Wander into Spain’s spiritual heart
WE didn’t once need a map, walking through the seductive, undulating countryside of Galicia in north-west Spain on the epic Camino de Santiago.
Every time the route departed from the straight-ahead, there was a bright golden orb, trailing sunbeams, to put us right. Those unmissable waymarkers were everywhere, leading us into oak woods and directing us down into quiet valleys, where we would pause on old stone bridges. They were there to guide us past village churches, and around multi-colour hórreos, the distinctive raised wooden granaries of these parts. This could be the most userfriendly path in Europe. There are actually five caminos, each a pilgrims’ route converging on Santiago, where the apostle St James is said to have been buried, hence the Camino’s other name, the Way of St James.
We were walking the French Way, Camino Frances. It starts just over the Pyrenees and, at 800km, it’s the longest and most popular. Many have personal reasons for tackling the entire trail – it takes about five weeks. But walking as little or as much as you like, for the pure bliss of those uplifting views, is purpose enough. We took what I would call the ‘Camino for Softees’ option – just walking the last 35km of the route over three days. Only at the end did the path lose some of its magic, where you leave that blissful countryside and toil through Santiago de Compostela’s suburbs. Then the camino springs a grand ending to make your heart soar. Even after my insignificant stroll, I felt a thrill passing under a medieval archway and on to the square in front of the town’s cathedral.
There’s accommodation to suit every budget, from clean and basic hostels to sumptuous, palatial paradors. We were sent on our way for each day’s walking with a hearty breakfast, and an even heartier ‘Buen camino’, which literally means ‘good route’. And it really was.