Just a few months ago I became a British Citizen. In fact today is the 3rd monthaversary of my citizenship ceremony.
at my citizenship ceremony in Maidstone
I have a list of ‘things to do once I have my passport’ and one of those is the Camino. I wasn’t really sure which section I wanted to do but since I have always wanted to visit Portugal, when I discovered that one of the routes is from Porto I decided to make that the route I would take.
I can’t quite make up my mind whether to walk it all in one go, or rather break it up into 2 stages. So in September of this year I plan to walk the Camino from Porto to Santiago or maybe just the first stage. It will all depend on how I feel at the time LOL
My passion is London and the history of the city, and I have explored and visited many of the areas where Chaucer lived and worked,
a wooden structure depicts the Algate house Chaucer lived in
and on one of my recent work assignments I discovered part of the ‘pilgrims way’ and immediately set out to walk the section nearest to where I was working.
The Pilgrim’s Way – Winchester to Canterbury
I am a 61 year-old single parent of a most wonderful daughter aged 35+. Born in South Africa, I crossed the seas in October 2001 to visit my sister and her hubby who were living in Ireland at the time. I loved Ireland and after deciding that London was where I wanted to live, I returned to SA poste-haste to obtain my ancestral visa (my grandfather had the good sense to be born in Wandsworth) and never looked back…..after living and working in the UK for the past 15 years I recently obtained my British Citizenship and relevant passport and hope to put it to good use.
My daughter and I went to Paris on 24 April for lunch (courtesy of her and my sisters Sue & Caroline – thanks guys, it was amazing)
and of course I’ve been to South Africa, but since I used both my passports, it only semi counts as a trip post UK passport 😉
I plan to buy a motor-home in 2021 and start travelling the length and breadth of the UK with occasional trips to the Continent. It’s so easy it would be a shame not to.
heading for the sun and surf…suitcase following close behind
Walking the Camino
Walking the Camino is not difficult – most of the stages are fairly flat on good paths. The main difficulty is that few of us have walked continuously for 10, 20 or 30 days. You learn more about your feet than you would ever have thought possible!
Origins of the pilgrimage
The history of the Camino de Santiago goes back at the beginning of the 9th century (year 814) moment of the discovery of the tomb of the evangelical apostle of the Iberian Peninsula. Since this discovery, Santiago de Compostela becomes a peregrination point of the entire European continent.
The Way was defined then by the net of Roman routes that joined the neuralgic points of the Peninsula. The impressive human flow that from very soon went towards Galicia made quickly appear lots of hospitals, churches, monasteries, abbeys and towns around the route. During the 14th century the pilgrimage began to decay, fact brought by the wars, the epidemics and the natural catastrophes.
The recovery of the route begins at the end of the 19th century, but it is during the last quarter of the 20th century when the authentic contemporary resurge of the peregrination takes place. There is no doubt that the social, tourist, cultural or sport components have had a great importance in the “jacobea” revitalization but we cannot forget that the route has gained its prestige thanks to its spiritual value.
Buen Camino 🙂
Congratulations! And I’m looking forward to more of your fun travelogues!
hi Thomas :). Thank you, yes it was very exciting…I’m still a little bemused by it all, but enjoying the sense of freedom that little red book brings. Great to hear from you. thanks for the comment.
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