<HTML><FONT FACE=arial,helvetica><FONT SIZE=3 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" FACE="Lucida Sans Unicode" LANG="0"> Hello you all,<BR>
10,031 pilgrims received the Compostela last month in Santiago, that is 2,209 more than during September of last year.<BR>
About 41% of the pilgrims were women and the rest were men. 7,940 walked, 2,047 bicycled, 43 rode horses and one pilgrim made the pilgrimage entirely on a wheelchair.<BR>
Almost 13% of the pilgrims, 1,290, started out in Sarria, 1,196 in Saint Jean Pied de Port, 1,018 in Roncesvalles, 875 in Leon, 776 in O Cebreiro (including me!), 716 in Ponferrada, 678 in Astorga, and the rest, variously, in Pamplona, Villafranca, Burgos, Le Puy and other sites.<BR>
More than 90% of the pilgrims, 9,030, followed the French Way; 422 the Portuguese Way, 366 the Northern Way, 189 the Silver Way and 24 the English Way.<BR>
9,350 of the pilgrims stated a religious motive for the pilgrimage and 681 declared an educational/cultural reason.<BR>
Almost 56% of the pilgrims were from Spain itself. The largest number of foreign pilgrims came from Germany, 1,143, followed by 632 from France, 415 from Italy, 267 from Portugal, 207 from the United Kingdom, 204 from the USA, 190 from Austria, and 1,404, in various numbers, from 51 other countries, bringing the number of foreign countries represented to 58.<BR>
1,136 pilgrims were over sixty years old, 5,598 were between thirty and sixty years of age, 3,284 were under thirty years old and 13 declined to reveal their age.<BR>
Among the pilgrims there were 532 teachers, 606 managers, 669 blue collar workers, 1,373 professionals and white collar workers, 1,616 technology workers and technicians and 2,112 students. <BR>
Again, the above numbers do not represent all pilgrims, not nearly, but only those that requested and received the Compostela.<BR>
<BR>
Warm regards,<BR>
Rosina <BR>
</FONT></HTML>