Camino Ingles - Santiago

We had two days and two half days in Santiago before our flight on the 10th and we did all of the usual things: we attended Mass and bought souvenirs and gifts, we had our first (and somehow only) chocolade and churros of this Camino and we went into the square and sat there as people arrived, slightly envious of them but mainly joining in their joy at their arrival.

All Caminos are special - all are different not just because of the route we walk but the people we meet and the people we walk with and here I was, as always, blessed to have my wonderful and strong Dad walk beside me always there for me as I know he always has been in my life and will continue to be.

I wondered as I walked this time why it is that I keep returning, this is my ninth Camino after all, and the truth is that there are a variety of reasons. My Christian faith is undoubtedly at the top of these, I do not believe that it is necessary for me as a Christian to walk but I find that it gives me time to time and to be with God away from the bustle of everyday life so for me it is a valuable part of life.

Time with my family is another reason: me and Becky have a lot of laughs as we walk and have made so many wonderful memories as have I with Dad and Mum.

While I was unemployed it definitely gave me a confidence boast (as it does now) to know that I could walk this distance, that I could talk to people and make friends on Camino.

The simple joy of walking is another reason - I have always loved to walk but never did any long distance walks before the Camino, had never considered doing any others until the end of that first Camino.

The simplicity of the Camino is appealing too - carrying everything that you need, finding places to eat and sleep as you go and the freedom of it all is very good.

There are other reasons that I walk too I am sure, reasons that I have not worked out myself yet all that I know is that I enjoy is for all of the blisters and troubles of the Way and that I am already planning next year's walk.

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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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