Best foot forward..

St James’ Day

As St James’s Day approaches, I feel it is time to pay respect to the man himself. July 25th falls on a Monday this year and 2022 would ordinarily not be considered a Holy Year in Spain. However, due to Covid, last year’s celebrations have been extended.

Crowds have been flocking to Santiago de Compostela all year. However, the 25th will be extra special, and many pilgrims plan their arrival to mark the occasion. I like to mark the occasion myself a little – either by meeting my pilgrim friends or by walking a favourite route. The last time I walked in or around St James Day was in 2020 with some pilgrim friends when we walked to St James’s Church in Dublin and received a blessing. You can read about that walk here.

I’m not quite sure what my plans are for this year however I have the 25th and the 26th of July off from work. The idea has crossed my mind to walk from my door step to St James’ Church but the roads can be pretty dangerous in my locality. So I am going to try the next best thing – from Malahide (5 kms south from me), all along the coast to St James Church. The walk from Malahide to Clontarf is pretty much on greenway and is easy walking.

July 23rd

On Saturday July 23rd, I will join Camino Society Ireland in Ballyhack on their monthly walk. I rarely venture outside of Dublin with the Camino Society but I want to go on this walk, purely for historical reasons. There was a piece written a few years ago which shows that there is a link between Ireland and Spain in this part of Ireland. You can read the article here, written by Damien McLellan.

Damien writes: “Every summer I take off to France or Spain and I walk the old roads along the Camino there. I had often wondered how the pilgrims returned from Waterford Port having completed the Camino”

I will post the photos here after the walk.