The Aussies Are Coming!

[Mr Bernard Milford]

I thought the idea of doing the Camino was a bit different and so did
the 5 family and friends that I have convinced to come along with me in
May next year.  I notice from the Archdiocesan site that up to 1999
only about 170 people have got the Compostelana from "Oceania", which I
suppose is mostly us (Australia) and New Zealand.  Which means it's not
really well known here.  But the following article appeared in the
Qantas inflight magazine this month - along with some quite stunning
pictures.  Does this mean that there'll be a flood of Aussies on the
walk in the next few years?  Can't wait to see

Bernard


(Leanne Walker, QANTAS The Australian Way, No93, March 2001)


Throughout the year, especially in the warmer, longer days of summer,
people from around the globe take part in a famous Spanish journey, one
made by millions of pilgrims over the pas millennium.

Camino de Santiago, known as the Pilgrims’ Way was created after the
discovery of the tomb of St James the Apostle in Santiago de Compostela
in 813.  Bishop Godescalo was the first to make the pilgrimage in 950,
walking with a group of French pilgrims.  By the 11th century, streams
of pilgrims were descending on Santiago and priories and hospitals were
founded along the 750-kilometre route to offer hospitality.  From
France, the Pilgrims’ Way follows walking trails, farm tracks and roads
across northern Spain, weaving through the sweeping wheat plains of
Navarra province, the vineyards and wine of La Rioja, the ancient
castles of Castilla y Leon, and finally to the verdant hills of
Galicia, still bathed in magic and myth.  From the French border town
of St-Jean-Pied-De-Port, pilgrims make their way down from the Pyrenees
through woodland glades and small villages, into the 2000-year old city
of Pamplona.  After crossing the famous mediaeval pilgrims’ bridge of
Puente de la Reina, a masterpiece of graceful arches reflected in the
limpid pools below, it’s back into the Navarra and La Rioja
countryside, washed in sunlight like a half-finished Van Gogh canvas.

The Pilgrims’ Way is a totally existential experience.  Days merge into
weeks of following the familiar yellow arrows and scallop-shell signs
that point the way.  Wake and eat, walk and rest, walk some more, then
seek shelter in the refuges along the way.  This is travel in its
purest form, with each foot placed one before the other with all one’s
needs carried in a backpack.

For 390 kilometres, the Camino is in the province of Castilla y Leon –
a sliver of earth that cuts endlessly through the plains of wheat
fields, with little shade and a relentlessly beating sun, broken only
by the great cities of Burgos, Leon, Astorga and Sahagun.  This is the
road-weary pilgrim’s greatest mental and physical challenge to date.

Walking through rural Galicia in the latter stages of the Camino, one
could be traversing any century since mediaeval times.  In the
surrounding fields, men and women still use long scythes for the
harvest.

Pilgrim numbers grow by the thousands after climbing to O Cebreiro, a
tiny wind-battered settlement of thatched stone houses high above a
patchwork of lush valleys, as it is only obligatory of pilgrims to walk
the last 100 kilometres to receive their certificate (compostela) of
pilgrimage.  Beds become harder to come by and a place on the floor of
the last few refuges is a daily objective for many.

With the end in sight, the realisation can bring feelings of excitement
and sadness.  Finally, after weeks of living and breathing the Camino,
you climb that last hill of Monto Gozo, and with tears in your eyes
catch sight of the ultimate goal – the Catedral de Santiago with its
spires shining in the sunlight, like a prize waiting to be claimed.