Our Camino Story
Cathedral at Santiago
In travel as in life, living with a purpose has always been important to us. We have travelled across Europe, Africa and North America and have always enjoyed the journeys that had the most purpose and focus. Be it to visit the story of Nelson Mandela and standing in his cell on Robben Island South Africa, or standing on the tee at the Bears Paw, a Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf Course, on the West Coast of Florida, we are most inspired when part of a purposeful journey. This is why against the current trend in many cases, we plan our journeys and research in detail prior to arrival. If possible we prefer to travel with a theme, and this brings us to the Camino Story.
During lock down we watched a film called the The Way , a great film with an all star cast, including Martin Sheen. It is a powerful story of loss and pilgrimage. I won’t disclose the story and spoil what we feel would be a great watch for you and yours , but it takes place on the Camino Frances. Camino means The Way and so this route is the French Way. We were enthralled by this film and both immediately identified a theme for our next tour. A Camino Theme.
The Camino Frances is a 790km walk from St Jean Pied de Port in Southern France and the most post popular pilgrim route to Santiago de Compostela in North West Spain, it is not however, the only route as we soon found. The Pilgrim routes feed into the city of Santiago de Compostela from all over Europe , but we were particularly interested the most popular routes.
Camino Frances
Camino Portugués
Camino Norde
These are ancient routes and have existed for over 1000 years dating back to the 9th Century and the time of King Alfonso II of Asturias. The remains of St James the Apostle were first discovered in Northern Spain and it is believed that St James preached the Gospel in present day Galicia and on return to Jerusalem he was beheaded by King Herod Agrippa in 44AD. His followers are said to have transported his remains to Northern Galicia where they lay undiscovered until 813. The discovery of his remains in the 9th Century led to the creation of a religious shrine which marks the beginning of Santiago de Compostela and the Camino de Santiago Pilgrim trail.
Main traditional routes to Santiago de Compostela
Not being historians nor theologians, we will tell the stories as told by the people on the ground and accept it at face value on that basis. Our purpose was to immerse ourselves in something special and identify a purpose for our travel. We set off to mirror the main Camino routes across France, Portugal and Spain. This is our Camino Story.
The Camino Frances
After plotting a route down the west coast of France from Calais, we arrived at St Jean Pied de Port, a 12th Century town that stands at the gateway to the Camino Frances. Pilgrims register at the office and collect a Camino passport which must be stamped during each day at certain points along the 790km walk to Santiago de Compostela. Production of the Passport correctly stamped at the Camino Office in Santiago de Compostela entitles all Pilgrims (all walkers/cyclists are called Pilgrims) to an official completion certificate. There are upwards of 350,000 pilgrims, identifiable by a Camino shell hanging from their packs, who walk the routes to the Camino Office in Santiago de Compostela each year. However there is a caveat , it is not necessary to walk 790kms to obtain a certificate, additionally routes can be cycled and there is a certificate qualifying distance of 100 kms for walkers and 200 kms for cyclists.
We walked sections of the Camino in the following locations on the Camino Frances before arriving in Santiago de Compostela
Saint Jean Pied de Port
Roncesvalles
Pamplona
Potes
Riano
Sahagun
Leon
Astorga
Ponferrada
The map below shows the route travelling to Santiago de Compostela from St jean Pied de Port and beyond. The stages beyond Santiago de Compostela are optional additional stages , more on this latter in the blog.
Our image galleries are here https://www.behance.net/mscoth/projects
Leon Cathedral
Camino Portugués
The Camino Portugués was the route taken mostly by pilgrims from all over Portugal on their way to Santiago de Compostela. This route was followed by Queen Isabel of Portugal in the 13th century, who crossed some of the most beautiful parts of northern Portugal and south Galicia on her pilgrimage.
This is a beautiful route and the Camino story is interwoven with Templar history , battles of independence from Spain and the removal of the Moors from the Iberian Peninsular. It is truly beautiful and fascinating and is a very popular route with Pilgrims starting at Porto or Lisbon.
Alminha de Santo António Ponte de Lima Portugal
We were privileged to walk sections of the Camino Portugués at the following locations
Evora
Tomar
Viseu
Ponte de Lima
We also visited Fatima , another important Pilgrim route which takes a path from Lisbon to the holy City of Fatima. There is a VLOG here covering this stop in our journey. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EA-hZml5rw
Camino Del Norte
Camino Del Norte or Northern Way is also a popular route with Pilgrims, not difficult to see why given the easy access to the coast by ferry from Portsmouth, Plymouth and Ireland. It is 803km in length and passes over some of the most amazing scenes both landscape and seascape.
We walked sections of the Camino at
Llanes
Somo
Santander
We also visited the start of the English Camino at A Coruña.
Llanes Northern Spain
Santiago de Compostela
The remains of St James Santiago de Compostela
Santiago de Compostela being the official ending and converging point of all the Camino routes, is a welcome sight for pilgrims. They have arrived here for over a 1000 years, prayed at the bones of St James, attended Mass and Confession in the Cathedral, and then made their way to the Pilgrims Office to present their passports and collect their prized certificates. Since 2000, Pilgrim numbers have increased incrementally year on year. It is a unique experience to stand outside the Cathedral and watch the emotional release visible on the faces of the Pilgrims as they arrive.
The shell is the Camino symbol.
Not quite the End
Some Pilgrims continue to the coast , firstly to Cape Finisterre which is a rock-bound peninsula on the west coast of Galicia. In Roman times it was believed to be the end of the known world.
In Latin, Finisterre means ‘end of the earth’, and many Pilgrims go and burn their clothes and shoes at the waters edge, partially a symbolic act and partly practical. The Camino eats shoes and ruins clothes. The first picture below in the series are my shoes, which were brand new and walked selected sections only. They are three months old in the picture. The other images show this beautiful place
Cape Finisterre
However this is still not the end for all and a smaller cohort of Pilgrims will continue to Muxia where the pre Romans thought the soul ascended to heaven. This is a wonderful place and possibly the most spiritual location of all. It’s a place of solitude and reflection.
Muxia Northern Spain
We are in our 33rd year together and this has been one of the best journeys so far undertaken. Some journeys stand out for their striking visual impact and some for how they make you feel , this was both and we feel blessed to have been here . It all started from watching a film. Will we be back to walk it fully , most definitely .
