All about the Camino de Santiago de Compostela

This series of articles was compiled by Johnnie Walker for the Confraternity of St James and with their kind permission they are reproduced here.

Each year 100,000 people walk to Santiago de Compostela in North-west Spain. They take many routes following in the footsteps of pilgrims of the middle ages. The most famous route is the Camino Francés a journey of 778 kilometres from the border of France and Spain to Santiago de Compostela.

The Saint, the priest and the paintbrush

The Saint

St James was Zebedee’s son and brother of St John the Evangelist.

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This series of articles was compiled by Johnnie Walker for the Confraternity of St James and with their kind permission they are reproduced here

Where are you going for your holidays this year?  There are so many choices it can be hard to decide: Will you go to beach resort or on an adventure holiday? To somewhere in the UK or abroad?

Many people decide to make a different kind of journey. They decide to separate themselves a little from their day to day world to travel to a destination with special spiritual significance. We call them pilgrims.

Photo by Gareth Thomas

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The Telegraph has an article today on the recent bed bug problems that we have been talking about in the forum for some time now.

Convents and hostels along the route to the north-western Spanish city of Santiago de Compostela have become infested by bedbugs, spread by the more than 100,000 pilgrims who travel to the shrine of St James every year.

The insects, which bury themselves deep inside mattresses and pillows in the pilgrims’ quarters, are causing untold numbers of travellers to have sleepless nights and are responsible for many falling ill on the way.

It seems like this now has become more known around the world, and hopefully this can be stopped before the camino gets a bad reputation.

More in the Telegraph here and we have a long thread in the forum on this topic as well.

Many prospective pilgrims wonder “how much does a pilgrimage cost?”.

This is of course depending on may things, but in the Camino Wiki we have some general rules on what the costs would be.

Have a look here to get an idea.

Photo from La Voz de Galicia

TV news broadcasts has been warning for the last few days now. Fishermen on the Finisterre coast are told to stay at harbour and pilgrims need to get their ponchos out.

Have a look at the lates weather report, or take a look at some weather related information from the wiki.

So you have bought your plane ticket, you have a few days left until you leave and you are finetuning your backpack. And the the doubt comes in “Have I forgotten anything?”.

Have a look at what other pilgrims suggests as a pack list in our Camino Wiki.

There inevitably will be a clash of opinions about what to take on the pilgrimage.  Remember — you will be carrying these things on your back for 30+ days.  Think carefully about every item that you carry.  Many supplies can be purchased en route if needed;  particularly, the pharmacies along the camino specialize in foot care products and advice.