The Confraternity of Saint James London

Me and Becky visited the Confraternity of Saint James in London recently - it's open every Thursday 11:00 -3:30 (although not over Easter) and is at the back of Christ Church on 27 Blackfriars Road, 300 yards south of Blackfriar's Bridge. The nearest Tube station is Southwark on the Jubilee line - you can find a map and more about their opening times on their website (www.csj.org.uk/ ).

Christ Church - to get to the Confraternity you want to face the Church from the road and go around the Right Hand side

The Confraternity's door - you ring the bell to the left (see below)

The bell - great sign!!

Me and Becky inside - we spent about an hour and a half talking to the volunteers here and a few others who had recently gone on Camino. It doesn't matter how often you tell other people about the Camino nothing beats being able to talk to people who have actually walked the Camino, we had a great time. Becky said that she felt weird posing for a Camino picture without a hat on and so was lent one!

Guide and other books that the Confraternity has available to buy

They also have a large library of books - only members of the Confraternity can borrow these

The Confraternity's secretary hard at work

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The Camino Primitivo

The Camino Primitivo (or the Original Way) is reportedly the very first Camino Way to Santiago in the 9 th century when most of Spain was under the control of the Moors and it runs from near the city of Ovideo in Asturias as it starts in Villavicosa (which also lies on the Camino Norte so many people follow this Way from Basque city of San Sebastian (Donosti in Basque) or in from the French border at Irun ( this route then hugs the Bay of Biscay passing through Guernica, Bilbao, Santander, Llanes before going under the Picos de Europa and then heads along the coast to Ovideo) before branching off onto the Primitivo which goes across the mountains and through the city of Lugo before joining the Frances at Melide. The route is 320km long. Image taken from https://viaalpina2013.wordpress.com/2013/04/14/camino-del-norte-camino-primitivo/

Symbols of the three main Christian Pilgrimages

The symbol of the Pilgrim to Santiago is the Scallop shell of which many can be found on the coast of Galicia and it is actually a symbol of the Pilgrimage (and has become a symbol of other Christian Pilgrimages too) partly because you could find the shell easily there and so could go back home and show it off as proof that you had done the Pilgrimage. It has also been included in carvings in some Churches.

Pilgrims' Trail to Saint Michels Mont, France

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...

On the Camino

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