This is a photo of the first people arriving in Church who have walked the Camino from Finchale Abbey. They rang us on Monday 26<sup>th</sup> of April, from Ingleton, to ask if the Church was open so they could stamp their passports. They live in Chester-le-Street and had walked from Witton that day, about ten miles They had done 2 other parts of the walk last summer. There was a mum, Pat Gardner and her two sons. They were very pleased to be able to prove their accomplishment by stamping a record of their walk in their walk passport.. It was Pat’s birthday. She thought it was a good present and loved the riverside when we went down to St Mary’s Well. They stayed to say a few prayers. before leaving in a car they had left in the village.
She has walked the Camino de Santiago in Spain. Santiago means St James.
The Camino de Santiago, known in English as the Way of St. James, is a network of pilgrims' ways or pilgrimages leading to the shrine of the apostle Saint James the Great in the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia in north western Spain, where tradition holds that the remains of the saint are buried. Many thousands of people walk the route each year for many reasons. In the Middle ages pilgrims from England had to walk to the English Chanel before getting a boat to northern Spain to reach Santiago. Now there is a plan to renew the route from Finchale Priory near Durham to the Chanel. The next section will be from Gainford to Ripon.
We have attached an Information Leaflet which includes more details for those interested in exploring the Pilgrimage Trail for themselves.