Call of the Camino

Call of the Camino commences as an account of a walk along the Camino Francés from the French town of Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, at the foot of the Pyrenees, to the shrine of Saint James at Santiago de Compostela and then on to Finisterre, the westernmost point of Spain. Something of the history of the Camino is recounted, as well as various of the myths, legends and miracle stories which have over time become attached to the Camino and which have, since the Middle Ages, given special meaning to this itinerary. The creation of Camino lore, however, is by no means at an end. The next strand to be woven into this work is an examination of the personal myths - the stories that we tell ourselves about ourselves - and the processes through which present-day pilgrims on the Camino may come to "rewrite" those stories. All manner of pilgrims, from all corners of the world and for a great diversity of reasons, continue to be drawn to the Camino. The "miracle" associated with today's Camino, for the author of this book, is how many of today's post-modern pilgrims, whatever their backgrounds or expectations, will come to consider the pilgrimage afterwards as having been one of the defining experiences of their lives. 2010 is the Jacobeo, the holy year of Saint James (a year when the saint's day falls on a Sunday.) The number of pilgrims expected to walk the Camino during the course of the year will be much higher than the 100,000 or more who have been walking it in recent "normal" years. In 1986 only 2,491 walked the Camino whilst in 2007 (the last year we have seen the records for) 114,026 pilgrims walked the Camino.