The Naked Pilgrim rolls on

[William Marques]

On Wed, 9 Jul 2003 Crawley, Jeffrey wrote:
>I shall be away on a family holiday for the next two weeks but will record
(I hope) the programmes, perhaps some other viewer might like to take up
the tale in the meantime?

>Episode 3 Poitiers to Lourdes
At Poitiers Brian's first Romanesque Cathedral on the route and a
meeting with a CSJ cycling pilgrim. He is knocked out by the interior if
less than impressed by the exterior. The pilgrim tells a moving story which
seems to get to Brian.
I can't remember if it is Poitiers or Bordeaux that when seeing a  relic
whose identity has been lost in the mists of time he poses the
question, "If we don't know whose relic it is can a prayer through it have
any use?". Perhaps another view on the same question is if a relic is not
that of the Saint it is supposed to be will it still be worth venerating?
An archway between Poitiers and Bordeaux annoys him, the guide books talk
of ancient pilgrimg graffiti of upturned horseshoes. He is convinced these
are a comparatively recent scar on a beautiful piece of arctitecture.
Bordeaux he passes through and points out the it would have been a landing
place for English pilgrims who were a return cargo for the boats shipping
wine from Bordeaux when it was still under English rule in the Middle Ages.
A somewhat curious introduction to concept of the sello and credencial at a
Bordeaux vineyard where he has his British passport stamped with the sello.
On via a detour to Lourdes where he starts off in his most deeply cynical
manner but seems by the end to have seen something beneath the
tourist tat.
This will not be an uncritical view of the camino.
William


>
>
>