November, 2001 pilgrims

[Rosina Lila]

Hello you all,
    The Santiago Archdiocese reports that 865 pilgrims received the
Compostela in November, 2001, (up from 688 in November 2000).
    572 of the pilgrims were males and 293 were females. 773 walked, 90 rode
bicycles and 2 rode horses.
    Religious reasons for the pilgrimage were cited by 92% of the pilgrims,
while the others declared cultural and educational motives.
    Almost half of the pilgrims, (49%), were from Spain and the rest came
from other countries:  109 from France, 53 from Canada, 39 from Germany, 32
from the United States, 29 from Brasil, 25 from Italy, 20 from Austria, 19
from Switzerland, 17 from Belgium, and the rest from Mexico, Argentina,
Holland, Ireland, the UK and the Northern Countries.
    The starting point of the pilgrimage was St. Jean's for 164, Roncesvalles
for 123, Sarria for 85, LePuy for 58, Cebreiro for 51, Leon for 49,
Ponferrada for 37, Pamplona for 36, Fernal for 26, various cities inside of
France for 25, and for the rest several and varied points, all more than 100
kms. away for the walkers and 200 kms away for the cyclists and horse riders.
    The French Way was followed by 91.5% of the pilgrims; 3% followed the
English Way, 2.5% the Portuguese Way, 2% the Silver Way and 1% the Northern
Way.
    Professionals composed 18% of the pilgrims, students 15%, retired persons
10%, manual workers 10%, office workers 9% and the rest represented 17
different occupations and classifications including writers, teachers,
artists, housewives and honeymooners (!).
    Can someone in this list elaborate on the route followed by the English
Way?

(As an aside, last year, while stopping at Roncesvalles from St. Jean's, I
accidentally attended a wedding celebrated there. The bride was a
Latin-American woman and the groom was a European; they had been living
together for a few years but felt the need to be properly married before
starting out on their pilgrimage.  The wedding was celebrated before the
pilgrim's blessing; the bride and groom were dressed in their pilgrims' garb
and we gathered flowers from the fields outside for her bouquet.  It was
very, very touching and beautiful. The seven priests that sing at the
blessing also sang at the wedding some chants in Latin, and afterwards
partook with the rest of us in toasting the happy couple who couldn't stop
crying and smiling at the same time ... both of them.... Looking at the
pictures of that day I feel like smile-crying myself).
    Well, warm and Christmasy regards.
Rosina