Way of St James - Spain - A Walker's Guidebook
Way of St James - Spain
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The Way of St James as described in this book is a long-distance footpath with a difference. People have been walking it – as a pilgrimage route – for over a thousand years, and in 1987 the section from the Spanish monastery at Roncesvalles in the foothills of the Pyrenees to Santiago de Compostela became the first European Cultural Itinerary. The 800km route, running across northern Spain to the City of the Apostle in the western reaches of Galicia, has changed little in all that time. For although parts of it have now become modern tarred roads, and many of its ‘hospitals’ and other accommodation set up by religious orders along the way to minister to the needs of pilgrims have long since disappeared, the Camino de Santiago, as it is known in Spain, still passes through the same villages, climbs the same hills, crosses the same rivers and visits the same chapels, churches, cathedrals and other monuments as did the route taken by our predecessors in centuries gone by.
The Way of St James is also a long-distance footpath with a difference in that many of those who walk the route through France and the vast majority of those who start on the Spanish side of the Pyrenees are not experienced walkers. Many have never done any serious walking in their lives and many will never do any again; for here, as in the past, walking is a means of transport, a means to an end, rather than an activity for its own sake. Most long-distance footpaths also avoid not only large towns but also even quite small villages; the Way of St James, on the other hand, because of its historic origins and the need for shelter, deliberately seeks them out. Several thousand people walk the Way every year, whether from points on the camino in Spain, from the Pyrenees, from different parts of France, or from even further afield: it is not uncommon, even nowadays, to meet Swiss, German, Belgian or Dutch pilgrims, for example, who have set out from home to make the entire journey on foot. However, one of the differences between the modern pilgrim and his historical counterpart, whether he walks, goes by bicycle or on horseback, is that very few return home by the same means of transport. The modern pilgrim route has thus become a ‘one-way street’ and it is unusual, today, to encounter anyone with either enough time or the inclination to return to their point of departure by the same means as used on their outward journey.
People make the journey to Santiago for a variety of reasons – historical, cultural, religious, as a significant action or event in their lives – and it is something that many Spaniards in particular think of doing at least once in their lifetime, even if they do not actually manage to. Twenty-first-century pilgrims are people of all ages and from all walks of life, the majority from Spain, but with a great many each year from France, Switzerland, Belgium, Holland and Germany, and others from much further away. (In contrast there are relatively few from Britain at present.) Many travel alone, many in twos and threes, many in quite large groups, particularly those on foot. Many complete the entire journey in one stretch; others, with more limited time, walk only from León, Astorga or O Cebreiro, for example, or cover a section at a time over several years. Most who walk the Way of St James, and especially those who have been able to do the whole route in one go, would probably agree afterwards that it has changed their lives in some way, even though they may not have set out with this intention.
This book replaces the second part of the present author’s previous one-volume guide published by Cicerone Press: The Way of St James: Le Puy to Santiago (1999). The Way described in this book thus begins in Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, as those who wish to walk only the Spanish section will find it more convenient to start from there than from Roncesvalles, despite having a stiff climb on their first day. It is easier to reach the former by public transport (Paris– Bayonne–Saint-Jean) than by going to Madrid, Bilbao or Irún and then backtracking to the latter. From the border town on the French side of the Pyrenees the route crosses over into Spain and wends its way through Navarra, Castilla y León and Galicia to Santiago de Compostela. Likewise, for those who feel that their pilgrimage would be incomplete unless they continued on to Finisterre on foot a description of this route is given at the end of this volume. Appendices contain an outline guide to the Camino aragonès from the Spanish border to Puenta la Reina, a summary of St James’s and other pilgrim references along the route through Spain, a glossary of geographical and other frequently encountered terms, and a list of suggestions for further reading.
The walk from the Pyrenees to Santiago can be completed in four to five weeks by anyone who is fairly fit and who also likes to visit places of interest along the way. It can be undertaken in sections, too, by those who lack the time to do it all in one go or who would just like to cover certain stretches, and indications are given in the text as to how to reach (or leave) the main towns along the Way. Anyone in Britain who is thinking of walking, cycling or riding any part of the route should certainly consider contacting the Confraternity of St James for advice and membership: their annually updated guide to accommodation and facilities on the route is extremely useful (see Appendix D for the address). The walker’s route is not normally suitable for cyclists, even those on mountain bikes, and anyone wishing to cycle by road should obtain John Higginson’s Way of St James: Le Puy to Santiago – A Cyclist’s Guide (1999), also published by Cicerone Press.
History
Pilgrims have been travelling to Santiago de Compostela on foot or on horseback (and more recently by bicycle) for over a thousand years. Godescalc, Bishop of Le Puy, who went there in AD951, was one of the first. At the height of its popularity in the 11th and 12th centuries over half a million people are said to have made the pilgrimage from different parts of Europe each year, the majority of them from France.
Pilgrimages had been popular amongst Christians ever since Constantine the Great had the Church of the Holy Sepulchre built over the site of Christ’s burial in Jerusalem in AD326, and the discovery, shortly afterwards, of the Holy Cross itself. Those journeying to this shrine were known as palmeros (palmers). Romeros went to Rome, the burial place of St Peter, the other great centre of Christian pilgrimage in the Middle Ages, along with Santiago de Compostela after the finding of the remains of St James the Great (son of Zebedee, brother of John and Christ’s cousin). The high point of this third pilgrimage occurred between the years AD1000 and 1500. But although numbers dwindled after that due to the Reformation and other, political, factors, the stream of pilgrims making the trudge westwards from different parts of Europe to the far reaches of Galicia in northwest Spain never completely dried up, and since the late 20th century has been making something of a comeback. The Cathedral authorities in Santiago maintain a register of pilgrims, and in 1991 recorded a total of 7274 travelling on foot, bicycle or horseback (compared with 5760 in 1989, the year of the Pope’s August visit), and 4918 in 1990. In the 1993 Holy Year (a year in which St James’s Day, 25 July, falls on a Sunday, and in which special dispensations are available – see below), a record 99,436 pilgrims received their compostelas (certificate of pilgrimage) though not all, by any means, began in Roncesvalles, let alone further afield. The numbers fell, predictably, in 1994 (15,863), though they began to rise again in 1995 (19,821), 1996 (23,218), 1997 (25,179) and 1998 (30,126), to reach a staggering 155,000 in the 1999 Holy Year. In 2000 (a jubilee year because of the Millennium) there were 55,004 pilgrims, in 2001 61,418, and in 2002 65,000.
Legend
Pilgrims who have walked from Le Puy-en-Velay using the companion volume to this guide will already know that after the death of Christ the disciples dispersed to different parts of the then known world, to spread the Gospel as they had been bidden. Little is known about the life of St James, but he went to Spain, where he spent a couple of years evangelising, though apparently without a great deal of success. He returned to Jerusalem but was beheaded by Herod shortly afterwards, in AD44. Immediately following his martyrdom, his followers are said to have taken his body to Jaffa, on the coast, where a ship was miraculously waiting for them and they set off back to Spain. They landed in Iria Flavia on the coast of Galicia, present-day Padrón, some 20km from what is now Santiago de Compostela, after a journey (and in a stone boat!) which is purported to have taken only a week, thereby providing proof of angelic assistance. The body was buried in a tomb on a hillside, along with two of his followers later on, and forgotten for the next 750 years.
Early in the 9th century Pelagius, a hermit living in that part of Spain, had a vision (which he subsequently reported to Theodomir, bishop of Ira Flavia) in which he saw a very large bright star, surrounded by a ring of smaller ones, shining over a deserted spot in the hills. The matter was investigated and a tomb containing three bodies was found there, immediately identified as those of St James and two of his followers. When Alfonso II, King of the Asturias (791–824), went there he declared St James the patron saint of Spain. He built a church and a small monastery over the tomb in the saint’s honour, around which a town grew up. It was known as campus de la stella or campus stellae, later shortened to compostela – one explanation of the origin of the name. Another is that it derives from the Latin componere (to bury), as a Roman cemetery or early Christian necropolis is known to have existed under the site of the present-day Cathedral in Santiago – and where the remains of St James are still believed to be housed today.
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