The Scots Way to Santiago de Compostela

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