WALKING THE LINE

If you’re ticking off the options for summer holidays and lolling on a lounger isn’t one on them, you might be the type to enjoy stretching your legs by walking the Camino. This is no Sunday afternoon stroll. You can even start at St James Gate in the Liberties. The route winds into Santiago de Compostela in Galicia from all over Europe through wildflower meadows, wheat fields, vines, forest, villages and large cities. But most “peregrinos” as they’re known, start somewhere on the French side of the Pyrenees and tramp up and over the peaks, then across the flat northern Spain and on into beautiful and vaguely Irish-looking Galicia, where it ends with a showstopper of a the cathedral, Santiago de Compostela, which houses the remains of St James. That’s over 500 kilometres and you carry your essentials in a backpack the whole way, something that focuses the mind admirably. Day Two, saw my copy of Moby Dick go into the bin.

It is as spiritual a pilgrimage as you wish to make it. Along the way, you meet walkers of every age, nationality and religious shade. You stay in convents, monasteries, B&Bs, dormitories, school gyms, I even once, gloriously, stayed in a parador. Every town or village welcomes you with a cheap as chips (though sadly not) pilgrim’s menu (usually pasta with tomato sauce, followed by a yoghurt and a carafe of wine to wash it down). Tasty it ain’t, but you do appreciate the stodge. Planning your route pays off – it’s good to know where you’re going to sleep that night and how many kms you need to get under the hoof so you can pace yourself. There are plenty of travel companies running packages organising pick ups and drops of your bags (oh, the luxury of clean clothes) or that supply you with bicycles. Or you can DIY, take a train to St Jean-de-Pied-de-Port in Southern France and just start walking. For cycling packages, try www.followthecamino.com/caminos/by-bike.html or call 1890 25 26 02

Frances Power, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR