The Scots Way to Santiago de Compostela

Looking at medieval maps of the traditional pilgrim routes to theSpanish cathedral city of Santiago de Compostela, it is noticeablethat there are no roads from Scotland. Noticeable at least to theScots author of this book.Patrick Farnon, who splits his time between Scotland, theNetherlands and Spain, says: "I thought it might be a good idea toinvent such a route. Of the various well-trodden roads to Santiagowe have the French way (El Camino Frances), the Fisterra Way (ElCamino de Fisterra), the English Way (El Camino Ingles), the SilverWay (La Via de La Plata from Seville), the Northern Way (ElCamino del Norte, along the Cantabrian and Basque coasts) and thePrimitive Way (El Camino Primitivo, from Oviedo). There's also aPortuguese Way. So why not a Scots Way to Santiago?"The situation now stands corrected. In this amusing record of apersonal odyssey across the shoulder of Spain looking for the linksbetween the Scots and the Spanish, Farnon mixes the Medieval withthe Modern and discovers all sorts of marvels and wonders as well asa few charlatans.In this account he covers the Camino Frances to Santiago deCompostela and way back via the Camino de Fisterra and theCamino del Norte, a trip of nearly two thousand kilometres. He alsofinds more than a few ancient links, which means there is at last aScots Way to Santiago de Compostela, even if it is a very singularone.