Almost time …

In just 10 days’ time, I will be setting off on an adventure.

I’ve described this to many as a long walk across northern Spain, where I am aiming* to cover about 500 km in 3 weeks, and that I’m embarking upon this particular challenge as part of celebrating my 50th birthday this year, all of which is true.

But my journey is principally one of pilgrimage, described by some as “a journey, with God, in search of God”. I’ll try to explain something of this, as I discover for myself what it means to become a peregrino (pilgrim) on the Camino de Santiago.

As I take my own steps along about two thirds of the Camino Frances (French Way), the most travelled of the many Caminos de Santiago, I will be following in the footsteps of many pilgrims and other travellers who, since the Middle Ages, have taken this path to Santiago de Compostela. In the last year, over 400,000 people have travelled at least the final 100 km having followed one or other of the different caminos across Spain and Portugal, each of which lead to Santiago.

A very reasonable question is why am I (and all the other peregrinos) walking to this particular city in the northwest corner of Spain?

Santiago is where (some of) the bones of St James (or Sant Iago in Spanish) are said to be buried. This St James was one of Jesus’ 12 original disciples, who was called alongside his brother John to leave their Dad’s business as fishermen to work instead with Jesus. You can read about him in Mark 1v19-20 and elsewhere in the New Testament.

After being lost for centuries, the legend is that St James’s bones were re-discovered in the 9th century in a field (Latin: campus) under a bright shining star (Latin: stella), in the place now known as Santiago de Compostela, to which pilgrims have travelled across Europe since about the 12th century.

And you are most welcome to join me on the Way of St James. I’m planning to post regularly on this platform, which will also show my progress across Spain on the map which appears towards the top of the page.

[Fn * : In the interests of full disclosure, the actual distance may end up being less than 500km and may not always involve walking.]もっと詳しく