I had planned to walk the
Camino Frances this year, starting in Saint Jean on May 12th, so I would probably have been in Santiago, paying my respects to the Saint sometime around last week.
As a 'consolation prize', my daughter and I walked Steven's short camino on Sat June 22, so that I could at least walk to a church of St James, even if I could not go inside and pray.
It's a lovely walk through the Herefordshire countryside, which I can recommend.
My daughter thinks that anything under 15km is hardly worth travelling to, so we started in Bromyard and added a few miles and an extra hour or so to the route, but it was well worth it. The scenery is lovely, and the birdsong that morning was quite a performance.
After about an hour or so we arrived at the start of the Camino. It had been drizzling on and off for a short time, but got heavier when we got there so a bench under a large spreading yew tree was most welcome for our coffee stop. No cafe con leche, more's the pity.
The church of St James at Stamford Bishop was shut and unwelcoming, but the churchyard was interesting. There's a huge ancient yew tree which looks as though it is in its twilight years, a standing stone by the gate dating from pre Christian times, and a lamp post of the kind immortalised in The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, but I could see no welcoming scallop shell on the outside.
The farm next to the church had some very unwelcoming signs on the stiles and gates, but they had obviously been there for a couple of months, so we hope that they remember to remove them before too long.
The sun came out, and there was more lovely scenery on the way to the next church at Bishops Frome. On the way we had an interesting experience - a herd of young cattle decided to try and rush us as we crossed a field, but came to an abrupt halt as soon as they got near us. Social distancing they were not! The path was well marked through several fields of wheat, which we appreciated. Later, we passed by a small vineyard - only a few vines but at least a reminder of Spain. A bit further on, the path went straight through a field of hops, a reminder that we were indeed in Herefordshire.
The church of St Mary the Virgin in Bishops Frome was unfortunately shut as it was lunch time when we arrived, but at least the porch gates were open. Another church to explore in more kindly times.
The route from Bishops Frome to Much Cowarne was partly on tarmac. Although it was only a minor road, and the surrounding countryside delightful, it was a reminder as to how special the previous section, entirely on footpaths, had been. The tarmac ended at Hope's Rough Farm, where we lost the path for a while due to a broken finger post. Thanks to GPS, we were soon on our way, where we encountered our first mud of the walk. Considering it had rained really hard only 2 days previously, we were amazed as to dry underfoot the path had been to this point. After navigating the muddy gate, we were faced with 2 fields of hay to walk through with no previously trodden path. A combination of thigh high vegetation to push through and very uneven ground below, made it quite an effort.
The church of St Mary the Virgin at Much Cowarne was shut, as expected. Set against a cloudy sky, it's short bulky tower made it look like a fortress.
Continued in next post....