Hi Peter,
You may be right - but then you may be crazy!
In c 1140 Aimery Picaud described a route from Le Puy to Spain, which one can be forgiven for thinking was the established route taken by the good Bishop and those who followed after him. Why believe otherwise?
The priest described a route from the mountains of Aubrac, visiting the sanctuary of St Foy of Conques, descending to the Abbey of Moissac, on to Ostabat and over the Pyrenees. When describing this route he doesn't include a visit to a coastal port or a sea journey to Galicia.
I agree that urban legends spread across the Net like webs to entangle us poor believers!
The first few website to catch me out was
www. caminosantiago.com (which named him as Archbishop)
Then the following website perpetuated the legend that the Bishop walked the Camino Frances:
http://www.trentobike.org/bycountry_one/Spain.html (whilst discussing the camino Frances claims that he walked 'the trail')
Even the Rioja website at:
http://www.riojainternet.com/turismo/ri ... tiago.html - claims that he passed by the monastery of San Martin de Albelda which is in La Rioja region - then part of Navarre.
"In the National Library of Paris is a valuable manuscript coming from the La Riojan locality of Albelda de Iregua. It is dated 950 and in the prologue the monk writes of the peregrination to Compostela by de Gotescalco, French bishop of LePuy. He passed by the monastery of San Martin de Albelda. Given the early date, Gotescalco would be one of the first well-known pilgrim to travel to Santiago."