Where exactly have I been?

The pilgrimage I have undertaken lasted 40 days. Because of this, in the journal entries it was not possible to mention, let alone describe, every town or city I have passed through. To compensate, below you can find a detailed itinerary of the entire expedition. Kilometres I have walked are indicated, how I travelled when I was not walking is explained, where I have slept each night is provided. I hope this gives you an idea of where exactly I have been. ;)

Day	Route	Transport
1	Lublin – Warszawa – flight to London Stansted	train; plane
2	London Stansted – flight to Biarritz – Lourdes	plane; car; bus
3	Lourdes	walking
4	Lourdes – Gavarnie – Refuge Bayssellance	bus; hiking
5	Refuge Bayssellance – Refuge Wallon-Marcadau	hiking
6	Refuge Wallon-Marcadau – Refuge de Larribet	hiking
7	Refuge de Larribet – Lourdes	hiking; hitch-hiking
8	Lourdes – Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port	train

Day	Route	Distance (km)
9	Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port – Roncesvalles	26.7
10	Roncesvalles – Trinidad de Arre	38.3
11	Trinidad de Arre – Puente La Reina	28.3
12	Puente La Reina - Ayegui	24.9
13	Ayegui – Torres del Rio	26.9
14	Torres del Rio - Logroño	20.5
15	Logroño - Nájera	29.5
16	Nájera – Viloria de Rioja	36.3
17	Viloria de Rioja – San Juan de Ortega	32.9
18	San Juan de Ortega - Burgos	27.4
19	Burgos - Hontanas	31.1
20	Hontanas – Boadilla del Camino	29
21	Boadilla del Camino – Carrión de los Condes	26
22	Carrión de los Condes – Terradillos de los Templarios	26.3
23	Terradillos de los Templarios – Calzadilla de los Hermanillos	27.4
24	Calzadilla de los Hermanillos – Mansilla de las Mulas	22
25	Mansilla de las Mulas - León	18.5
26	León - Hospital de Órbigo	33.9
27	Hospital de Órbigo – Rabanal del Camino	35.9
28	Rabanal del Camino - Ponferrada	33.9
29	Ponferrada - Villafranca del Bierzo	22.6
30	Villafranca del Bierzo – O Cebreiro	29.5
31	O Cebreiro - Triacastela	21
32	Triacastela – Ferreiros (through Samos)	38.4
33	Ferreiros – Palas de Rei	34.7
34	Palas de Rei - Arzúa	29
35	Arzúa – Santiago de Compostela	39.8

Day	Route	Transport
36	Santiago de Compostela	walking
37	Santiago de Compostela - Cabo Fisterra – Santiago de Compostela	car; hiking
38	Santiago de Compostela	walking
39	Santiago de Compostela	walking
40	Santiago de Compostela – London Stansted – Lublin	taxi; plane; car

Photo: Galicia, the Camino de Santiago

Do it alone or with others? And the sunrise

23.09-26.09.2013

When I got there, Logrońo was a city of fiesta (Spanish word for a holiday but the way the Spanish celebrate differs significantly from what people in Poland or the UK do during a holiday). I did not plan to arrive in the city on the day of a fiesta, nevertheless, this is what happened. It was the day of San Mateo and people were celebrating out in the streets. During the day there were different shows, performances, artists, games. During the night, music, alcohol, dancing. All the time, happiness and the festive atmosphere. A pilgrimage is not only a time to reflect, think through your life, change. It does not have to be like this at all. Or it can be exactly that but there are different ways in which you can do it. It depends on you. You choose what pilgrimage you are on. The day I spent in Logrońo was a good reminder of that. Maybe not a reminder since it would require previous knowledge but still a very important lesson. I realised that happiness and smiling are good ways to go on a pilgrimage. On the Camino. Visiting is another thing you can do during a pilgrimage. Well, it is something you do anyway, in a way, by default, since you are walking every day. When you are travelling on foot for almost 800 km to Santiago de Compostela, when you are hiking for fours days in the Pyrenees, when you are walking around Lourdes for two day – when you do all of those things, you see new places, people, experience new customs, cultures, languages daily. A good example of that is a small town, Santo Domingo de la Calzada. When you arrive there, if you have not be told that before or have not read it somewhere, you find out that there is a cathedral in the town with a real and alive hen and cock inside. They are kept there as an expression of respect for tradition and a legend according to which several centuries ago a young 18-year old German pilgrim has been saved by an intervention of Saint Dominic when he was falsely accused of theft. It is definitely worth going inside to see the place where they live. Interestingly enough, there was an exhibition about the Han dynasty from China in the same cathedral when I visited. In other words, a pilgrimage is also a chance to see many things which you would have not been able to see otherwise. One of them can also be a sun rise. Between Logrońo and Burgos, on several occasions, I left albergues early in the morning when it was still dark outside. Walking already for half an hour or longer and seeing how everything around you starts to wake up, how the sun appears on the horizon, it is an experience. You do need to be cautious when you are hiking in dark, it is really easy to miss an arrow and go the wrong way. But it is worth the effort you have to make to get up at 6 am, or before, to do all the morning duties and walk through the door of an albergue early enough. Another positive aspect of this is that you avoid the hottest moment of the day, around 2 pm, and, since after the initial part of the Camino de Santiago, there is not that many trees around any more, it is vital to protect yourself from too much sun.

Before I set off for my pilgrimage I was thinking that I will do it alone. That I would meet other people, talk with them but that I would then go on and continue by myself. In fact, it has been like this until one albergue where I meet two girls from Lithuania. We started talking during a communal meal prepared by the owner of the albergue, soon we started laughing and we since we had a similar idea for where we wanted to go the next day, in the morning we left the albergue together. I did not know that yet but they were going to show me several of the most important things that I have learnt during my pilgrimage. One of them being the value of companionship. If we believe that to think through our lives, we need to set off on a long journey, we probably usually assume that the thinking process goes on when we are by ourselves. It certainly does happen in solitary situations, however, we can go through it with somebody walking next to you. Even when that somebody is talking with you and asking you questions. It is amazing how much we can learn about ourselves from other people. I have been told something that refers to that, it will be later on and much closer to Santiago, but I can quote it now. Paraphrasing slightly, a guy from Bulgaria I met has said that people are like mirrors to each other. So we continued together, two Lithuanians and a Polish guy, helping each other out and joking most of the time until Burgos where we got 10 days after I left Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port.

Was it dangerous?

This might be one of the most difficult questions for someone considering a pilgrimage or a personal development expedition. In my case, there have been several risks to the favourable realisation of my project. They have been highlighted already in the application for the award. Since I am now reporting on my pilgrimage, what follows is a reflection on how dangerous it had been. Each aspect is described in the analogous way: the risk is first indicated, solutions predicted in the initial application follow. If problems have been encountered, they are presented at the end of each case study.

Cancellations or other flight problems; risk: low; significant complications encountered

Solutions proposed initially: buying travel insurance; appropriate packing which would exclude the possibility of the loss of luggage preventing me from continuing with the project; four days in Santiago de Compostela planned at the end of the expedition provide the flexibility which would be needed in case of a delay related with flight problems; staying in contact with friends living in London in case of the problems with a flight change in London Stansted.

The developments during the realisation of the project: the first change to the initial project plan has been introduced during the process of purchasing flight tickets. Given the time difference between the application deadline and the receipt of the funding, the prices of the flights have altered and also Ryanair has changed the time of Lublin – London Stansted flight. As a result, it was more beneficial both economically and in terms of time spent at the London Stansted airport waiting for the second flight to fly from Warsaw instead of Lublin on the 9th of September, 2013. Further, the flight on the 10th of September, 2013 from London Stansted to Lourdes has been cancelled minutes before the passengers were supposed to board the plan. This was the only Ryanair flight to France cancelled that day and I was able to re-book the flight for the early afternoon. Instead of Lourdes I flew to Biarritz and subsequently was given a car lift to Lourdes airport by two very kind British people. There has been almost no financial costs of the cancellation, other than an additional bottle of water at the airport, but the resulting delay led me to change my Pyrenees plans. Instead of five days spent hiking I devoted four days to the Pyrenees part of the project and the day saved in this way I spent visiting Lourdes, something I have not been able to do, as planned, on the 10th of September, 2013.

Weather conditions, especially in the Pyrenees; risk: medium; no complications encountered

Solutions proposed initially: investigating the weather conditions in the past at a similar time of the year; possibility of adjusting hiking plans according to the weather on the ground; flexibility as far as the number of days spent in the Pyrenees and the route chosen.

The risk of physical injuries; risk: medium; significant complications encountered

Solutions proposed initially: previous extensive hiking experience made me aware of what kind of precautions must be taken while hiking in the Pyrenees or walking the Camino de Santiago; equipping myself with a basic kit of medical equipment; intensive and appropriate physical training before the expedition, including a summer expedition to the Tatra Mountains, Poland.

The developments during the realisation of the project: Despite an intensive and appropriate physical training that preceded the expedition and several years of experience in hiking, the efforts and the difficulties of a 40 day project have been significantly felt by my body. To provide an illustration of the challenges one might be faced with, two important physical injuries I have had are mentioned here. Firstly, due to an unbalanced weight of the rucksack in the first days I have damaged, most likely, a muscle around the left shoulder. The consequent pain has been felt, with variations in severity, until after the flight back to Poland. Similarly, having visited Lourdes, having hiked in the Pyrenees and having walked around 550 kms of the Camino de Santiago, I developed a condition called tendinitis on my right leg. Following further 30 kms it has worsened to the point that I began considering whether I would be able to continue. Luckily, I was given an appropriate diagnosis and advice at one of the albergues [shelters on the Camino de Santiago for pilgrims] and the state of my leg started to improve each day. Fortunately, the complications just described have not been so severe as to prevent me from continuing with the project.

Language barrier; risk: low; no complications encountered

Solutions proposed initially: lack of fluency in French would be compensated by acquiring the basic knowledge before setting for an expedition, booking accommodation in advance and carefully researching transport options, this risk applies only to the first part of the expedition.

Unexpected delays during the expedition; risk: medium; no complications encountered

Solutions proposed initially: four days in Santiago de Compostela planned at the end of the expedition provide the flexibility which would be needed in case of any delay; fluency in Spanish would be of usefulness in case of the immediate problems throughout the majority of the expedition; possibility of covering a part of the expedition by a vehicle in case of an extreme delay.

The developments during the realisation of the project: Fortunately, with the exception of the flight problems in the first stage of the implementation of the project, there have been no further delays during the expedition. Consequently, I was able to further extend it by renting a car with a friend met on the Camino de Santiago and driving to Cabo Fisterra, the traditional and historical ending point of the Camino de Santiago. Given the state of my leg, this has been the only reasonable way of arriving in Finisterre and then hiking further 3.5 km to the lighthouse at Costa da Morte.

Photo: La meseta, the Camino de Santiago

Laughing, laughing, laughing

16.09-22.09.2013

The first part of the Camino de Santiago has been a period of the first 'times'. The first person you meet, the first night in an albergue (Spanish word for a pilgrim shelter), the first impression when you walk out of an albergue at 7 am when it is still dark, the first time when your clothes are completely wet because it was raining the whole day, the first blisters, the first smiles and conversations with fellow pilgrims. And the first lessons that you are given. Even before I fully left Lourdes I run into my first companion. Older than 60, me not even 25, we were able to communicate without the slightest problem from the first moment. This is one of the things about this pilgrimage, you can just start talking with anyone about anything and they will be replying and sharing their own life experiences. Just like that. No need for lengthy getting to know each other process. Just like that. He was, like me, from Poland. The first person I met was from the same country! And to think that we started talking because we were both asked, most likely, to participate in a service quality survey by a girl working for the train station. We did not speak French so we did not answer her questions. Continuing, even before I arrived at the albergue I already had my first group of friends / pilgrims. In the end we were 7 people, 5 different countries (Canada, Germany, Italy, Poland, the US) from two continents, the youngest 19, the oldest around 65, some changing jobs, some before going to the university, some just finishing university, some retired. A mixture of everything. And we had great time. Especially me and a guy from the US and a girl from Germany, we were just laughing, laughing and laughing. All the time! We split few days later but the e-mails have been exchanged. The initial stage of the Camino de Santiago is also time for trying your body and for your body to try to adapt. In my case, I have tried my limits already on the day two and I have overdone my body. I was walking after that day but for the next three or four days I have felt that I was not fully rested. I felt the consequences of going too much too soon without listening to your organism. Only when I got to Logrońo after walking 20 km from the previous albergue, only then I felt I was fully prepared for the next day. I just mentioned an albergue, they are really different from each other. There is no point in trying to come up with a basic list describing the types of albergues. Some will be located in schools, some in municipal building, some will be private and modern, others in the old churches or convents. There will be even those in the ruins of a monasterio or in between the trees in the middle of nowhere. Each has its own character and collecting stamps on your credencial (pilgrim passport confirming that you are on a pilgrimage and can access the albergues) becomes more than a regular procedure to follow. It is more like an old tradition you can participate in now. Some of them will even have something unique inside that you would not be able to see normally. For instance, in an albergue in Trinidad de Arre, just 5 km before the first big city on the Camino de Santiago, Pamplona, inside there is a chapel from the 12th century. If you have not slept in that place, you would have never known about it. Experiencing new things every day, getting used to the effort, being amazed by what I was seeing – in this way I arrived in Logrońo six days after setting off from Saint-Jean- Pied-de-Port.

Photo: La meseta, the Camino de Santiago

Getting lost and finding myself in the Pyrenees

12.09-15.09.2013

When I got on a bus to Gavarnie, a small town from where my mountain trail began, I did not know exactly was was going to happen during the next four days. I did have an idea of a plan, had the maps with me and created in my mind a path that I would like to follow, but I did not know if I was going to be able to make it. In the end I did. At one point I realised how my life will look like for some time to come. I sat down somewhere on the way for a break and to eat something. People were passing me by, some of them smiling, some simply walking. Total freedom, not knowing where and in what conditions I will sleep each night, not having to plan everything a month in advance. The four days I spent in the Pyrenees were extraordinary. The first thing about the mountains, they are much more wild than any mountains I have ever been to before. I am aware that the mountains 'visited' by one of the people I have met in a mountain shelter must have been nothing in comparison with the Pyrenees. He had been to the mountains in Central Asia, for instance. But from my perspective, the Pyrenees still had a wild element clearly visible on the outside. The culture of mountain shelters is worth mentioning. When you entered, you were supposed to leave your hiking boots on a specially prepared shelf or a piece of furniture. In some, you could not bring your backpack with you inside so you also were leaving it in a specially prepared room. And the people: open, friendly, no one complaining even if we had just hiked for 8, 10 or more hours. To listen to a group of French people singing traditional mountain songs at 2650 metres above the sea level – it is hard to describe or forget the impression it leaves on you. My path, chosen by me and by the mountains at the same time, started in Gavarnie and continued through Refuge Bayssellance, Refuge Wallon-Marcadau and Refuge de Larribet back to Lourdes. Four days of hiking, more than 8 hours walking with the backpack each day (except the last day which was much shorter). [The original idea for the trail I would follow differed significantly, however, after the cancellation of my flight I needed to re-organise it since I had one day less now] 

When thinking about the project, I started to differentiate between the types of my Camino, my pilgrimage. Since I was on three different pilgrimages and simultaneously on one longer pilgrimage, I started referring to the part before arriving in Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port and everything that followed after as my Camino (Camino means the Way, from Spanish). My Camino de Santiago was only what I have lived through after I left Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port. It might seem like a curiosity or an unnecessary comment, however, for me the distinction was important. One final story before I leave the Pyrenees and Lourdes. On the next to last day in the mountains, when I was at around 2 400 metres above the sea level, I got lost. I was following the map, and it was a map with a scale of 1:25 000 so a very detailed one, and at one point I simply got lost. The worst part was that I did not know when nor I could understand why I left the trail. I was wandering around like this, there were only rocks around me and I could see the path some 500 metres below (with no easy way of getting there), for something around an hour. Still without any idea as to what went wrong. I was running out of options and I was on the verge of starting hiking more or less directly down those 500 metres. The hill I have chosen for that, and it was the most 'friendly' looking one, was very steep. So steep that I am really glad I changed my mind at the last moment. Otherwise, I might have not come back, or at least not in the same health, as I did. After that, for some reason, I decided to check the other map I had, twice less detailed that the first one, and somehow it had an answer on it. It showed me that at one turn there was an old trail indicated which disappeared after some 100 metres. I realised that I had followed that path, not the one I intended to so I climbed up there and found my way back. Fortunately. With those experiences and adventures, I arrived again in Lourdes only to buy a train ticket for Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port and start my Camino de Santiago.

Photos: The view from the Refuge Baysellance; A lake in the Pyrenees

Why have I gone on a pilgrimage?

The motivation that lies behind the project and which was driving the author towards its favourable realisation has multitudinous elements, the first being a desire to engage with a social phenomenon growing in popularity and importance in recent times. Pilgrimage has been widely recognized and practised for centuries as a predominantly religious activity. Islam, the second-largest religion in the world, recognises it as one of its Five Pillars which are the basic acts considered obligatory for all believers. The history of Christian pilgrimages dates back to the 4th century when they were encouraged by the Fathers of the Church. However, recently pilgrimages have become a phenomenon not only directly related with religion. On the one hand, they have gained in popularity amongst people with a more secular worldview, such as the aforementioned writer Gideon Lewis-Kraus. On the other hand, they have become intertwined with other initiatives, for example, through the Green Pilgrimage Network organised jointly by the Alliance of Religions and Conversation (ARC) and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). Both are international organisations concerned with the issues of conservation, protection and restoration of natural environment of our planet. According to the statistics collected by ARC, which the organisation itself considers to be underestimated, more than 200 million people make a pilgrimage every single year. All of these developments suggest that a pilgrimage is a worldwide phenomenon worthy of study with secular, spiritual and religious contexts in mind. As a result, through this project I intended to contribute to such a study by investigating what a pilgrimage came to mean at the beginning of the 21st century. Also, this would increase the visibility and involvement on the part of the University of Warwick (of which the Lord Rootes Memorial Fund is a part) with issues of social significance.

The motivation has been additionally complemented by a strong personal interest in and enthusiasm about pilgrimages and hiking trips. Two of the three pilgrimages intended as a part of the project, the Pyrenees and the Camino de Santiago, have been my dreams for a long time and this ensured the commitment and dedication needed for the preparation and implementation of the project. In fact, this has been consistent with and beneficial for the investigation of the meaning of a pilgrimage. It encouraged me to attempt to gain a wide perspective on the phenomenon in question by visiting, and taking advantage of their geographical proximity, three different pilgrimages 'destinations', that is, the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes in Lourdes in France, the unusual pilgrimage in the form of a four-day hike in the Pyrenees and the Camino de Santiago that I have walked from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port to Santiago de Compostela. Finally, the expedition has also been a personal and cultural development quest as it had made it possible for me to experience a culture of France, the north of Spain and the Pyrenees giving me an opportunity for a personal inner pilgrimage before I was about to start my professional career following the Masters course at the University of Warwick.

The first pilgrimage

11.09.2013

When you are in Lourdes you feel some sort of a special energy. I am not sure if it is the place itself, the people who are around you, their faith or belief in why and what for they are there, your own ideas about the place or a mixture of everything and more. Regardless, when you are there, you feel this inexplicable energy. I have attended the majority of religious celebrations that take place in the Sanctuary. Their timetable is impressive and busy. Almost always there is something happening or something that is about to begin. And I was there not during the period of time with the most important celebrations. At one moment, when walking on the other side of the river that goes next to the Sanctuary, I heard a song that sounded familiar. After I got closer to the group and talked to them, it turned out that they were indeed singing a song called in Polish “Barka”. A song associated, for the majority of Polish people, with Pope John Paul II. The extraordinary part of the story is that they were a group of people from Taiwan taken on a pilgrimage by a French missionary working in this Asian country. They were singing the song in their own native language! Having said that, after the second night in a hostel in Lourdes I set off for the Pyrenees early in the morning. Without much hope for a proper hot shower during the next days but with more than excitement about starting the second pilgrimage of my project, the Pyrenees.

This is the view you see when you enter the grounds of the Sanctuary through the main gate:

Taken: Lourdes, the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes

The beginning of an adventure

09.09-10.09.2013

The initial part of the expedition has been to travel from my home in Lublin where I spent the summer writing my dissertation through Warszawa, London Stansted and Biarritz (it was supposed to be Lourdes) to Lourdes. If checked on the probably most popular maps website, it is 3279 km and 31 hours by car. I have flown twice so the actual distance covered by myself has to differ slightly but this nonetheless gives an idea of the length of the inaugural journey. Even before I submitted my final piece of Masters-level written work four days before the flight, I was already thinking about a part of my pilgrimage experience. The original idea at the time of submitting the application has been not to take my sim card with me to distance myself even more from what other people call 'normal life' (I do not think that there is any need for a division between normal and not-normal life, there is just life). I have told my family and my friends that I was thinking about that, however, in the end, I did take it with me what has proved later on to be a very good decision. I have not attempted to communicate my final choice so in a way I did disconnect myself (or connected more strongly to what was happening around me). The travelling stage has been without complications up until 5 minutes before I was supposed to board my second flight, from London Stansted to Lourdes. With other passengers we had gone through the entire process of luggage checking-in, security screening and waiting before, without any prior warning, we were informed that our flight had been cancelled. Later, I would find out that mine has been the only Ryanair flight to France cancelled that day, at the time, we were told that it was the French air traffic controllers strike. The previous time it happened it lasted for three days! After a lot of confusion, hassle, anger and exhaustion I was back in the main part of London Stansted terminal waiting this time for a flight to Biarritz in the south of France. Hoping I would actually fly there. At around 12.30 pm I did leave the airport on board of a plane to France, with more than 6 hours of delay. To clarify the context, I did not have any idea about how to get from Biarritz to Lourdes. Except that there was some 160 km between them. You can interpret it as you prefer but when I asked a woman standing next to me, who I recognised from London Stansted, about how to get to Lourdes, she replied that she might be able to help me. She consulted with her husband (he drove to Biarritz to pick her up, they were living in the south of France) and confirmed that I can join them in the car. In total, they were only two people but they have given lift to 5 other passengers from the same flight! I do remember your names but for the sake of your privacy I am not going to mention them here. If you ever come across this blog, I want you to know that I will be forever grateful for your help at the moment of need! Summarising, in this way, after more than 3000 km and more than 24 hours since I walked through the door of my house in Lublin, I have arrived in Lourdes.

Preparation and training before the expedition

The first stage of my project can be divided into two separate parts, the physical training and pre-expedition research. As a member of Polish Association of Tourism and Travelling I have been organising and participating in regular hiking expeditions to the Tatra Mountains every summer for the past five years. Shortly before the flights to London Stansted and then Lourdes / Biarritz, I have gone on a similar hiking trip with an aim of preparing myself physically for the difficulties to be inevitably encountered during the project. Between 26th August and 31st August 2013 I have been expanding on my hiking experience in the Polish mountains. Although not perfect, the weather has not prevented me, fortunately, from doing the intended training and climbing several of the mountain peaks. When complemented by the regular jogging sessions I have been having over the summer, I have felt prepared, at least to a certain extent, for the physical challenges and hardships that I thought were around the corner. However, during my pilgrimages I have learnt that I could not have been further from the truth. Not diminishing them in any way, the physical strains of even a 10 day hiking trip are distinct from those one faces during a 40-day expedition to Lourdes, the Pyrenees and the Camino de Santiago. After visiting the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes on foot for two days, hiking in the Pyrenees for four days and walking for two or three hundred kilometres on the Camino de Santiago, your body, both, adapts to the physical challenges and is simultaneously much more sensitive to them. To give an illustration of that, when on a shorter trip, although it is still important to maintain the balance of your rucksack's weight, the lack of it will most likely not lead, with the exception of accidents, to serious physical problems. On the other hand, having covered a significant distance of the project I have learnt that a difference of even one centimetre on the stripes of the rucksack responsible for the equal balance of its weight can translate relatively quickly into physical pain. This is only one example of how much more careful a pilgrim needs to be when setting off for a longer pilgrimage. Judging from today's perspective, I would say that the training I have described and undertaken before the project has been invaluable even if not fully sufficient if one would wish to be completely prepared for the coming physical effort. Truth be told, it seems to be the case that such a sufficient training is hard to be fully achieved before the expedition unless one replicates the length and intensity of the physical aspect of a pilgrimage. However, it is not to try to discourage anyone from going for such an experience of a personal development project. Rather, I would like to highlight that although not easy, it remains within the boundaries of the possible even when you might be not fully trained for it. Moreover, this has been complemented by pre-expedition research on the issue of a pilgrimage which I will come back to in a future post. 

I hope you enjoyed the reading. Next time, the first part of my project journal. ;)

An exploration of the meaning of a pilgrimage in the 21st century

This has been one of the aims of a project undertaken by me and to which the following blog will be dedicated. As a way of introduction, I have gone on three different pilgrimages with an idea of both having my own experience of this type and investigating what does such a journey (excursion / trip?) mean for others. Three places you can find in the title section of the blog and which will be repeated numerous times in the posts that will follow, that is, Lourdes, the Pyrenees and the Camino de Santiago. These have been my three pilgrimages. Or just one big pilgrimage? Just a word of explanation at the beginning. Although I will be using a word “pilgrimage” a lot, I do not understand it as simply a religion-related activity. Rather, when it is employed, I am referring to a more broadly conceived journey or expedition that has a certain looking for something quality imprinted on it. Not to keep you for too long from your Sunday evening weekend fun, I will mention only one more thing. The project would not have been possible without the trust and support of the Lord Rootes Memorial Fund. Thank you! This blog has been prepared as a partial fulfilment of the commitments I have undertaken in the application for a Lord Rootes Memorial Fund award. 

Looking forward to yet another post!

PS. This is what you can sometimes see when  you set off for an adventure:

Taken: Camino de Santiago, somewhere between Sarria and Ferreiros