Camino Ingles in England

The Xacobeo and the Saint James' way authorities recognise that part of a Camino lies in Britain.

The section is question is part of the Camino Ingles (or 'English Way') as Pilgrims going to Santiago from Northern Europe and Scandinavia would arrive by ship close to Durham and would then travel to Finchale Priory to learn from Saint Godric about this route. This is a distance of only 7 kilometres but there seems to be work going on to have this section receive greater recognition including a Facebook group Finchale Durham, a pilgrimage way ( https://en-gb.facebook.com/Finchale-Durham-a-pilgrimage-way-863020770492413/ and a blog The British way to Santiago begins in England!! (https://britishwayblog.wordpress.com/2017/01/12/st-johns-school-bishop-auckland-february-2nd/)

Camino Pilgrim Walk – Finchale Abbey to Durham Cathedral

Finchale abbey (from https://www.durhamcathedral.co.uk/whatson/camino-finchale-durham)

English Heritage (http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/finchale-priory/) describes the 13th century Priory at Finchale (Durham, DH1 5SH) as 'On the banks of the River Wear, in a beautiful wooded setting, stand the extensive remains of Finchale Priory. It was founded in 1196 on the site of the hermitage of St Godric, a retired sailor and merchant, who settled here after a life of adventure and travel. The priory was an outpost of Durham Cathedral and functioned as a holiday retreat for the monks of Durham until its suppression in 1538.'

The Priory is free to visit and is open 10am-5pm daily from April to October and from October to March from 10am-4pm. There is a car park that charges on the site.

to read more about the Camino Ingles as well as my own Pilgrimage on this route in 2015 look at http://footprintsonthecamino.blogspot.co.uk/search?q=camino+Ingles

Route Map of Camino Inglés, Spain

Image taken from http://www.pilgrimagetraveler.com/camino-ingles.html

Comments

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

Search This Blog