The Camino Frances – The French Way:
The Camino de Santiago is a pilgrimage to the ancient burial ground of the Apostle St James, found in northwest Spain. In Medieval times hundreds of thousands of pilgrims came from all over Europe to walk to Santiago de Compostela. Many pilgrims start on the French side of the Pyrenees where some of France’s other Caminos met before continuing on, this is why it is called the Camino Frances. I'll follow the route to the west and I'll end up in the province of Galicia in the city of Santiago de Compostela, the town where St James’ relics lie.
The pilgrimage routes started in France, Italy, Belgium, England and many more places in Europe. A numerous amount of these pilgrimages are still walked today by modern pilgrims but they are not as busy as they were in medieval times. The most common is the pilgrimage I am walking; the Camino Frances to de Santiago de Compostela.
The Camino Frances goes for about 780km, passing through several different environments and terrains: mountains, plains, towns and cities.
The word ‘Camino’ means ‘way’ or ‘path’ and ‘Santiago’ translates from the Spanish word ‘Saint’ (Sant) ‘James’ (Iago).
