2025 03Nympton News Autumn final with bleed - Flipbook - Page 31
his radio playing music constantly. We kept meeting, including at the
end. On one memorable occasion I met an older man with a tiny wife
who to me looked like a Gurkha - it turned out they were Filipino. He
was a Colonel in the US army and a professor in International Relations
at West Point (the U.S. version of Sandhurst). Our paths kept crossing
right up to the last day. In the last week, the onal 60 miles got really
busy, especially
after Porto. Porto to Santiago is the minimum
needed to qualify for a Credential Peregrino, or
Pilgrim9s Passport. You have to collect a
minimum of 2 stamps each day, from key
locations like churches and hostels, cafés and
town halls. Churches need to be mentioned (it
is a Pilgrim route, after all!) - they are so
beautiful, and often candle-lit. After an 8 euro ferry crossing into
Spain, the terrain and paths changed - it was very much like walking
on the South West Coast Path at home - very rocky! Flowers need a
mention too - especially Datura, a poisonous member of
the nightshade family, known as Devil9s Trumpet, and to
counter it, Angel9s Trumpet (Brugmansia). There was rain
on the last day, unfortunately (hence the Poncho) but the
square in front of the cathedral was chock-a-block. I
walked in with two delightful nurses from Ireland. You may
meet them in Kings Nympton one day with their families!
People ask me why I was photographed with so many
women? There9s a simple reason - the ratio is about 10/1, so there are
many more women to meet and be photographed with. The day after I
arrived there was a Pilgrim mass. The cathedral seats 1000 people,
and there were many standing. They use a massive `fumaria9 (incense
burner) suspended from the ceiling. The traditional reason for it was
to mask the smell of pilgrims and their clothes, which were taken off
them after the service, at which point they were bathed and given
clean clothes. Altogether it was an amazing experience - part of the
grieving process - but life must go on. None of us know how long
we've got, especially us octogenarians!
You can contribute to Eric9s fundraising at
tinyurl.com/4edajsdf And you can read a longer
version of this article on our additional material page
To read online—www.kingsnymptononline.com/latest-edition
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