Happy Hiking Peg and Russ

Hi mom and dad! Hope you are enjoying your trek. I know Dianne and Don are thoroughly enjoying listening/reading about your experience on your blog. Today I went for a hike with them to San Felasco Hammock. It was fun but those kids of theirs stop too much. I can't wait until you get home so I can hike another 10-15 miles with you!
Love, Jake

Our neighbors, Peg and Russ Hall, are currently trekking the Camino through France and Spain. We get to enjoy their most lovable dog Jake while they are gone. For those of you who don't know about this famous trek, this interesting information came from their blog...

According to the legend, St James was a disciple who tried with little success to spread the faith in Spain after the death of Christ. When he went back to Jerusalem, he was martyred and his followers spirited his body away. Miraculously a stone boat appeared and carried them back to Spain where they buried him.

Fast forward to the 9^th century. The remains were “found” and Christians were encouraged by the local Spanish archbishop to make pilgrimages to the site to earn heavenly rewards. Some medieval courts also sentenced evil-doers to make the pilgrimage. Or, there were professional pilgrims who would make the trip for you for a fee, and you’d get the heavenly rewards.

A network of refuges became established to care for the pilgrims’ needs. Your bishop would issue you a pilgrim passport, which gave access to the refuges and assured your rewards at the end. It needed to be stamped at many points along the way, a tradition that continues. We have our passports stowed with our other important papers for the trip. The scallop shell, a symbol of St. James’ miraculous trip, became, and still is, a symbol of the pilgrim. There are journals and “travel guides” written by pilgrims as early as the 12^th century.

Many routes became well established. Four are prominent in France and three in Spain. We will walk parts of the most often traveled ones in each country. On this trip, at least, we will not arrive at the end-goal, the cathedral at Santiago. According to my Lonely Planet guidebook, in the first half of the 10^th century Santiago rivaled Rome and Jerusalem as pilgrim destinations. Now about 100,000 “pilgrims” trek the route annually and about 2.5 million people visit Santiago’s holy sites.