On the Camino

For New Year I have made my family a Rememberlations Jar. This is a jar into which you record what you do in the year that makes you happy or proud.

Happy Christmas! Images taken from: http://en.wikinoticia.com/entertainment/tourism/68219-christmas-bridge-santiago-de-compostela

If you walk to Rome on the via Francigena you can receive the Testimonium (which means testimony, evidence or proof) in a similar fashion to the Compostela. Image taken from http://www.confraternitadisanjacopo.it/Francigena/images/big/testimonium.JPG

The via de Francigena is a 1200 mile walk from Canterbury to Rome (I have walked the first 209 miles from Canterbury to Dover!) Me at the starting point in Canterbury

The Pope has declared a special Jubilee of Mercy so it looks like the Holy Door in Santiago's Cathedral was opened last night. Image from El Camino de Santiago's pinterest page See this article: http://internationalcaminoassociation.com/holy-door-of-santiagos-cathedral-to-be-open-in-2016/

 Another way to make your Christmas tree more Camino-y! For this craft you need: foam plates cocktail sticks wool (I used blue and yellow) pva glue water a small bowl kitchen towel a pen Firstly draw your design onto the bottom of your plate (you may want to place it on top of some kitchen towel to catch drips later!) Place cocktail sticks at the corners of your design (I broke mine in half so that they didn't stick up so much but whole ones are fine as well) Mix some pva glue and some water in a bowl (I don't know the proportion to do this in, you want the pva glue to by runnier but not too watery) and then place a length of wool into it and allow the mixture to soak in (don't use a very long piece though or it will just get tangled up) Weave the wool around your cocktail stick two or so times and then fill in the middle - do it fairly randomly (as below) but make sure your middle bits connect with the outside and pus

I walked to Santiago twice during the last Holy Year in 2010 (when St. James' day falls on a Sunday) and picked up this poster produced to celebrate the Holy Year (credentials were also made with this design on the front).   Then in 2012 we found another couple hung in an albergue a bit outside Sarria

'It takes a dream to get started, desire to keep going and determination to finish' Eddie Harris Jnr 

A Holy year for Santiago is one in which the day of Saint James' (the 25th of July) falls on a Sunday and it is known as Ano Santo Jacobeo or Another Santo Xacobeo in Galician.

Roads go ever ever on, Over rock and under tree, By caves where never sun has shone, By streams that never find the sea; Over snow by winter sown, And through the merry flowers of June, Over grass and over stone, And under mountains of the moon. Roads go ever ever on Under cloud and under star, Yet feet that wandering have gone Turn at last to home afar. Eyes that fire and sword have seen And horror in the halls of stone Look at last on meadows green And trees and hills they long have known J.R.R. Tolkien 'The Hobbit'

It is possible to start walking the Camino Ingles from A Coruna a distance which seems to be 30-40km (it seems to very depending on who has measured the distance) from a Coruna to Hospital de Bruma where the two ways meet (and from where it is 40km to Santiago making a total distance of less than 100km making any walking ineligible for the Compostela upon their arrival in Santiago). Image from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_of_Hercules

 Every year I make advent calendars for my family and this year I decided to give my Dad's a Camino-theme on some days by putting in some Camino-inspired decorations fro the tree along with his chocolate. I bought some shrinkables plastic from the local bead shop (this is a sheet of plastic that looks like one of the acetate sheets that used to be used for OHPs that when heated in the oven shrinks in size). I then used some permanent markers to draw designs on the sheet Two shells and an arrow from the Camino and the symbols for the via Francigena from Canterbury to Rome (which me and Dad have walked 20 miles of) and the walk to Mont St Michel in France (not walked yet!). Seeing as the sheet of plastic is completely see-through I simply placed it over my computer screen and traced these images straight from there but you could also print out images to copy or draw them free-hand The next step is to cut the images out - obviously the Camino shell is quite fiddly

We had two days and two half days in Santiago before our flight on the 10th and we did all of the usual things: we attended Mass and bought souvenirs and gifts, we had our first (and somehow only) chocolade and churros of this Camino and we went into the square and sat there as people arrived, slightly envious of them but mainly joining in their joy at their arrival.

I came across the below image today and thought that it looked cool - it's made from a 5 euro coin but the Cathedral also appears on 1 and 2 cent pieces so those could be used instead. https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/232657399/choose-year-spain-5-euro-cent-coin?ref=market

The excitement of the last day is always something that you can feel deep within but it is always accompanied by the sense of not wanting the walk to end - you can take more of the albergues and the walking perhaps to just keep going for one more day.

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CAYQjB0&url=http%3A%2F%2Fjournals.worldnomads.com%2Fhtapawaso%2Fstory%2F33748%2FSpain%2FCamino-Frances-day-1-23&ei=V_YHVZTYIYjb7AbkroBg&bvm=bv.88198703,d.ZGU&psig=AFQjCNGLCvJmUKpIc8u0rtSkR29JFbzc3w&ust=1426671468324030

The Cicerone guidebook for today suggested walking the final 40km in one day but we were not doing that - I have before walked about 32km in a day (once on purpose and the other time because the albergue we had planned to stay at was closed and it was five kilometers back to an albergue or, we thought, six kilometers on so we decided to go on only realizing that we had mis-calculated after we had arrived!) and if it was entirely necessary we thought that we could walk 40km but seeing as there was some where else to stay and we had plenty of time before our flight we decided to split this stage into a 24km day followed by one of 16km.

From: http://salitreypapel.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/amigurumi-camino-de-santiago.html From Pinterest