Currahoo to Compostela. My Camino. A pilgrims Journey to the Shrine of St James
It is said that a pilgrim is a believer who undertakes a journey to a holy place to ask for a pardon, to beg a favour, or to give thanks for a blessing received. Santiago de Compostela in Galicia in the northwest corner of Spain is such a place, a place where tradition has it that the relics of the apostle James reside.
A pilgrimage to Compostela, ‘The field of stars’, located at the very edge of the known world in ancient times, has the power to change lives forever for the modern pilgrim as much as it did for his medieval counterpart.
Since the early middle ages many thousands of pilgrims from all over Europe have made their way on foot to the city of Santiago de Compostela, to worship at the shrine of St James. Along the way they could expect to face robbery, danger, hardship, sickness and even death at the hands of the bandits and brigands that lay in wait for them on the road. For the ancient pilgrim who reached Santiago the return journey was no less dangerous and many were never to see their homes again.
In more recent times, especially since the 1960s when backpacking and trekking became popular, this ancient pilgrim route underwent somewhat of a revival as it became more accessible for people from all over the world.
Although the dangers faced along the way by the ancient pilgrims are no more, various hardships still remain for the modern pilgrim to contend with as he or she tramps along day after day, over high windswept mountains, through endless open spaces with little or no shade, suffering blisters, backache, ligament problems, heat stroke and stomach upsets, not to mention bed bugs and sleep deprivation due to the choruses of chronic snoring that can frequently be encountered in dormitories of up to sixty or more bunks in some albergues (hostels) along the way.
