Pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela

[William Marques]

The Confaternity of St james has a new refugio on the camino del Norte. Perhaps you should start a Camino del Norte section Ivan.

Peter Robins may be able to add to this.

"Confraternity of St. James
Refugio de Peregrinos de Miraz

We’ve made it! Welcome to the Confraternity’s second refugio! Refugio de Perigrinos de Miraz is a casa rectoral in the village of Miraz on the Camino del Norte, in the province of Lugo, Galicia.

Miraz is almost halfway on a lonely 40 kilometre stretch between Baamonde and Sobrado de los Monjes, a daunting etapa that in recent years has hindered the growth and popularity of this branch of the Camino del Norte. The Refugio de Perigrinos de Miraz fills that gap nicely.

The house is now chilly and bare, but it is in reasonable condition. It is already used occasionally by passing pilgrims, who have few other shelter options in the area. It’s easy to imagine future improvements. Downstairs is a big kitchen with an old-fashioned woodstove that invites a gathering. There is a single large bathroom, a living room, a large, long dormitory room as well as four other small rooms, all joined along a central corridor. The house is about 11 metres wide by 14 metres deep.

The casa rectoral has a pleasant aspect, set slightly above the roadway; the Camino passes just outside the door. At the back is a huerta of some 600 square metres, with fruit trees and a wide gate at the bottom end that gives access to vehicles. It is suitable for camping, caravaning, horses, and other livestock. There is a small garden and one dilapidated brick outbuilding which could be suitable for conversion into bathroom, washing and storage facilities.

Miraz seems a pleasant, well-kept village in a pretty and prosperous area; The villagers clearly take an interest in it. They helped create community sports and picnic facilities and are active in the church. Miraz is a long, straggling village, really three communities strung together. The new refugio is at one end together with the church of Santiago which has a statue of a Santiago Matamoros inside.

The countryside around Miraz is dominated by the River Parga; A large quarry nearby ships an excellent pale stone all over Spain. About 6 kilometres away is the town of Parga, with its broad river, Roman bridge, and a picnic area. It has a variety of shops, facilities, small hostelries and restaurants; all are fairly modest except for a pair of big modern hotels at the crossroads. Working parties can buy necessary materials and supplies there, and find accommodation. Hospitaleros may find a bicycle useful!

Parga has very easy road access east to Lugo, or west to Santiago and La Coruña by autovia and also by good ordinary roads. There is a train halt on the Madrid – Ferrol line, and regular buses to Lugo and northern coastal towns.

An advance party went out in May to install beds, stock up with supplies and make the refugio habitable. They met some of the villagers and the local priest. The bar is almost next door to the refugio and a very good relationship has developed with Pilar the owner! The Confraternity is providing hospitaleros between June and September this year.

For further information contact Maureen Young through the Confaternity of St James"
The Confraternity would welcome support with fundraising, including supporting Ian Mackey on his marathon in Edinburgh and any
comments or suggestions.

"The Camino was generous to you…
Will you be generous to the Camino?

We’ve taken on the Refugio de Peregrinos de Miraz... A great responsibility, and an opportunity, too, to repay the gifts we received from the Camino.
The bottom line? We need to raise £100,000 to kick-start restoration and finance the initial running costs. And we need your help to get there!

We are launching this appeal to all Confraternity members. If each of our 2,000 members raised or donated £50, with the help of their friends, family and colleagues, we’d have £100,000. i.e.

2000 members x £50 = Target met

We’ve adopted the image of the gaitero, a Galician bagpiper, as the emblem of our fund-raising programme. One of our members, Ian Mackey, is taking this appeal to the streets this summer. To spearhead the campaign he is running in the Edinburgh Marathon on 12th June dressed as a gaitero.

You can sponsor Ian by donating via http://www.justgiving.com/Miraz

Some suggestions to help raise £50+ are:

> Coffee mornings
> Book sales
> Wine tastings
> BBQs
> Car boot sales
> Cake sales
> Sponsored gardening
> Car washes
> Dinner Parties
> Sponsored sporting activities: cycle rides, walks, parachute jumps...a pilgrimage, perhaps?

We look forward to hearing from you!"

Please give what you can to the Confraternity of St James.

William

[ivar]

This is great news!

In addition, I have added a new section on EL Camino del Norte. I usually like to wait until there is a post related to a "new" camino before I open a new area for it. We are still missing others, like "El Camino Ingles" and "Via de la Plata". Once we have some post that relates to those caminos, I will open new areas for them as well.

Greetings from still sunny and warm Santiago,
Ivar

[Peter Robins]

there's a photo of the church of Santiago in Miraz on the Rinconastur site http://www.rinconastur.net/camino/tramo3_5g.php

Don't know if the CSJ has realised, but if you start from Baamonde and walk via Miraz to Santiago on the Camino de la Costa/del Norte, that is more or less exactly 100km.

[Peter Robins]

Parga has very easy road access east to Lugo, or west to Santiago and La Coruña by autovia and also by good ordinary roads. There is a train halt on the Madrid – Ferrol line, and regular buses to Lugo and northern coastal towns.

don't think the bit about the train halt is quite correct. There is a halt on the line, but the train from Madrid (yes, there's only one a day - or rather night) doesn't stop there. You would have to change at Lugo and catch the little regional train that stops everywhere - 2 a day in each direction.

However, AFAICS, the Santiago-Lugo buses, which stop at Santiago airport, run along the main road so, assuming they'll let you off anywhere, you should be able to get a bus direct from Lavacolla to the crossroads and then you've only got a 10km or so hike to Miraz.

Easier to get to than Rabanal, anyway

[Peter Robins]

a couple more links:

- there's a description ('wonderful apples in the yard') and photo of the refuge on a German account http://www.st-dionysius.com/Pilgerseite ... 2003a.html
- another account of a stay in the refuge, in English, by a Dane http://www.raunsbjerg.dk/Norte_day26.htm

[pepper]

Thanks for the Mirax info. but this is not the same route as the mundi site shows. That route drops south to Lugo and onto Palais de rai. As I plan to start next month from Oviedo this worries me slightly.

[Peter Robins]

These are 2 different routes, David. 'Camino del Norte' is really a generic term for several routes to the north of the Camino Frances. The Mundicamino site and the French and German guidebooks turn inland to Oviedo and along the Camino Primitivo via Lugo. The Camino de la Costa continues along the coast and turns inland in Galicia to Mondonedo. This is the one that goes via Miraz.

See http://www.rinconastur.net/camino/rutas.php for a site that describes both. If you're starting from the centre of Oviedo, this site describes a route to link with the coastal route. If you're starting from Oviedo/Asturias airport, which is actually W of Aviles, the Camino de la Costa goes very close to this.

[Peter Robins]

Mundicamino have now changed their route guides, which may help remove confusion: their guide to what they call Camino del Norte http://www.mundicamino.com/rutas.cfm?id=37 is now the full coastal route to Ribadeo and inland via Miraz; they now have a separate guide for the Camino Primitivo (Oviedo-Lugo) http://www.mundicamino.com/rutas.cfm?id=54

[pepper]

I know which is which now as I walked Primatevo in August. Is this the toughest of trails or am I getting too old for this?
I am so obsessed with this area of Spain we are actively looking to open a b & b / refuge close to the trail North of Oviedo so if anybody has any ideas about a perfect location let us know!

[Peter Robins]

am I getting too old for this?

a Confraternity member told me an amusing story re this at one of the Practical Pilgrim sessions. He found he was getting breathless on long walks and went to see his doctor to find out what was wrong with him. The doctor replied: 'What do mean "what's wrong with me"? You're 83. What do you expect?'