Gorseinon cycle path again. Orchids out this time of year - very similar to one that @VNwalking posted yesterday! And honeysuckle - scent so strong that I could smell it 30 seconds before seeing it.
I think you may be confusing credencial, Compostela, and other certificates. The credencial is the "pilgrim passport" on which you receive stamps along your journey and which gives access to pilgrim albergues. The Compostela certificate is only issued on arrival in Santiago if you meet the...
On the main Caminos mobile phone coverage is very good and you will very rarely be out of signal range between towns and villages. Even on the Via de la Plata dead zones were extremely rare. Even so I usually have my phone in airplane mode and with GPS disabled to save power but have my camera...
The cycle path is built on the track bed of a former railway line built to carry coal from local mines. It runs over boggy ground which must have been a challenge for the builders. In parts there are pools of standing water at the side of the path. One of them almost completely covered with...
It does seem a tad extravagant. Shortly before Covid shut down international travel I made a trip from the UK to Japan and Australia. I walked a couple of the Kumano Kodo routes plus a couple of days of unfinished business on the Shikoku 88 temple circuit. Then a few days of sightseeing by train...
There is a very upmarket version available. Costs about 19,000 euro per person for a twin room but you can have a single room for an extra 3,000 euro.
https://www.captainschoice.co.uk/journeys/the-crux-of-the-camino
The legend of how Venice acquired St Mark to replace the far less significant Theodore as their principal patron saint is bizarre but a great example of the value of relics in the period...
Same as my first and second ones. The new version in use since about 2014 has a different design and the additional text about distances, bikes and horses.
There are specific rules for receiving a Compostela. Personally I disagree with those rules but it is within the rights of the cathedral to decide them. I think anyone who claims a Compostela should be honest and abide by those rules. I no longer ask for one. But there is a difference between...
I am constantly surprised that so many of those who want one have never actually read what it says or paused to consider the meaning. I would not want my name printed on a document which I had never read.
I doubt it. It puts the minimum qualifying distance for a Compostela on any recognised route firmly within Galicia. The minimum distance rule was linked to the massive official promotion of the 1993 Holy Year which saw the first purpose-built chain of albergues. The Xunta saw the potential of...
Santiago is probably the only major Christian pilgrimage destination where any fuss is made about how pilgrims got there. I think the decision in the 1990s to introduce a 100km minimum walking distance for the Compostela was a mistake - mainly because it moves the essence of the definition of a...
Netflix Brazil are planning to make a film version of Paulo Coelho's book "The Pilgrimage". I've started reading the book several times and never managed more than a few pages before giving up. I wonder if a film version will be more appealing...
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