to Saint James.  ...

Ahead of their meeting tomorrow to discuss the development of the economic situation in Europe and the state of negotiations for the European Commission German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy will be walking 5km (3 miles) of the Camino diminishing at the Cathedral. Merkel is said to be a hiker and spends many of her holidays in the Swiss Alps doing just that  and in 2013 spent time hiking in the Italian section of the mountain range whilst Rajoy, who was born in Santiago and is interrupting his summer holidays for their meeting, enjoys jogging. For this short stroll I hope that they aren't taking the Frances route in - this part has to be one of the uglyist of that route. The Finisterre route may be a better option. At least they should have nice weather for their walk!

After walking the Pilgrims' Way to Canterbury I walked the twenty miles to Dover, the start of the via frangenia to Rome and collecyed three stamps (or timbros). The first timbros if from Canterbury Cathedral where I received my passport. The second is from just on the outskirts of the city center at St Augustine's Abbey which is in the care of English Heritage.  The man on the reception desk had never stamped a passport before but was more than happy to do so. My fibal stamp comes from Dover tourist information centre and causd some confusion - I'd seen a picture on the internet of it on someone else's passport but the staff there didn't know anything about it at first,  then couldn't find it and then didn't know how to use it! Hopefully I'll be getting more timbros soon!

On my first Camino I started from St Jean, got to Logrono and then took a bus to Leon as I had very tight time constraints on when I had to arrive in Santiago. Last year me and Becky cut out 30km or so before Burgos partially because we were worried about time (which we needn't have been seeing as we had 5 days to n Santiago) and partially because we had heard that this section wasn't very nice. We wondered as we waited for the bus if we would later regret this decision but don't - the day we arrived in Santiago we met a guy we remain friends with who introduced us to the group of people who became our 'Camino family' who we would have had no chance of meeting if we had walked that 30km. One of these guys was in Santiago this year when we arrived and we were able to see him for an hour. He told us about the special certificate produced this year to celebrate the 800th anniversary of Saint Francis' pilgrimage to Santiago; without seeing him again we wouldn...

To go with the passport for the Pilgrims' Way I've been working on a certificate as well. There's space for your name, end date, how far you have walked and space for the Cathedral stamp if you should wish. This one matches the Pilgrim Passport that you'll also find on my blog. The sword and mitre are symbols of Thomas Becket

We arrived in Canterbury this morning in time for the 11 Eucharist after which we were met by Canon Clare for a special blessing - I'd asked the visits office by email before we set off as to whether Pilgrims needed to pay to enter the Cathedral and was told that they did not and was asked if we'd like a blessing on our arrival. From the Canon we also received our via Francigena credential and were pointed to this Way's starting point just outside the Cathedral so tomorrow we're setting off for Rome ..... or rather we'll walk the 20ish miles from Canterbury to Dover on the way to Rome, that Pilgrimage (of about 1200 miles) will have to wait for another time!

About 21miles left to Canterbury - hopefully will arrive on Sunday and then will set off on the 20miles to Dover on the via francigena on Monday or Tuesday

I haven't been able to find many stamps to put on ny Pilgrim passport but here are the ones I've collected so far:

I haven't been able to find many stamps to put on ny Pilgrim passport but here are the ones I've collected so far: