Journey with Brother William of the Bournemouth De La Salle Brothers and St. Peters' School, to the Camino de Santiago (the Way of St James).
Bro. William undertook this journey in the summer of 2007.
The Way is a glorious walk across the north of Spain which pilgrims aim to complete in 33 days.
Others complete the entire journey in shorter time and still others complete just part of the journey, having completed other parts in previous years.

Bro. William followed the ancient pilgrimage route west to the magnificent cathedral at Santiago de Compostela.

Tenth-century pilgrims braved bandits and wolves in their quest to revere the bones of St James, entombed in a silver casket in the cathedral, but today, Bro. William has a safer journey, but a trying one, nevertheless.

Today, pilgrims walk to Santiago and Finisterre for many different reasons. For some, making a pilgrimage to the Holy City is a lifelong dream borne out of religious faith.

Others seek a break from daily routines or want to get back to a simpler way of living, and some want to immerse themselves in Spanish history and culture.

To get to Santiago, Bro. Willaim followed trails which are well maintained and yellow arrows make them easier to follow, but the journey is made easier and more sociable by a centuries-old infrastructure of albergues (pilgrim hostels).



Follow Bro. William from St-Jean-Pied-de-Port in the foothills of the French Pyrenees to Santiago de Compostela and on to Finisterre.

On the way, we'll pass through a multitude of Spains. Bro. William visited Romanesque churches decorated with gargoyles and elaborate frescoes, Gothic cathedrals with airy spires and vast interiors, and tiny hermitages tucked into cliff faces.

There are colourful, riotous festivals with Galician bagpipes and traditional Basque sports like hoe-hurling.

There's spectacular wildlife, too, from wolves and bears that roam northern Spain's mountain ranges, to peculiar, plain-dwelling birds such as great bustards and hoopoes.

At the end of each day, Bro. William stayed in the local albergue which stamped his travel compostela - a certificate of completion of the pilgrimage to Santiago.

The Story of Santiago

Just how Santiago ended up in a remote northwestern corner of Iberia is an intersting tale.

Santiago, or St James as he's known in English, was one of Jesus' apostles, and after the Crucifixion, he left Judea for Spain to spread the Gospel.

Though he preached as far north as Galicia, he didn't have much luck with the native peoples, and attracted a mere seven converts before turning towards home.

While there's no biblical basis for Santiago's visit to Spain, it is clear that Herod Agrippa had him beheaded in AD44 in Jerusalem, making him the first apostle to be martyred. Santiago's friends managed to sneak his body out from under Herod's nose, and put him on a stone boat headed for northwest Spain without oars, sails or crew.

After a weeklong journey, the body arrived in Padron on the Galician coast, where his disciples were waiting. They buried Santiago 20km inland in Compostela, after the local queen witnessed a series of miracles and converted to Christianity.

Santiago lay forgotten for a good few centuries, while all around him Spain became Christian. The move to Christianity ended abruptly at the start of the eighth century, when Muslim armies crossed over from North Africa, soon conquering most of the Iberian Peninsula and pushing up into central France. Still, pockets of Christianity remained, notably in northwestern Spain.

In 813, a curious Christian hermit followed sweet music and twinkling stars to a remote hillside in Galicia. The bones he found at Campus Stellae (Compostela) were quickly identified as those of Santiago, and the bishop of nearby Iria Flavia sanctified the discovery.

Within a few years, Alfonso II, King of Asturias, visited the site, built a chapel and declared Santiago the patron saint of Spain.

By the ninth century, Christian authorities had seized on the pilgrimage to Santiago as a way to drive out Muslir invaders and to prevent the peoples of northern Spain from falling back on the pagan ways.

Local churchmen were als keen on the cash flow that a stream of pilgrims would bring, and their promotion of Santiago de Compostela became a pilgrimage destination.

In 1189, Pope Alexander III declare Santiago de Compostela a Holy City along with Rome and Jerusalem.