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but thankfully i moved out of my tent yeasterday and into a chalet hi dy hi and all that so at least i m dry i had hoped to be a beach bum this week but it has rain 4 days out of five so far the kind man at reception has let me borrow his pc but only for a short time as he needs it to book people in and out so i will try and fix my pc today looking forward to getting back home to seeing kate alex and ben as well as some familiar faces and enjoying a pint of real ale blessings richard posted by richard hancock at 01 25 no comments day 20 the shrine of st james the apostle i awoke in hotel mexico my base for the next three days which is situated in the university quart of the city it was a basic room single bed with good bath room which had a bath and shower again i was on the 5th floor which seemed to be made up of single rooms i could have had breakfast in the hotel but it s easier and cheaper to simple walk into a café bar so i decided to do this on the way to the cathedral i had arranged to meet my fellow pilgrims for the midday pilgrims mass some of the group had arranged a guided tour that morning which would end up at the cathedral the previous evening dom bruce and i agreed to save seats for the entire group for the mass the tradition is if you re a pilgrim that you don t head straight for the shrine but prepare yourself first i found a very pleasant café bar on the way and breakfast consisted of a milky coffee and a slice of tarte de santiago which is an almond pastry similar to bakewell tart but without the jam all for 2 euros i walked up the steps of the cathedral slowly recalling the past three week s journey that had brought me here the many things i had seen places i had visited shrines i had prayed at and the people i had met including the civil guard i had some apprehensiveness at going in as this would mean the end of my pilgrimage which had been 18 months in the planning i had sat in my study at the vicarage after evening meetings looking at the map on the wall and the guidebooks trying to imagine what this moment would be like i know i had another week in spain and some other places to visit but essentially this was just killing time waiting for the ferry from santander to portsmouth in a way it was all a bit of an anticlimax something other pilgrims had written about in the books i had studied over the past year it s really the journey itself which is important it s the microcosm of life which pilgrimage represents that brings you into an encounter with god not a silver casket with the dried bones of a saint or so i thought though the fact they are there is the reason for setting out in thee first place well after a pause and a short prayer i walk through the doors of the cathedral i was surprised that it was smaller in size than i had imagined not like the huge cathedrals of charters burgos or segovia there was a real buzz inside actually quite noisy but this is how medieval cathedrals were not sanctuaries of silence they were places where people met did business as well as prayed as i walked round there were several masses being said in side chapels in different languages as i moved to the high altar i could see the large statue of st james rising up the ornately decorated sanctuary and people walking behind the statute and embracing it as is the custom i also noticed the huge botafumeiro censer hanging in the sanctuary which is the size of a large dustbin and takes 7 men to swing it pulling on a large rope which the cathedral is famous for as i walked round i bumped into joy and the group which had taken the tour and followed them to behind the high altar and the passageway that leads up to the head of the statue of st james and we all walked up the steps this was it the moment journeys end i knelt crossed myself and embraced the statue kissing the scallop shell on the back and paused normally you can t stop but i had put on a clerical collar this morning so the shrine attended held back the queue for me while i prayed rank in this case clearly having privilege i then bowed was given a prayer card by the shrine attended and left it was all over and no bright lights or angel voices but i had not expected any what i did find interesting is that as i came out of behind the high altar there was another set of steps leading underneath to the crypt which is where the silver casket containing the bones of st james brought here in 813ad lay this does not seem to attract as much attention as the statue which is only from the 13th centaury in comparison but i know europeans seem to have a thing about plaster saints i descended to the crypt and this to me was far more sacred than the statue and there was a place to kneel and pray in front of the silver casket whatever you may think or believe this to me was something special as in that silver box which is about 4ft in length are the bones of a man who walked with christ on this earth who heard his teaching first hand who eat with him at the last supper the first eucharist who witnessed his death on the cross and most importantly his resurrection who touch the risen lord and was commissioned by him to baptise people in his name a man who called peter john matthew luke mary magdalena and the other apostles friends a person who through my own ordination i have an apostolic link it was here as i knelt and prayed that my heart leapt for joy and i felt the presence of the holy spirit very strongly this was no anticlimax but an encounter with the living lord as i immerged from the crypt i felt spiritually renewed and invigorated and before to long found the group with joy still going round the cathedral and i followed for a while chatting with anne before going to save some seats as it was getting very busy we had been told by the guide that they were going to use the large incense burner at the midday mass we were very lucky as this is only used 24 times a year and many people come to santiago and never see it before finding my seat and as i was wearing my collar i sauntered into the sacristy where tourist can t go the nun at the door just smiled at me and i was in an area where hundreds of robes and all manner of liturgical regalia were hanging there were also lost of priest getting vested many of them canons of the cathedral at one point one strolled over to me shook my hand smiled and welcomed me he asked where i was from and i said england and asked if i would be taking part in the midday mass i said yes but i presume he meant would i be up at the altar celebrating and i decided it was best not to tell him i was an anglican remember the spanish inquisition i then headed back out to find some pews and after sitting for about 15 minutes i witnessed the strangest liturgical act the organ piped up very loudly with a fanfare and a long line of clergy all dressed as canons edwin you would have blended in well here with you scarlet sash were lead to the sanctuary by about ten servers dressed in white robes they all took there places and one of them address the people saying welcome to the cathedral and the shrine of st james on behalf of the bishop and canons a quick prayer was said the organ piped up for a second time and they were all led out a huge crowed gathered by the sacristy door all taking pictures and wanting to shake hands with the clergy cleary in santiago if you re a priest you re a celebrity before two long i spied dom bruce in his splendid habit along with gary and linda and i went to get them and by ten to twelve the whole group was all seated the mass was very moving it began with a list being read of all the pilgrims who had received their certificate that day my name was not there as undertaking the camino in a lotus 7 does not count as far as the roman catholic church is concerned i think i will ask bishop stephen when i get back if he can furnish me with something for my study wall so if you re reading this bishop maybe you could ask jane or leslie to put something together on the pc i m sure it will be just as valid as anything the rc church give out the mass was led by a lovely priest who seemed very grounded and gave a good address focusing on the spirit of the journey rather than the arriving and we all went up and received together at the end of the mass the celebrant said that all the pilgrims were to be censed and the huge censer was lowered a shovel load of charcoal put in followed by a similar amount of incense then 7 large men took hold of the rope and began to pull hard lifting then of the ground at some points in a very short space of time the botafumeiro was whizzing past our seats and going right up into the roof space leaving a large trail of incense in its wake we had been told that it had only come of the rope twice in the last 500 years so i considered if statistically it was due another escape if it had it would certainly result in several pilgrims being speedily dispatched to the pearly gates as well as a liturgical purpose there is of course a practical purpose to this huge censer imagine being in this cathedral several hundred years ago with pilgrims who had been waking for months with no access to showers or baths the stench must have been incredible and it took something of this size to probably even disguise the smell for enough time for a service to take place after the mass we all headed for a café bar and coffees beer and plenty of tarte de santiago was consumed the afternoon had been designated as free time i went to check out a couple of restaurants that had been recommended to margaret smith by john the vicar of bishopstone who had walked the camino the previous year and i choose the best of the two and made a reservation for twelve and then headed for a siesta posted by richard hancock at 01 19 no comments day 19 leon to santiago well here it is the final day before arriving at santiago and meeting up with my fellow pilgrims from shrivenham ashbury i set my alarm for 8am so as to be out of the hotel and on the road by 9 30am as i hoped to get to santiago by 4pm so i could check into my hotel shower and change before meeting my follow pilgrims by the steps of the cathedral at 6pm however it seemed like christian in pilgrims progress that dark forces might be at work trying to stop me reaching the shrine of st james firstly my alarm clock failed to go off or i slept right through it waking at just before nine no matter i thought i got packed as quickly as possible and headed down to the café bar in the hotel for a quick coffee and cake for breakfast i then went to settle my bill to be told by the receptionist that there was a problem with the hi tech lift that brought cars too and from the basement garage it was jammed she said it should only be about 10 minutes before the technicians get it working translating this into spanish time meant at least an hour i took my bags out of the room went down to the car and loaded up there were several other guests by their cars waiting to go after about a 40 minute wait we all gave up and decided to head for the café the receptionist said she would call us when the lift was fixed i texted alex peal whose mobile number i had to say that i was delayed and the 6pm rendezvous might not be possible by 11 15am and no sign of the problem being resolved i knew that if it wasn t fixed by midday the technicians would stop for lunch and not start again till 2pm i could see myself spending another day in leon thankfully at 11 40am the receptionist said the lift was working and i headed to the car and out of leon which was relatively straight forward the road i was following followed the camino exactly and i could see many pilgrims on foot or on their bikes heading to santiago but they would not be there for at least 4 or 5 days my sat nav estimated that my arrivel time would 6 04pm so if i parked the car and headed for the cathedral i would not be too late for my meeting and hoped that alex had got the message i had intended to stop and several places on the way to look at some of the pilgrim chapels but this was now not possible so i concentrated on the driving it was bright and sunny but not too hot and the drive up into the mountains was great encountering cloud level at several points making it like driving through fog but as soon as i descended a little the sunlight broke through i did stop at one point which was the highest summit of the mountains i was crossing and there was a small pilgrim chapel and a large cross to which pilgrims had attached notes photos rosaries or simply placed a stone at the foot of the cross there was a group of dutch pilgrims there and they chatted giving me some stick for not walking one of their group had walked all the way from holland and had been joined by various friends on route after some friendly banter we wished each other well bien camino and i began my decent the caterham handling the bends with no problem at all but i was being carful as there were cyclists round every corner though the speed some of them achieved was very impressive again passing me on several occasions lunch today was a sandwich brought at a garage a sort of spanish blt no comment when i stopped for fuel in a small village this was eaten in a lay by with an apple and some water watching pilgrims slug up the hill on foot or via pedal power but i could not dither for long as i wanted to keep my appointment over the next couple of hours i made up quite a bit of time and the sat nav was estimating i would arrive at santiago at about 5 30pm so i would be able to keep my appointment all was going fine and the drive had been very pleasant despite not being able to make the stops i had intended and i counted down the signs giving the distance to santiago 100km 60km 30km 25km my excitement growing i was driving at a steady 60mph or 100km hour not pushing it when i passed a sign saying santiago 14km when i came up behind some slow moving traffic two cars and a small white van doing about 45kmph i then noticed in my mirrors a light green car come up behind me very fast and was sitting on my bumper i was a bit concerned as he was so close that if i stopped suddenly he would hit me he then dropped back and accelerated again coming up very close and repeated this several times this was rather unnerving as i was not sure what he was doing but it seemed as if he was trying to provoke me or make some kind of point we approach an incline and i could see the road ahead was clear so i indicated and overtook the three slow moving cars as soon as i did this the green car behind me then leap frogged me and over took me while i was over taking idiot i thought he was trying to race me so i let him pass but then he swooped in front of me and slammed his brakes on it was at this point that a little sign popped out of his rear parcel shelf saying police stop and i saw a hand vigorously waving to me to pull over it was the civil guard a sort of military wing of the police force who my mother had wa...