YOUR PILGRIMAGE TO THE KINGDOM OF KERRY
SPRING has sprung... so you’ll naturally have a spring in your step then? It truly is the perfect time to explore the Great Outdoors.
Easter may also have given us the jolt to finally do that pilgrimage, that Camino that we had always vowed to take on.
The one thing that holds people back from going on pilgrimage more than any other is the fear that it will be too physically taxing.
Peregrinos though range from the young (it’s a great favourite with Transition Year students) to those in their golden years.
Nor is it proscriptive. You choose the pace you walk at, the terrain and the distance. And nobody will judge you. You’ll receive a cheery Buen Camino wherever you go.
Though they may have a different greeting in Kerry!
The annual Kerry Camino walking festival this month is a gentle introduction before you take on the Camino to Santiago de Compostela.
You’ll walk among some of the most breathtaking scenery in Ireland.
Caminoways.com has put together the following schedule.
hursday, April 27: Meet and greet Grand Hotel Tralee 8pm. iday, April 28: Walking from lee to Camp (18kms). Starting e 9am from St John’s Church. er the walk at 7pm there will be a cial CaminoWays presentation ut the most popular Camino de tiago routes. aturday, April 29: Walking from mp to Annascaul (17kms). Starttime 9am from the Brandon car k with a Barbecue night in the ning. unday, April 30: Walking from nascaul to Dingle’s St James urch (22kms). Starting time 9am m the Brandon Car Park. Kerry mino certificates will be awarded walkers at St James Church in gle. hone 01 525 2886 or visit www. inoways.com.
And so onto the Camino we all know... in Spain! The route we’re most familiar with, perhaps is the French Way, as popularised in the Martin Sheen film, The Way which leaves from St Jean Pied de Port, a 790km walk but there are many others that criss-cross Spain too with the Portuguese Way increasingly popular. CaminoWays.Com and Follow The Camino (www.followthecamino.com) are Ireland’s foremost Camino operators.
For those who wish to travel further afield CaminoWays.com operates the Via Francigena to Rome (from Canterbury if you’re very fit) and other walks in Italy.
You’ll get a pilgrims passport if you do the last 100km or so into Santiago or Rome. It will go well with your Kerry certificate!
For futher reading and viewing: John Bierley: Camino de Santiago guide. Lonely Planet: Walking in Spain. Cicerone: Way of St James – Spain. Everest: Camino de Santiago. The Way, starring Martin Sheen and James Nesbitt.