What does the word ‘pilgrimage’ mean to you?
- Dusty churches?
- Kind strangers?
- Flat-footed sandals?
If you answered yes to the above, you were probably thinking of the Camino de Santiago, which is a collection of routes that cross France and Spain to meet at the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia.
Like me, you might have first heard of the Camino de Santiago whilst watching Emilio Estevez’s pilgrimage movie ‘The Way’.
If you did watch the film, you might have resolved, also like me, to one day walk the Camino de Santiago yourself (although probably not in sandals).
Once again like me, you probably haven’t found the time, the inclination or the right footwear in which to do so. Some people are obviously more committed to the idea however; according to Statista in 2022 around 439,000 pilgrims finished this particular pilgrimage.
For those of us who didn’t even start it, the good news is that we have a wealth of UK pilgrimage routes just waiting on our doorsteps for us to discover.
And no, I’m not talking about Pizza Pilgrims here, although I do love their story of driving a three-wheeled Piaggio Ape van back from south Italy, learning about pizzas as they went.
Which brings me to my second piece of surprising pilgrimage news.
Not all pilgrims visit churches.
Continue reading “Any faith or none. Pilgrimages in the UK.”