[Gocamino] Fwd: A Traveler's Highway to Heaven

[Sil]

Grant, I honesttly feel that William Bonville needs to find a copy editor
who knows the ins and outs of the camino.  Some of his information is
misleading to say the least.

1) People in rental cars who sleep over at Burgette can drive to
Roncesvalles in the morning in order to get their pilgrim passport and
attend the pilgrims mass for a blessing.
If so, you may wish to put up overnight in Burguete, just below
Roncesvalles, convenient so that you may attend the pilgrims' early morning
Mass at the Royal Collegiate Church and obtain both your passport and the
priest's blessing as you embark upon your journey.

2) They can walk the 1km (?) to the Ibaneta Pass to get a feeling for the
walking pilgrimage.
3) They must get stamps in their passport at all the monuments and shrines
visited along the way and keep a log of all mileage walked while sightseeing
in and out of towns as this record will satisfy the 'churchmen' in Santiago
that they have walked 100km.
5) They can present this record of their mileage walked and the passport in
order to earn the "cockle shell badge and the Compostellana."

 As for the hundred kilometers afoot, the walks we describe following the
Way through the towns, villages and cities along the Camino qualify for much
of it. Keep notes on the kilometers you walk and where, add selected walks
such as from the pass down to Roncesvalles where you begin the pilgrimage in
the Pyrenees, or from the Mount of Joy to the cathedral of Santiago at the
end. Those notes, plus your stamped pilgrim's "passport," will be proof
enough for the churchmen.

Finally, at Santiago de Compostela, with the last stamp in place, the
Cathedral Secretariat awards the badge of the cockle shell (most call it a
scallop shell) and the certificate- the Compostellana -that announce to one
and all the pilgrim's achievement of special favor in the eyes of St. James.

4)  Has he not heard of the CSJ or the American Pilgrims? And, has anyone
ever heard of the guide books he recommends? (No Brierley or Alison Raju or
CSJ guides?)

For pilgrims, best current practical information may be obtained by
contacting the Asociacion de Amigos de los Caminos, Calle Carretas 14, 28012
Madrid, Spain.

Should you desire to walk or go by horseback or trail bike along the ancient
pilgrimage trail, there is but a single source that provides anything like
reliable instructions. It is *The Pilgrim Route to Compostela, *written
originally by Abbé Georgés Bernés for the Editiones Randonnés Pyrénéennes.

This all makes me think that if his research on practical pilgrimage is
lacking, what is the rest of the book like?








hotmail.com>
Date: 3 Dec 2007 18:53
Subject: [Gocamino] A Traveler's Highway to Heaven
To: GoCamino OakApple <gocamino at oakapple.net>, SaintJames Yahoo <
saintjames at yahoogroups.com>


For years, there has been a single book illuminating the art, architecture,
history and culture along the Camino Frances. The Pilgrimage Road to
Santiago: The Complete Cultural Handbook by David Gitlitz & Linda Kay
Davidson stood for years as the sole beacon but now we can add a second.
Meet William Bonville and his latest work, A Traveler's Highway to Heaven:
Exploring the History and Culture of Northern Spain.

William and I had pinged a few emails back and forth until we finally spoke
this past Saturday. His work is a shot in the arm for the Camimophiles
everywhere. He brings us an interpretive monologue of the art, architecture,
history and culture along the Way of Saint James. Not a tour guide, but a
thinking man's impressions of the scene that lies before you. It also
includes a number of landmarks just a few kilometers off the main Path. At
400 pages, it's not exactly light, but the type is large enough to read
inside a dimly lit church. On my first Camino I had decided to not take the
Gitlitz and Davis book because of the weight. Then, leaving El Burgo Ranero
there it was, waiting for me on a park bench. "That's my book!", I
exclaimed, and schlepped it the rest of the Way to Santiago. Two things
which made that a richer Road experience were the cultural guidebook and my
conversations with the locals. This book is in that same league, and yes I
would carry it in spite of it's weight.

We have an introductory piece from the book available for preview at:
http://elcaminosantiago.com/PDF/A_Travelers_Highway_to_Heaven_Intro.pdf

The book is now listed on our Camino Books page as well:
http://groups.msn.com/ElCaminoSantiago/caminobooks.msnw

Buen Camino,

Grant

Grant Spangler
GASpangler at hotmail.com
http://groups.msn.com/ElCaminoSantiago
http://community.webshots.com/user/ElCaminoSantiago

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-- 
Sil