Canterbury to Santiago

[Anonymous]

I'm new to the group, but not new to the Camino, having previously contributed to the excellent Santiago-Bicicleta group, and I may even be known to a few here (William for one, certainly). I was converted from cycling to walking in summer 2006 when I gave away my bike at San Xulian do Caminio after cycling all the way from Canterbury, then walked for the last three days into Santiago.

Since then, I've returned twice and walked it from SJPP to Santiago last summer, then from O Cebreiro to Santiago in winter, December 2007. My plan now is to regard all that as preparation for the big event: I'm thinking about walking the whole lot from Canterbury to Santiago. Maybe as a traditional pilgrim wearing replica mediaeval pilgrim hat and cloak. But don't hold me to that! It's still at the ideas stage, and I'm not sure about the practicality of the mediaeval footwear from a medical point of view. (Health & safety....?)

What I really would like to know is the best route from Dieppe - via Chartres - down to SJPP. Who has walked it?

Gareth

 

[William Marques]

Hi Gareth

Thanks for your help over at Santiago Bicicleta. I know this link is to a cyclist's website but it is the only one I know starting at Dieppe. It may give you some idea of a route though.
http://www.wonk.demon.co.uk/Pilgrimage/ ... o2001.html

Did you know that Canon Clare at who is reponsible for many pilgrim blessings at Canterbury is walking the camino this year. She has posted here under the title "clare england".

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for that, William! I can see the posts relating to Clare's trip now and I'll get in touch with her and say hello! She took our school dedication service in the cathedral a couple of years ago when I was still teaching in Canterbury.

Your link to the French route helped show me the rough direction I should take, but I now need to find something more detailed. I think I'll need to consult the main French society. I know when I was in Chartres on the 2006 trip, the local secretary of the Amis de Saint Jacques came up to me when I was standing outside the cathedral and actually brought the stamp to me to stamp my credencial! It may be worth getting in touch with the Chartres group if I can find a link.

BTW, I have re-ordered my photographs on the Santiago_Bicicleta pages and put some effort into creating a sequenced narrative of my 2006 cycle trip, leaving out many of the later walking photos as they are perhaps a little 'off topic' for a cycling camino group! Is there anywhere to post photos here? I haven't caught up with that yet. I have quite a few quality pics of the 2007 winter walk as well as summer shots from 2007.

 

[sillydoll]

Hi Gareth,
Welcome to the Cyber-Ivar-albergue!
You said:

My plan now is to regard all that as preparation for the big event

A very brave lady from the UK walked from Cornwall to Santiago and then from Santiago to Rome in 2006. She was a month or two behind me on the Switzerland to Rome section of the Via Francigena. Not sure which way she walked from Cornwall but you could get hold of her. This is her website: http://www.walk2rome.com.btinternet.co.uk/
And then there is Ben Nimmo - who wrote a book about his journey from Canterbury to Santiago - via Belgium and Dijjon - called Pilgrim Snail. I have his email address if you would like to have it.
And in the CSJ bookshop is a book called: Horseshoes and Holy Water: on the hoof from Canterbury to Santiago de Compostela described as "A lively account of the horseback pilgrimage from Canterbury via Vézelay to the Pyrenees and Santiago de Compostela in 2002 of two, and sometimes three, sisters and a long suffering husband driving the horsebox."
Good planning!

 

[Anonymous]

Welcome to the Cyber-Ivar-albergue!

Thank you. This looks like a very lively group: plenty of activity here! Yes, I read the Ben Nimmo book a while ago, and of course he took a very different, meandering sort of route through France. I would like to adhere as far as possible to one of the more traditional routes. The parish church in Dieppe is dedicated to St Jacques de Compostelle, as the port of Dieppe was a very popular landing point for English pilgrims doing the land route to Spain. Of course, many also went most of the way to Compostela by sea - hence the Camino Ingles from the Spanish coast.

Having cycled the whole route, there's something quite special now about doing the whole route step by step walking from Canterbury, particularly as I have suddenly found myself with the possibility of having the time to attempt it, if perhaps not quite enough funding! I'll have to work out a budget for nine or ten weeks on the road. I like the estimate I read somewhere here of 1 Euro per kilometre, but I think that probably applies to Spain. Things are more expensive in France, particularly accommodation.

 

[Arn]

Welcome Gareth,

Your experience and future travels will no doubt be of great interest to all on the Forum. As a military historian (part time)I admire anyone that attempts or succeeds in reenacting any great historical event. From the well marked and paved Roman roads, to the Chaucer's Canterbury Tails and the Crusades your walk will leave it's own impression where others have trod. As for authentic clothes and footwear, the well made clothes owned by, even the peasants, was sturdy and made to last.

Layering was well known and waterproofing accomplished in many ways:

Medieval leather was waterproofed by painting melted pitch or liquid bees wax on them. The material coats the outside of the leather, fills the pores, and keeps water from getting through the leather. Most low born couldn't afford bees wax so they used animal fat instead. Smells something awful, but you did remain dry.

The name for galoshes originated in the Middle Ages when many styles of boots from short to long were popular. The word came from Gaulish shoes or gallicae, which had leather uppers and soles carved of wood; when the Romans conquered the territory they called Gaul (France), they borrowed the Gaulish boot style and added metal studs to the bottom to decrease wear.

So, if it's your intention to "go pilgrim" there's many ways to make it work.

Buen long distance Camino,

Arn

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Arn,
Thanks for the details about the waterproofing of mediaeval garments. The authentic garb smelling of animal fat would make me very popular in the refugios on a hot airless night, I'm sure I wonder if you can get rancid dead sheep smell in an aerosol spray?

Gareth

 

[Arn]

Gareth wrote:I wonder if you can get rancid dead sheep smell in an aerosol spray?

I'm not sure about that, but there is an aerosol that approximates peregrino sweat. I think the combination of animal fat and human excretions would have the desired affect.

 

[Peter Robins]

http://peterrobins.co.uk/camino/routes/dieppe

though if you're starting in Canterbury, Dieppe seems a odd way to go to me.

Saint Jacques de Dieppe was itself the centre of a minor cult; Louis XI went there on pilgrimage when he was dauphin.

 

[dlr47]

You may find this blog helpful in planning a route. It belongs to a couple from London who are currently walking in northern France with the plan to complete there pilgimmage later this year. They started walking from their home in London on New Year's Day, as I recall. The reason I recommend it is that they seem to have done a lot of research into their route through France and they provide a map of the route they have completed as well as what is planned:

http://verylongwalks.blogspot.com/

 

[brendan nolan]

Hi Gareth,
Welcome to the Forum , re walking in medieval footwear - I came across a pilgrim in 2005 who was walking in flip-flops; I couldn't believe it and made various noises about difficulties, as 'experts' do, but he assured me that he was comfortable with his footwear. I met him weeks later in Santiago in flip-flops, good health and no foot problems.
Re walking from Canterbury and then down through France - I think on this sort of route you enter in to a different world and experience compared to going on the more frequented routes, eg Camino Frances or the GR 65 from Le Puy. For much of the time, ie. from morning til evening you are on your own for weeks with little communication with others, in the evenings and at breakfast you generally eat alone, - in my experience (not the same route) it can be a wonderful, deep experience although these days more people are aware of what you are doing and are pleased to greet/help you on your way. But the 'community' that can build up on other routes is missing and you can become even more aware of your surroundings - nature, changes in weather and light, sky... :arrow: I hope you have a wonderful experience.
Buen Camino
Brendan

 

[sillydoll]

I walked the Via Turonensis in 2004 and I felt like a tourist with a backpack! There were very few 'pilgrim' signs and no refuges until we reached the south of France - beyond Bordeaux. And, we had to walk a lot of the time on roads - some department roads between towns were very busy with no shoulder for pedestrians.
We saw four other pilgrims - a cyclist on his way home and three guys from Belgium on the ferry across the Gironde who were being transported to St Jean for the start of their ride to Santiago. It was only when we reached St Palais, Ostabat and crossing from St Jean to Roncesvalles that I started to feel like a camino pilgrim again.

 

[Anonymous]

http://peterrobins.co.uk/camino/routes/dieppe

though if you're starting in Canterbury, Dieppe seems a odd way to go to me.

Saint Jacques de Dieppe was itself the centre of a minor cult; Louis XI went there on pilgrimage when he was dauphin.

Thanks for that. Dieppe is quite a traditional starting point in France historically, besides which, from cycling in the past I know that it is a shorter and more pleasant option for the crossing. Calais leaves you too far north in awful countryside for a long distance to the south.

Thanks for link.

Gareth

 

[Anonymous]

Re walking from Canterbury and then down through France - I think on this sort of route you enter in to a different world and experience compared to going on the more frequented routes, eg Camino Frances or the GR 65 from Le Puy. For much of the time, ie. from morning til evening you are on your own for weeks with little communication with others, in the evenings and at breakfast you generally eat alone

I've recently come out of a trial period in a Carthusian monastery, so eating alone is not a problem! Thanks for the advice though. I'm alreadymaking progress through French walking networks now. The GR routes look pretty good from Chartre via Tours etc.

Gareth

 

[Anonymous]

I walked the Via Turonensis in 2004 and I felt like a tourist with a backpack! There were very few 'pilgrim' signs and no refuges until we reached the south of France - beyond Bordeaux. And, we had to walk a lot of the time on roads - some department roads between towns were very busy with no shoulder for pedestrians.

Yes, even the route from Le Puy to SJPP contains far fewer refuges than we are used to on the Camino Frances in Spain, so I'm aware of the difficulties of walking from Dieppe to SJPP.

I have had an overnight inspiration now: I will research Catholic (and other) parishes on the route, write with an approximate 'window' for my stopover times and request church hall/presbytery accommodation overnight at different points on the way. I am also now looking for a children's charity locally to suggest possibly doing this as a sponsored charity walk. There may even be others who would be game for dressing in mediaeval pilgrim gear and joining me....?

Watch this space.

Gareth

 

[Anonymous]

You may find this blog helpful in planning a route. It belongs to a couple from London who are currently walking in northern France with the plan to complete there pilgimmage later this year. http://verylongwalks.blogspot.com/

Errr... thanks for that, but they don't seem to be having a particularly happy time! At least it injects some realism into the planning! I wouldn't be staying in the posh "gites rural" or "chambres d'hote" as I'm budgeting about 15 Euros or maybe less per day. People have different styles of travel for pilgrimage and I'm aiming at the most basic, or what you might call the dire poverty method!

Looking at their route is interesting though. I may get in touch with them and cheer them up a bit!

Gareth