I am not sure when or indeed how the idea to walk this iconic pilgrimage to the Shrine of St James at Santiago de Compostella in Spain happened. It seems to be a big part of my thinking over the past year. It was very early on my renewed life of pilgrimage and over the months it has come to dominate my thoughts. I write this in the final stages of preparation as in two days I will walk out of my front door to begin this journey.
For those of you who want to find out more about the background of this pilgrimage I would recommend the Confraternity of St James.
My orginal plan was to walk from my home in Gateshead. This would mean walking the length of England the length of France and then across Spain. I knocked the English bit on the head because of the cost of accommodation as I couldn’t afford to pay for B & Bs and hotels and I wasn’t quite ready to wild camp. My next plan was to walk from Jersey, (my birthplace) and visit Mont Saint Michel on the way. Pilgrimage is much more accepted in France and Spain and there are plenty of cheap places to stay for pilgrims. Once I calculated the distance I would have had to walk 25km a day for at least 78 days. I decided that was going to put me under too much time pressure with the 90 days visa free travel limit in the EU. SO I have ended up with the route called the Camino Frances. I will be walking from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port in France to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. A distance of approx 800km or 500 miles.