Ultreia!

I walked the Camino de Santiago from one end to the other. I don't know why, really; I found my motivations as I went along. This site is dedicated to the experience of the pilgrimage, which even for those without Christian faith remains a spiritual journey of great power.

Oh, it's all text. I have photos, but I haven't got them scanned yet. I'm also looking for web space for further projects of this kind. . . I shall be walking St Michael's way next, visiting sites from St Michael's Mount and Mont Saint-Michel to the Sacra San Michele in Piedmont and Monte Sant'Angelo in Gargano. Andrea Kirkby

Contents

• The pilgrimage experience

• France: the first day.

  Mountains and needle sharp rocks

• France: the second day.

  Open heath and the scent of pine trees

• France: the third day.

  A windy day and woodsmoke

• France: the fourth day.

  A carfax, and aligot

• France: the fifth day.

  The grandes drailles

• France: the sixth day.

  A bad cold, and a mermaid

• France: the seventh day.

  Gorges, a fairytale castle

• France: the eighth day.

  Marks & Spencer biscuits and a warm fire

• France: the ninth day.

  Turkeys, a family party, bells

• France: the tenth day.

  Gold, tapestry, stone

• France: the twelfth day.

  Sheep bells and beehive huts

• France: the thirteenth day.

  Domes, towers, a bottle of rosé

• France: the fourteenth day.

  Sleeping on the floor

• France: the fiftteenth day.

  The castle in the forest: ponderings

• France: the sixteenth day.

  Nuns, galette, orchards

• France: the seventeenth day.

  Mesopotamia, the viscount, bonne cuisine

• France: the nineteenth day.

  High towers and Roman altars

• France: the twentieth day.

  Organs, Templars, mud, mud, mud

• France: the twenty-first day.

  Antique shops, and even more food

• France: the twenty-second day.

  Towns, a fortress, a rugbyman, and thoughts about signs

• France: the twenty-third day.

  Mud, mud, mud and romanesque sculpture

• France: the twenty-fourth day.

  In love with the mountains

• France: the twenty-fifth day.

  Romanesque churches and country hospitality

• France: the twenty-seventh day.

  A beastly day; cults and spiels

• France: the twenty-eighth day.

  Dour country, a tempest

• France: the twenty-ninth day.

  Snow, silence, the abbey of Roncesvalles

• The Camino Francés: the first day.

  The train to Pamplona

• The Camino Francés: the second day.

  High passes, grim towns

• The Camino Francés: the third day.

  Roman roads, and frogs, and churches

• The Camino Francés: the fourth day.

  A long dusty trek

• The Camino Francés: the fifth day.

  Mermaids and chickens

• The Camino Francés: the sixth day.

  The new Jerusalem

• The Camino Francés: the seventh day.

  Fountains, high mountain

• The Camino Francés: the eighth day.

  The riches of the abadeses' tombs

• The Camino Francés: the ninth day.

  Cool water, the shadow of a castle

• The Camino Francés: the tenth day.

  Saints' glory and red earth

• The Camino Francés: the eleventh day.

  Shades of imperial greatness

• The Camino Francés: the twelfth day.

  Orange earth and white villages

• The Camino Francés: the thirteenth day.

  High, cold, vertiginous

• The Camino Francés: the fourteenth day.

  Octopus, dowsing, fading aristocracy

• The Camino Francés: the fifteenth day.

  The roughest, coldest, highest pass

• The Camino Francés: the sixteenth day.

  Rain and mud and cow manure

• The Camino Francés: the seventeenth day.

  The fortress church

• The Camino Francés: the eighteenth day.

  The knights of Santiago

• The Camino Francés: the nineteenth day.

  Eucalyptus and fiesta

• The Camino Francés: Santiago.

  The end of my pilgrimage

• Santiago, city of gold and grey stone.