Buen Camino Episode 1

Pilgrimage. For some it might be a visit to Great Malvern Priory, for others, Southwell Minster, St Mary’s Newark, or maybe the delights of Suffolk and Norfolk …Wenhaston…Mutford…Lound…Hingham…Horsey…

But as the school holidays draw to a close, some Priory folk have travelled farther afield, to follow a more famous pilgrim path.

So it’s over to the Priory’s ‘Foreign Pilgrimage Correspondent’ for the first episode from The Camino.

’Here we are at Sarria, day 0 for our Camino. There are 4 of us newly retired, we are optimistic and enthusiastic. The weather is lovely, warm and still. The people are friendly and very welcoming. We flew to our end point Santiago de Compostela and took a taxi to the start, around 100km to walk but 1.5 hours to ride.

We’re looking forward to meeting folk and chatting along the way. Already met 3 chaps this evening, university friends who don’t see enough of each other so decided to do this to spend time together. Let’s see how we feel after 14 miles tomorrow evening!!

Day 1 dawned we made an early start, worried about the 14 miles we had to walk. The weather was cool but dry, luckily.

The route was not too tricky, some ups and downs but we made good time and completed our walk in 6 hours including stops for coffee! We saw some interesting things en route such as a man playing bagpipes in the middle of nowhere! People were friendly and we enjoyed our day.

Tomorrow is due to be longer and wet! Buen
Camino!’