Camino Portuguese Day 1 - England to Santiago, Monday 11th September

Today was a day of traveling starting from home and arriving in Santiago - the flights used to be early in the morning which left enough time to travel onwards but now that flights are later in the day arriving at Santiago was as far as we could get today.

We got up at 5:45 and then it was the long drive down to London.

At the airport we had just enough time to run to Boots and buy some sandwiches before we went to get our flight.

Having landed in Santiago we caught the bus to the city and then went to our hotel - it was the same one that me and Becky staying in before our Camino in 2016 and was as comfortable as we remembered.

We didn't want to go into the old part of town before we had walked there and so instead headed to a supermarket to buy some bread, cheese, ham and gluten free corn cakes for the next day. After a quick drink at a near-by bar we headed back to our room to eat our sarnies and then got an early night.

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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.

Camino Mascot

Those who have walked the Camino will probably have seen one or more of the Camino mascots along the Way but do you know their names? http://m.elcorreogallego.es/xacobeo/ecg/xubi-jubila-pelegrin-mascota-xacobea/idEdicion-2010-06-08/idNoticia-555962/

On the Camino

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