Our meeting on Halloween saw a talk given by Craig Purvis, of our own parish, on walking El Camino de Santiago. In English, "The Way of St. James", is a network of pilgrims' ways leading to the shrine of the apostle James in the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, northwestern Spain.
He was inspired by the film "The Way" in which Martin Sheen plays a father who leaves America to recover the body of his estranged son, who died while walking "The Way" and decides to take the pilgrimage himself.
Craig chose his camera equipment carefully - a small camera, just two lenses and no tripod as this was, after all, a walking trip and not a photography trip.
His start was in Sarria.
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| Albergue Mosterio da Madalena © Craig Purvis |
The Way is well signposted with the yellow-on-blue sign (representing a scallop shell) shown above. Pilgrims have a choice of overnight accommodation, ranging from dormitories to small hotels. For anyone intending to use dormitories, taking your own sleeping bag is a must.
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| Horreos © Craig Purvis |
Craig also mentioned that some pub and restaurant owners can gently "redirect" some of the signs to point towards their establishments, leading pilgrims around the houses slightly more than necessary.
There is not only accommodation, but also a choice of food on The Way. This can vary from a basic three course meal at around €10 to more expensive tapas.
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| Old Village © Craig Purvis |
Part of The Way takes pilgrims through a eucalyptus forest where some pilgrims feel the need to decorate some of the way markers with graffiti.
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| Eucalyptus Forest and Camino Marker © Craig Purvis |
Finally Craig reached the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela where many pilgrims end their journey.
He gave a special shout-out for Bridgedale socks, which saw him safely through the whole walk without blisters. This purchase was advised by staff at "Go Outdoors", many of whom had walked The Way themselves and were able to recommend guide books and maps.
After a coffee break, we resumed with a talk by Caroline Howe, again of our own parish, on her 6 day trip to St Kilda in July 2023 with Mc2 Photography. There were 8 people in the group, with 2 leaders and they had their own cook.
Fortunately, as many of us weren't entirely sure where this was, she provided a map:
St. Kilda is the small dot on the extreme left. It is reached by a five hour boat ride from Skye. The boat has a "flexible" departure time because of weather conditions.
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| The boat to St. Kilda © Caroline Howe |
On that note, the weather can deteriorate during the journey such that a landing at Village Bay isn't possible.
The islands are a UNESCO World Heritage site and are controlled by the National Trust for Scotland. Keeled boats are not permitted to land in case they carry rats, which would wipe out the local wildlife.
Only the main island has ever been populated and it is also the only one with spring water. There is a permanent, manned, military radar station there, but those are the only people now permanently occupying the islands.
These islands are so isolated, they have:
- their own subspecies of Wren
- their own subspecies of Mouse
- their own subspecies of Dandelion
- a particularly ancient breed of Goat, which have been the subject of genetic studies
- around 135,000 pairs of Atlantic Puffins (roughly 30% of the UK population)
- around 30,000 pairs of Northern Gannets
- around 65,000 pairs of Northern Fulmars
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| St Kilda Wren © Caroline Howe |
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| Atlantic Puffins © Caroline Howe |
Everything is based around the village at Village Bay and everything must be carried up from the jetty. All paths out of the village are up and visitors should also be aware the sea cliffs are the highest in the UK, so there's a lot of up!
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| View of the Village © Caroline Howe |
Recent research shows the islands have been inhabited, on and off, for the past 4000 years.
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| The Village in evening light © Caroline Howe |
One evening the group walked to the opposite side of the island and camped overnight in tents to capture sunrise the following morning. Unfortunately although they set off in sun and clear skies, overnight it rained and this sight of Boreray greeted them the next morning:
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| Looking towards Boreray at "dawn" © Caroline Howe |
The island has its own cannon (now a rusting relic), which arrived months after the island was shelled by a u-boat, which surfaced in the bay during the first world war. Several houses were destroyed. The best theory is that the u-boat was lost.
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| The St Kilda Cannon © Caroline Howe |
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| Departing St Kilda © Caroline Howe |
Our next meeting will be on 14th November.
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