Camino crafts - Make a Camino badge/patch for your bag

I was trying to think of a gift to give to Becky and Dad before we set off on Camino - I wanted something that could be taken with them which automatically means that I wanted something light. I thought that something to hang off their bags would be cool and started to wonder what it could be: something made from beads maybe? then I remembered that a site that my Guide Unit has bought badges from once or twice makes blank badges to be decorated (they suggest that it can be done with fabric pens but even after ironing to set these I wasn't sure that they would be able to withstand Galician weather!) so I ordered three.

I'm not the best sewer so I decided to keep the design simple - as few words as possible (I would have liked to write 'Camino Portugues' and the full date but thought that this would be a little too complicated) and then an arrow (in yellow of course!) and then make an attempt at the Spainish and Portuguese flags (probably simplified)

I chose the badge with the navy border so it would match the Camino-theme, no choice on central colour though!

I drew my design on first with pencil but be careful, it doesn't rub off again afterwards - after the first one I only drew very lightly for the words

I also thought about just how much sewing the arrow would involve and decided to use felt for this instead and glue this on - then I sewed around the edges to make sure it was attached and hope the felt will be strong enough to stay on

Next came the lettering - I did each in double thread to make them thicker

Looks pretty good!

Then the flags - not very even but the best that I could do (I drew rectangles on first and then tried to sew inside these, I wasn't entirely successful)

All three of the badges done - working solidly on these took me about three and a half hours to do, this isn't an easy craft but the results look pretty good

And a quick addition - my badge on my bag.

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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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