The Irish On Camino

"Here are a few items associated with The Camino De Santiago De Compostella: The Irish Camino passport and a Spanish one; The Camino Shell (usually attached to backpack to indicate that the person is a pilgrim/perigrino); the stamps/'cellos' on my credencial/pilgrim passport from St. James's Church Dublin and St.Jean Pied De Port (where the French Camino begins) and one of the types of certificate that is presented to the pilgrims in Santiago De Compostella at the pilgrim office, when the last section (100km+ at least,) or more is completed. The picture shows two pilgrims on their way. The first time I heard about the Camino was when my son embarked on the second part of the French Camino on a bike with some of his school mates in Transition Year. The idea of taking part in the Camino appealed to me and I walked the last part of the Portuguese Camino as a charity trek in 2011 and other parts of the various routes since then. The Way is very popular with Irish pilgrims. Some walk it as a religious pilgrimage, others walk because they like trekking and the Camino experience. Irish pilgrims have been stepping out since the 13/14th centuries (and possibly before) according to Irish history. The most recent statistics from the Pilgrims office in Santiago De Compostella (for 2016) tell us that of all the non-Spanish people who received their certificate for that year 7% were Irish."