On the Camino

I've seen some Easter bunting in shops and thought that it would be cool to have some Camino-inspired bunting. The supplies for this craft are fairly easy to get and are cheap: paint sample cards (from diy shops), string (I used butcher's twine but any will do although you don't want it to be very thick), a pencil or pen, sellotape, scissors and a small bit of cardboard (any thinish stuff will do - it's only to make a stencil so food packing eg a cereal box is fine). I drew an egg shape on my cardboard and then cut this out before gathering my paint samples in blue and yellow.  Draw around your egg on the back of each sample so that your pencil/pen linyes won't be seen - I could fit two eggs on each card (I sized my egg to be able to do this) Space your eggs out on your string at wattever interval you wish (I alternated between blue and yellow eggs) and attach using sellotape on the back of each egg. My completed banner (or rather part of it...

I have been reading around and found that the hand of Saint James somehow became separated from his body and in 640 was being stored by the Bishop of Torcello of Venice and in 1072 was a part of the collection of the German Imperial chapel before being given, in 1133, to Reading Abbey’s founder by Henry I (or possibly the daughter of Henry I Matilda who was the widow of Henry V Emperor of Germany [Emperor Frederick Barbarossa did ask for the hand’s return but was politely refused and sent many gifts in return]). The hand is why the symbol of Reading Abbey had upon it three scallop shells. The hand was one of 230 relics at the Abbey and was used in healing ceremonies (and was dipped into the ‘water of Saint James’) and attracted Pilgrims from all over Europe as well as the interest of Royalty with it being taken to Henry II before he went on a difficult oversees campaign and Richard Coeur-de-Lion considering taking it with him on his crusades. In 1539 came the dissolution of the M...

I stayed here in 2009 and it was quiet and comfortable. There are some double rooms and an 'albergue' room with eight beds. No kitchen but the bar does meals 

Below is the last photo that I took on my Camino in 2013, I took it as we walked to the bus station to get the bus to the airport. We were following the shells backwards, away from the Cathedral that had been our goal for 30 days. I saw this shell covered in the petals of blossoms and I suppose that you could give that symbolic meaning (the end of our Camino or something maybe) but truly I just thought that it looked beautiful - colour in the dusk in which we walked, a last sight of a shell before we headed home.

A new albergue right at the top of the town in the Convent/monastery. I like this albergue but then me and Becky were the only people there in April 2013! Beds sectioned off into fours with lockers and nice warm showers. a large sitting area and then a dining area and kitchen as well - the kitchen was well equipped but it is a little distance to walk back down the hill (and then back up again) to the supermarkets.

Albergue a Pedra - I love this albergue. I stayed here in 2009 when I had an infected blister and was there for a week. The owner Jose took very good care of me and is a wonderful man. The albergue is in two buildings - the pictures below are from the older building. Bothe buildings have a kitchen which is well supplied with utensils etc. Most rooms have four-six beds to a room (the older part has 19). The kitchen in the new part There is also a really nice garden area at the back of the albergue now

Word clouds make a great (and quick, cheap and easy!) gift for someone and it is easy to do these on the internet using a site such as  http://www.tagxedo.com  . Others are available but I've used this one before and so thought I would use it for examples. You use the 'load' button to put on words that you want (maybe places you'll be walking through and the name/s of who will be walking/cycling/riding) then can change the shape under the options heading to be 'Camino-y' or you can load one of your own images instead. The foot is one of the standard shapes - from  http://www.tagxedo.com As is the star (this was done using the same words as for the foot and took about 30 seconds to change between the two so if more than one person is walking you can do different versions but use the same words) - from  http://www.tagxedo.com Here I found a picture of a way marker, saved it to my file and then loaded it onto the site (under 'shape' and t...

A small private albergue attached to a bar (which did quite a nice meal in the evenings). Ten beds only with a good sitting area.

There are a lot of things that you wonder about before you walk the Camino and I hope to answer a few of those things here - if I miss anything out or you want more information on anything then just ask in the comments and I will answer there or by updating this post! Where do you sleep? Most Pilgrims sleep in hostels - albergues that cost 5-15E depending on whether they are municipal, private or include breakfast. In albergues you almost always sleep in bunk beds (sometimes your bed number will be assigned to you and sometimes you can choose your own bed) and there will be 4-50 people in a room (gone are the days of the old albergue in Roncenvalles with about 200 in a room). The albergue in St Jean Pied du Port - it's fairly typical Albergues are also where you can get sellos for your Credential (Pilgrim passport) but you can also get those in bars, hotels, shops, churches and many other places too! Hotels are available on the Camino and the one time I stayed in one ...

The dormitories here felt a little overcrowded but were well ventilated. I take the fact that I can remember nothing at all about the showers as meaning that they were average. The kitchen area was good with four stoves and as many sinks and the dining area fairly large. There was a little shop nearby that was set up for Pilgrims with small amounts of most things sold. And we found somewhere selling lovely cakes as well. No picture of inside I'm afraid.

It's my dad's birthday coming up (although by the time that I post this it will have already passed) so I decided to build a cool box to put one of his gifts in and naturally I made it Camino-themed! I was lucky enough to be able to find a yellow cardboard box at Ikea but you could use a brown one and cover it with yellow paper afterwards (or paint it yellow if you prefer). You also need a craft knife and/or scissors, a ruler (I used a 15cm one as that was all that I had but a 30cm ruler would have been better), a pencil and some sellotape. The size that I made the box was dictated by the size of the gift and that of the box. The shaft end is 14cm wide and up to the point of the arrow is 25cm long and the arrow's point adds 10cm more length and sticks out 6.5cm from the shaft of the arrow and then I just connected these points with a line about 17.1cm long at an angle of about 37 degrees (I hope that that all makes sense! For anyone who only works in inches the sha...

This time last year me and Becky were walking through snow!

Our Credentials for our Portuguese Camino have arrived! They came in a very cool envelope calling Becky 'Peregrina Rebekah'. They also came with a brand new sello to start us off - that of the Peterbourgh Pilgrims. A brand new sello! The information on this credential comes in Spanish but they also included an English translation so if you have, or get, one of these credentials this is what is written on it: Necessary considerations: This credential is only for pilgrims on foot, bike or horseback, who wish to undertake a pilgrimage with Christian intention, even if it is only searching. The credential's aim is to encourage piety. therefore the issuing of it should be a Parish, Confraternity or Amigos association  etc. The Credential does not accrue any pilgrim rights. It has two practical purposes: 1. To regulate access to Albergues, the Christian hospitality of the Camino 2. To be a record for the Compostela awarded by the Cathedral in Sant...

Today is a year to the day since me and Becky set off from St Jean so we had a special meal to commemorate the day. We bought two different tortillas, bread, white asparagus,  potatoes and tomato sauce to make potatas bravas, Spanish cheese, sardines, chorizo, prawns and Spanish ham. Then we ate everything using sporks. And watched 'The Way'. We both have wonderful memories of our Camino and met fantastic people. Buen Camino!!

I'm just back from London and saw a few 'Caminoy' things: Saint James' Church Piccadilly Circus Camino books in Waterstones - they had so many it ran onto another shelf! Someone with a Camino arrow bag - I didn't get a chance to wish her a 'Buen Camino' as I was queuing up for my Tube ticket Scallop shells The rest of the Camino books

When at the Confraternity of Saint James I mentioned an interest in one day walking to Rome (which is along with the Pilgrimages to Santiago and Jerusalem one of the three most important places for Christian Pilgrimage) and was told that that Saturday (the 1st of March) the Confraternity of Pilgrims to Rome was having their Practical Pilgrim day (the Confraternity of Saint James runs similar days, I have never been to one but it's worth checking their website to see if one is coming up: www.csj.org.uk/ ). The day took place in Saint James' Church on Piccadilly Circus We had a short session on the history of the Pilgrimage and a few details of walking before hearing from someone who had recently walked the route and had pictures to show us We took a break for dinner and I talked to a few people - many had already walked to Santiago The question and answer session was the most useful part of the day - I found out that you can buy good maps from the Italian ...

I've written before about the history of pilgrim badges and on a visit to the Victoria and Albert museum I found two from Santiago. This one is jet (a minor gemstone produced from decomposing wood being placed under high pressure millions of years ago. In Britain it is famously found in Whitby by the area around Santiago is also famous for it and you can still find items made from it when you visit the city) and has silver mounts and shows Saint James in his Pilgrim hat and holding his staff (Victoria and Albert Museum) This one dates from 1600-1700 and shows Saint James' head and is also made of jet (Victoria and Albert museum)