Pilgrim spotting

When we are in Santiago doña B. and I love to watch pilgrims arriving. Our favourites are the very traditional ones with their donkeys. Not many pilgrims still want to choose for those gentle but often stubborn animals to transport their travel gear through the Pyrenees Mountains and northen Spain. It must be a great experience for pilgrim and donkey alike. They rent them in Puy-en-Velay, get a short Do's and Don't's training and off they go.
A pilgrim's staff too is needed and choosing one that suits you is an art. Avoid those on sale in souvenir shops and look for a specialist staff carver in the Pyrenees. They study with a keen eye the lenght of your limbs, motoric capabilities and even body mass index if needed, to provide you with the ideal walking stick.
But a modern pilgrim goes to his local outdoor shop, that's less complicated. 
www.ot-lepuyenvelay.fr

trekking bike and cell phone instead
of donkey and staff.

www.csj.org.uk