PILGRIM'S PROGRESS
Follow Gill and Martin on the historic trail to Santiago de Compostela in northern Spain
Words & pictures ❚ Gillian Bonell
ROAD TRIPS SPAIN
Driving home from our previous holiday in the Alps, we paused for a night at Le Puy-en-Velay, a French town in a spectacular volcanic setting and one of the many starting points for the Camino de Santiago, the Way of St James. These routes have been walked for many hundreds of years by pilgrims heading for the final destination, Santiago de Compostela, in the north of Spain. The routes coming from northern Europe gradually converge and head west, parallel to the Spanish north coast. Our curiosity piqued, we decided to spend some of this summer’s trip to the regions of Cantabria, Asturias and Galicia visiting the conclusion of the pilgrimage, the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, the claimed burial site of St James.
Our trip started with a 22-hour ferry crossing from Plymouth to Santander in, luckily for us, sunny, calm conditions.
Leaving Santander and driving west, we began to see many distinctive blue signs with a yellow scallop shell, which are used to mark the route of the Camino de Santiago and guide the pilgrims on their trek. The shell is an iconic symbol associated with the pilgrimage, not only marking the routes but often on church buildings, fountains and sculptures. Its ridges are considered to represent the many different routes pilgrims travel from all over the world, converging on the tomb of St James.
Two of the routes pass the spectacular Picos de Europa mountain range, one to the north and one to the south, and we simply couldn’t pass by without first spending a little time exploring these mountains. A drive down the east side of the Picos took us along the Desfiladero de La Hermida gorge, before arriving at the small village of Lebeña, where we visited the little Mozarabic church of Santa María, built in 925. Mozarabs were Christians who lived in the Iberian Peninsula after the Arab invasion of 711. They maintained their traditional religion while incorporating Islamic geometric designs in the buildings.
We called in at the Picos visitor centre at Sotama, which was well laid out and very informative. By the time we arrived in Potes, the temperature was well over 40°C and we were beginning to wilt! We ambled through the medieval streets and along the promenade by the river, which ran through the town and was crossed by an old stone bridge, until
