THE CAMINO WEEKEND
The Camino. The Way. The way: by which, for a thousand years, tens of thousands of pilgrims –
pelligrini – have made it across Europe toCompostella de Santiago.
To Santiago, where, perhaps, St James the Apostle lies, and beyond, to Finnesterre, the end of the earth, and back again.
‘
The Road it has no beginning, The Road it has no End’. Or, in Spanish: ‘
La ruta nos aportó otro paso natural’… a palindrome which means, ‘
The path provides the natural next step.’
The Camino Frances: crossing the Pyrenees where Roland blew his horn; where Wellington pursued Napoleon; where Guernica affirmed the evil in mankind.
The Camino Frances, with its line of cathedrals, including those at Burgos, Pamplona, Leon and at Logrono; where a cockerel is housed high above the nave, a descendant of those that came back to life, to prove a medieval pilgrim’s innocence.
The Way, that was defended by Knights Templar from their mighty fortress of Ponferrado, where some say, the Grail still lies hidden.
1,000 years previously, the Romans paved miles of the route, to make the Via Trajana, but, legend has it, they were preceded by prehistoric man, following the path of the sun by day, and the Milky Way by night, out to the edge of the known world, passing through Atepaque, as do modern pilgrims, where traces of the oldest Europeans lie. The remains were thought to be from 100,000 years ago; but are now believed to be perhaps a million years old and belong to the ancestor of the Neanderthals.
This is in mysterious Basque country, where they speak a unique language. Beyond that, the Camino wends through the vineyards of La Rioja, where the pilgrims’ wayside fountains dispense red wine.
And all along the route, in a never ending column, come the pilgrims, wearing their scallop badges, laughing, crying, singing, suffering, wondering, having their lives changed, talking, meeting and re-meeting, story-telling; hurting, longing to get finally to the end, so that they can get ready to do it all over again.
The weekend will explore and sample something of The Camino. With talks, poetry, a goodly walk along our local pilgrim route, food, wine, companionship, firelight, and, we hope, yourself.
