In 2018, after several years of project assignments at various international locations, I decided to take a break and embark on a challenge to mimic the pilgrimage in northwestern Spain that started at the time when the remains of St. James were discovered in 812 AD. St. James, one of the twelve apostles, was martyred by beheading in Jerusalem in 44 AD. His remains are said to have been shipped by his disciples to the Iberian peninsula but said to have been washed ashore after a heavy storm covered with scallop shells (now a known symbol for St James) .
The small chapel was built over the tomb of St James and has evolved over many centuries to a Romanesque style structure now called St. James Cathedral at Compostela in Northwestern Spain. The pilgrimage way to St. James Cathedral is called the “Camino de Santiago de Compostela”. It consists of several possible routes, naming a few, such as the CAMINO FRANCES (~780 km) or “French Way”, starting from St Jean Pied de Port in France; the CAMINO PORTUGUES (~600 km) starting from a cathedral in Lisbon, Portugal; or, the CAMINO DEL NORTE (~830 km) or the “Northern Way” starting from the Basque countryside border of France in San Sebastian.
My challenge on my first Camino is to traverse the last 111 km of the CAMINO FRANCES and this blog is to narrate the daily experiences I encountered during this adventure, from the most recent to the oldest.
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