Pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela

[sillydoll]

Ok - so this is not really a Santiago camino topic, but I thought I would let you know that I have only got 5 more sleeps to go! On Wednesday next week I leave with four friends to start a 700km, 30 day pilgrimage to Rome.
We will start on Lake Geneva, walk over the Alps at the Grand St Bernard Pass (where the famous dogs are) and then onto Roma!
I have stitched my shell onto my backpack - as well as the crossed keys which is the Rome symbol - and am packed and ready to go!
If you would like to follow our journey, we have a BLOG at http://vfpilgrims.blogspot.com

Here begins the Journey
Now begins the Day.
With one step upon the Road
Our Souls are on the Way.


Sil

[ivar]

Buen camini Sil! Enjoy! I visited Rome a few weeks ago and it was great.

Careful with the heat (... it's the Norwegian talking about the heat again... )



Ivar

[Deborah]

Oh my Gosh, Sil! This is wonderful news!
Please take good notes ::grin:: because I'm sure many of us will want to follow in your footsteps some day!

Be safe and have fun!
Deborah

[Magnara]

Dear Sil
Please let us know how you go along the way. You have been such an inspiration to so many people, you will have a wave of good wishes travelling with you, including mine.
Magnara

[sillydoll]

Thank you for your good wishes. The Via Francigena was named the 2nd Cultural Itinerary (the Camino de Santiago was the 1st) by the EU Clutural Routes. It was only recognized in 1996 and those walking it are considered to be pioneers. There are no guide books in English and infrequent way marking so we are anticipating getting lost from time to time! But, as they say, all roads lead to Rome so we should get there eventually!
Will let you guys know how it goes.
Buen camino to all embarking on the Way to St James.

[ksam]

'Scuse me for a sec while I catch my breath!! WOW! Lady you really are amazing...and thank you in advance for the blog address...I am anxiously awaiting the updates and pictures (hopefully, I never did figure out how to do that away from home!) Will be thinking of you each morning and praying for you!

Buen Camino!!
Karin

PS....what kind of signage do you follow for this route?? or to rephrase it...what color arrows!!

[Deirdre]

Wow, Sil,
That is an adventure! Best wishes, hope you have fair weather, great food (which of course, you will in Italy!) and fine wine...even though you don't drink it!

I leave for Spain on Friday and am as yet unsure what the Camino has planned for me this year... but I know it is something! Will look forward to the blog.
Buen Camino,

[Red Kite]

Amazing, amazing, amazing.

What a trip and how I envy you. I hope you're going to write the guide book for us to follow in your footsteps!!!

Anyone fancy tackling the route to Jerusalem?

[sillydoll]

Hey you guys - that was two years ago that I walked the VF!!

Karin picked up on an old post - dated June 2006. Wish I was going now. Much has changed - the last Prime Minister (Prodi) had over 1500 markers installed: two guide books have been written in English covering Canterbury to Gr St Bernard and from Gr St Bernard to Roma;
My 'credential' was number 424 and the numbers are now close to 900. So, if you want to walk a solitary, uncrowded pilgrimage, consider the VF before it gets too busy!
Thanks for the encouragement though.

William is the owner of the VF Yahoo Group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/via-francigena/

And I am busy updating my VF Blog at http://vfpilgrims.blogspot.com/

[Deirdre]

Ha! Guess we should look at the dates of the original post! It did seem surprising that it appeared so suddenly - with no previous mention.... June (as opposed to April) Fools!

[ksam]

Mea Culpa Mea Culpa Mea Maxima Culpa!!! (Damn Latin classes do come in handy every once in a while!!) Guess I just saw the DAY date and ignored the little technical thing like year!! can you say wishful thinking!!! Post Camino Stress Disorder!! Sorry gang...got everyone excited...including myself!! Bummer....

Karin the apparently Konfused!

[William Marques]

You don't have to walk all the way from Canterbury to Rome but Ann is at the moment (in fact she started in London). If you want to follow her her blog is http://www.walk2rome.me.uk/

As Silvia has said the Via is still a quiet pilgrimage my wife and I were pilgrims 729 and 730 when we reached Rome last year. That is not since the start of the year it is since they started recording walking pilgrims properly again in 2002 or so. You would have reached that many on the Camino by early March in one year.

It is not a cheap pilgrimage though at a rough estimate of 2.5 euro per km it is about two and a half time more than the Camino because there are many places still where there is no monastery, parish or refugio accommodation.

Buen Romeria

William

[lckgj]

Oh heck William...

Thanks to you I have spent the last few hours reading Anns blog of her journey from Santiago to Rome and now will be following avidly her progress from Canterbury. I say "heck" because I can feel that that germ of interest has the potential to turn into a camino-like obession and I really dont have the time, energy or holiday allowance to start another epic journey just yet!

Time to start learning Italian maybe?

I really enjoyed reading Anns blog, her writing style is very readable, entertaining and informative.
I wish her every success in her present journey.

Laura